Biography
I am currently a Ph.D. student in Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology at UIUC. I live as a guest on the lands of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations.
At UIUC, my research intersects the fields of legal and political anthropology, economic anthropology, education (College, Graduate, and Post-Graduate), Latin American Diaspora in the U.S., Post-Colonial and Decolonial Thought, and South America.
I also have a background in Law. I hold a Bachelor's in Law, an LL.M., and a J.S.D. I pursue research in different areas, such as comparative law, comparative criminal procedure, legal reasoning, and Constitutional law. I also have collaborated with Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and activists on questions of Governance and Politics in Colombia and other South American countries, such as Ecuador, Brazil, and Peru, regarding the environment, gender, and Human Rights. Two threads connect these multiple areas of research: first, the use of ethnographic research methods and theories; second, a commitment to explore and evince the processes behind how legal institutions are locally, translocally, and globally constructed and by whom; and to collaboratively engage in articulating theoretical and practical mechanisms to move beyond the traditional understandings of the distinct legal institutions I explore.
Research Interests
Anthropology of Law and Politics, Language and Law, Economic Anthropology, Digital Ethnography, Post-Colonial and Decolonial Thought and Methods, Education, Youth, Latin and South America (Colombia, Chile, Argentina), Latino/Latina/Latine/Latinx Studies, Comparative Law, Criminal Procedure, Constitutional Law, Evidence Law, Legal Reasoning, Legal Education, and the Legal Profession.
Research Description
I study the experience of international graduate legal students from Latin America pursuing legal education in the U.S. under current transformations in the global and local context. As someone also trained as a lawyer, I am interested in exploring different aspects of the socialization process that international graduate students undergo at U.S. law schools and how global and local political, economic, and social factors inform these educational processes. My research intersects the fields of legal and political anthropology, linguistic anthropology, economic anthropology, education (College, Graduate, and Post-Graduate), Latin American Diaspora in the U.S., Post-Colonial and Decolonial Thought, and South America.
Education
Ph.D. student in Sociocultural and Linguistic Anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Doctor of the Science of Law (J.S.D) 23', Cornell University.
Master of Laws (LL.M.) 19', Cornell Law School.
Graduate Degree in Criminal Procedure 17', Universidad Externado de Colombia.
Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) 16', Pontificia Universidad Javeriana.
Grants
Colfuturo Credito Beca, Colombia, 2019.
Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Colombia. 2019.
Cornell Graduate School Funding, 2019-2023.
Cornell Einaudi Center travel grants.
Cornell Graduate School travel grants.
Illinois Distinguished Fellowship.
Highlighted Publications
Legal Education Abroad: Colombian Legal Graduates and the social effects of LL.M. degrees, Novum Jus · 1 oct. 2022