Instructors

  • Gabriel Aleman Rodriguez
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  • Adjunct Instructor
  • Department: Center for Latin American Studies
  • Research Interests: His academic interests have orbited around Intellectual History, Latin American and Caribbean Political Thought, and its relationship with US imperialism at the beginning of the 20th century. He has worked on the nationalist discourse and the construction of nation-states in the same geographic-cultural context. During the last three years, he has been interested in Economic History and History of Economic Thought to analyze the evolution of monopolistic-financial capital in the Caribbean and the political-economic domination resulting from the Debt regimes imposed to the countries of the region. He also has extended to a contemporary analysis on political-economy, technocratic culture, neoliberalism, and the idea of “Crisis” in a triangular comparative between Latin America (including the Caribbean), the United States, and Europe.
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  • Background: Ph.D. in Culture and Society with a concentration in Latin-American History from the University of Barcelona, a Master’s degree in Latin-American Studies from the University of Barcelona, University Autonomic of Barcelona and Pompeu Fabra University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences with a concentration in Ibero-American Studies from the University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo. He has taught Social Sciences, History, and Latin American Studies at the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras and Arecibo, where he also directs the Center for Ibero-American Studies.
  • Courses taught at Rutgers: Latin American Studies: An Introduction (interdisciplinary, core course)
  • Andres Gonzalez Saiz
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  • Adjunct Instructor
  • Research Interests: Mr González-Saiz is currently writing up his dissertation about the sociopolitical effects of military victimhood in transitional societies coping with the aftermath of past and present atrocities. His research interests involve contemporary military organizations, conflict resolution, the poetics of violence, in addition to magic and witchcraft.
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  • Background: Colombian anthropologist with more than 10 years of experience in qualitative research. Mr. González-Saiz graduated from Los Andes University in Colombia with a bachelors’ degree in Anthropology, and from Goldsmiths, University of London with a master in research in Social Anthropology.
  • Sandra C. Medina
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  • Adjunct Instructor
  • Department(s):
    • Department of Spanish and Portuguese
    • Department of Cinema Studies
  • Research Interests: Sandra Medina's dissertation studies the effects of violence as (re)presented by documentaries and fictional narratives of children’s enrollment in the armed groups, the beginning and expansion of violence in rural areas, and the displacement of the victims of the conflict. Her research shows how the bodily, physical legacies of violence— disappearance, torture and body mutilation, displacement and migration— transform traditional gender norms, and problematize the reintegration and rehabilitation of victims and victimizers.
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  • Background: Ph.D. in Spanish from the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Rutgers University. She holds an M.A. in Spanish Literature from the same institution and a B.A in Spanish and English from Montclair State University in New Jersey. She has taught Spanish, literature, and culture courses in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Department of Latino and Caribbean Studies, the Center for Latin American Studies, the comparative literature program, and the English Writing program at Rutgers University since 2013.
  • Courses taught at Rutgers: Latin American Studies: An Introduction (interdisciplinary, core course)
  • Briana Nichols
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  • Post-Doctoral Associate
  • Research Interests: Guatemala, Central American Migration
  • Degree: Ph.D. The University of Pennsylvania
  • Background: Dr. Briana Nichols is a recent Ph.D. graduate from the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of Anthropology.  Her work and interests connect transnational development, critical theories of mobility and indigenous studies.   Her dissertation (Imagining un Futuro Digno: Indigenous youth striving for non-migration in Guatemala) explores the impact of migration in Guatemala and how indigenous youth construct futures in communities from which everyone else is leaving.  Her work engages with the afterlives of migration and asks how youth fight to remain in their communities of origin.  She has published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies and is the co-editor and contributing author of a special issue of the International Journal of Refugee Studies. At Rutgers she will be teaching a section of our Introduction to Latin American Studies in the Fall and helping organize presentations, workshops and student projects on Central American societies and migration.
  • Courses taught at Rutgers: Latin America: An Introduction
  • Courses:
  • 590:101 Latin America: An Introduction (5352)
  • Geisa Rocha
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  • Adjunct Instructor
  • Research Interests: The Political Economy of Latin American Development, emphases on theories and policies, neoliberal restructuring and state transformation, Brazil; International Political Economy, emphases on theories, international financial institutions, globalization.
  • Email Address: Click to Email
  • Background: Ph.D., Political Science. The Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY)
  • Courses taught at Rutgers: Latin America: An Introduction (interdisciplinary, core course), Topics in Latin American Studies: “Latin American Politics: Change in Historical Perspective”, Themes in Latin American Studies: “Unity in Diversity: A Brief Introduction to Latin America”, Seminar in Latin American Studies: “U.S.-Latin American Relations: From the Monroe Doctrine to the Globalization Era” Seminar in Latin American Studies: “Globalization and The Challenges of Latin American Development”
  • Courses:
  • 590:100 Themes in Latin American Studies Unity in Diversity - A Brief Introduction to Latin America (2050),
  • 590:101 Latin America: An Introduction (5352),
  • 590:299:02 Latin American Politics (1361)