María José Méndez Gutiérrez

I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. My research examines the material and embodied dimensions of political violence, with a focus on   the illicit and subaltern worlds of Latin America. My current book project, "Labors of Violence: Making a Living in Gangland Central America," investigates how gang violence operates as a form of labor, shaping gendered identities and generating material resources for socioeconomically excluded people in the region. As part of an international partnership supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, I am documenting the history of the Salvadoran Civil War through the memory practices and embroideries of Salvadoran women refugees.

I have also written on decolonial feminist politics, anticolonial thought, and fieldwork methodologies. Beyond academia, I have collaborated with human rights and grassroots organizations, including Witness for Peace–Midwest and Colectivo Artesana, a collective of formerly incarcerated women in Guatemala. I am originally from Honduras and hold a B.A. from Vassar College and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.