I am interested in urban social movements in 20th-century Latin America, crafting and transformations of the Colombian state in the 20th century, grassroots politics, class, and gender. Before enrolling at the University of Pittsburgh in the Fall of 2022, I received my B.A. in History (2017) from Universidad del Rosario and my MA cum laude in Sociology (2021) from Universidad de Los Andes, both in Bogotá, Colombia. I wrote my BA thesis on the experiences of former grassroots militants of the M-19 guerrilla movement in the working-class and informal neighborhoods of Bogotá in the second half of the 20th century, and I published a book about this investigation one year later. For my MA thesis, I analyzed the emergence of the community’s social movements against mining projects in peripherical neighborhoods in Soacha (a conurbation of Bogotá), Colombia.
While at Pitt, I want to further analyze urban grassroots social movements and their relationship with urbanization processes in Latin America in the 20th century.
ADVISORS:
Lara Putnam and Laura Gotkowitz
Representative Publications
Medellín Pérez, Iris Alejandra (2018). La gente del Sancocho Nacional: Experiencias de la militancia barrial del M-19 en Bogotá, 1974-1990). Bogotá: Universidad del Rosario, Ópera prima. (The people of the Sancocho Nacional: Experiences from the neighborhood militants of the M-19 guerrilla in Bogotá, 1974-1990).
Medellín Pérez, Iris Alejandra (2018). “Entre la agencia y la invisibilización: las mujeres en el siglo XIX” in La República, 1819-1890. Bogotá: Universidad del Rosario. (“Between Agency and Invisibility: Woman in XIXth century Colombia”).
Medellín Pérez, Iris Alejandra (2018) “Andrés Rosillo y Meruelo: Itinerarios de un sacerdote con poder” in Un largo camino. Universidad del Rosario, 365 años. Bogotá: Universidad del Rosario. (“Andrés Rosillo y Meruelo: Itineraries of a powerful priest”).
Medellín Pérez, Iris Alejandra (2021). “¿Habitando el Socavón? Minería urbana y movilización social ambiental en Soacha” (“Living in the Sinkhole? Urban Mining and Environmental Social Mobilization in Soacha, Cundinamarca, Colombia”), Revista Economía y Sociedad. Univalle: Cali. Colombia.https://sociedadyeconomia.univalle.edu.co/index.php/sociedad_y_economia/...
Research Interests
Latin American History
Colombian History
History of Social Movements
Social History
Urban History