Conference on Gender, Families,
and Latino Immigration in Oregon

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Lise Nelson

Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of Oregon

Lise Nelson is a political and cultural geographer interested in international rural development, gender, Latin America, and immigration from Latin America to the United States. Her current research explores the politics of race, place and belonging in Woodburn, Oregon--the state's largest city with a majority Latino/a population. On-going research, based in Mexico, examines changing gendered political identities and practices in the wake of opposition party victories within an indigenous community located in the state of Michoacán. Both research projects, in Oregon and Michoacán, reflect her broad interest in the relationship between democracy and globalization.

Other interests include:

The impact of globalization on Latin American societies—specifically in relation to indigenous peoples, forest dependent communities, and state-society relations broadly defined;

The relationship between social movements and democratization throughout the hemisphere;

Development theory and practice, focusing in particular on gender and questions of citizenship, empowerment and leadership within development projects and institutions.

The construction of place and belonging on the part of immigrants marginalized in terms of class, race and "illegality."