Maureen Hays-Mitchell
Department/Office Information
GeographyContact
mhaysmitchell@colgate.eduMy scholarly interests lie principally in the gendered dimensions of economic development in Latin America. Over the course of the past three decades, I have conducted grassroots fieldwork in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Mexico.
These projects reflect my ongoing interest in human rights, gender and spatial justice, conflict resolution, post-conflict reconstruction/reconciliation, grassroots social movements, the urban informal sector, and micro-enterprise development.
In recent years, I have been working, both in the field and from afar, on gender issues relating to post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation in Peru. During the internal conflict, I conducted in-depth studies of the urban informal sector and micro-enterprise development. With the cessation of armed hostilities, I have been investigating processes of political, economic and social reconstruction within post-conflict Peru.
One project looks specifically at the gendered dimensions of human rights, political literacy, empowerment, displacement and resettlement in post-conflict Peru. In my fieldwork with national, regional, and grassroots organizations in urban and rural settings, I am privileged to work with (and learn from) women survivors of the conflict. I hope to understand more fully the roles they played, individually and collectively, in achieving initial peace and now, together with a new generation of activists, in building a sustainable peace.
A second project concerns the recently published Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru. I have been analyzing the Final Report from (i) gendered and (ii) spatial justice perspectives. This project ultimately involves building a conceptual framework for a comparative analysis of the work of several truth commissions in Latin America.
A third project, related to the aforementioned, investigates gendered dimensions of memory and memorialization as well as initiatives to address the legacy of gender-based violence in the reconciliation process of post-conflict Peru.
My research methodologies include the analysis of quantitative and qualitative data. My field methodology is based upon participatory research analysis, and includes focus groups, in-depth interviews, oral history, participatory mapping and participant observation in addition to archival research.