Krisna Ruette-Orihuela

I am Lecturer/Assistant professor at the School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, at UCD. My academic research focuses on the intersection of racial, ethnic, and gender identities, racism and anti-racism, transformative peacebuilding, territorial struggles, ethno-racial movements, state multiculturalism, social justice, and historical memory.

I completed my M.A and Ph.D studies in anthropology at the University of Arizona and my B.A in anthropology from the Universidad Central de Venezuela. Before coming to UCD I was a postdoctoral researcher at Loughborough University working in the project ‘Territorial planning for peace and state building in the Alto Cauca region of Colombia.’ Previously, I was a research associate in the project “Latin American anti-racism in a 'Post-racial' age” at the University of Manchester. In Venezuela, I coordinated research projects on ethno-racial movements at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research and I lectured at the School of Anthropology at the Central University of Venezuela.

Drawing on political ethnography, intersectional, and de-colonial approaches I have conducted collaborative research projects and popular education workshops with indigenous, Afro-descendant, peasant and women organisations in Venezuela and Colombia. My work has interrogated how ethno-racial inequalities are shaped and contested through territorial, political, bodily, and legal strategies.