Visiting PhD student | Fall 2026

Contact : am.perez@mail.utoronto.ca

Presentation 

Adriana is a Colombian feminist researcher and PhD candidate at the Women and Gender Studies Institute of the University of Toronto. Her dissertation explores how a multitude of actors (international humanitarian agencies, Colombian state institutions, national and local NGOs) working in the name of women’s human rights in Cúcuta, a Colombian city on the border with Venezuela, define a subject of knowledge and expertise. She aims to trace how members of these sectors understand what they do, who they are and how they make themselves between 2015-2022, officially known as the period of the migrant crisis with Venezuelans fleeing their country and entering Colombia, mainly through Cúcuta, and since late 2022, as funding and resources have withdrawn. Prior to her PhD studies, Adriana co-founded and directed the Observatorio de Asuntos de Género de Norte de Santander, a local NGO dedicated to feminist research and advocacy. Besides her academic publications, she has written for local and national media, and international humanitarian platforms about her work in Cúcuta.

She is also a fellow at the Instituto de Estudios Sociales y Culturales PENSAR at the Universidad Javeriana in Colombia. In the past, she was also a R.F. Harney Graduate Research Fellow in Ethnic, Immigration, and Pluralism Studies, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto. Last year, Adriana earned the Award for Scholarly Achievement in the Area of Gender-Based Violence, University of Toronto. She is also a recipient of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship.

Areas of expertise

• Border Studies
• NGOisation
• Latin American Feminism
• Gender-Based Violence
• Transnational Feminism
• Governance Studies

Publications 

Peer-Reviewed Contributions

Garces Amaya D., Pérez Rodríguez A. M. (2025). “The Visual Economy of Migration and the Production of Crisis. Two Cases in Question: Norte de Santander and the Darien”. Ethnicities. 0(0) https://doi.org/10.1177/14687968251364360

Pérez Rodríguez, A. M. (2024). “A Plea for Rage and Joy: Colombian Feminist Protests and Their Power for Making Utopia”. Feminist Review. 137(1), 76-86. https://doi.org/10.1177/01417789241257261

Book Chapters

Pérez Rodríguez, A. (2026). “Pedagogies of Insistence: Reflections on Feminist Community-Based Research About Gender Violence in the ‘Zona Roja’”. In Anctil Avoine, P. (Ed.), Feminist Security Studies in the Americas: Pushing the Fronteras. Palgrave Macmillan.

Pérez Rodríguez, A. M., Franky Aljure, J. (2025). “Creación de nación y regreso a casa [en tiempos de crisis]”. In Medina Rico, R., Salazar Medina, W. (Eds.), Estudios de Derechos Humanos y Migración. Editorial Universidad del Rosario.

Non-Peer-Reviewed Contributions

Anctil Avoine, P., Pérez-Rodríguez, A. (2025). “In the Face of Violence, Catatumbo’s Communities Calls for Solidarity” in North American Congress in Latin America (NACLA). https://nacla.org/face-violence-catatumbos-communities-call-solidarity

Pérez-Rodríguez, A. (2022). “Gender-Based Violence in a Migrant Context: A Case Study of Norte de Santander” in Humanitarian Exchange Magazine, issue 80. https://odihpn.org/publication/gender-based-violence-in-a-migrant-context-a-case-study-of-norte-de-santander/

Fortnightly columns in the Norte de Santander newspaper, La Opinión, about issues concerning local government, feminism, migration and border, human rights and security. Please check: https://www.laopinion.com.co/opinion/columnistas/adriana-perez