Maureen Hays-Mitchell

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mhaysmitchell

Maureen Hays-Mitchell

Professor of Geography, Emerita

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Geography

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My 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.

  • BA, Middlebury College, 1978
  • MIA, Columbia University (School of International and Public Affairs), 1983
  • PhD, Syracuse University (Geography, The Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Administration), 1990
  • Dartmouth College
  • Syracuse University
  • La Escuela de Esquí, Portillo, Chile

International development, Latin America, political geography, feminist geography, gender and environment, urban geography, global change

Latin America, human rights, post-conflict reconstruction and reconciliation, transitional justice, collective memory, gender justice in development, grassroots social movements, the informal economy, urbanization

  • Brunn, S., Zeigler, D., Hays-Mitchell, M., and Graybill, J., eds. 2020. Cities of the World: Regional Patterns and Urban Environments, 7th ed. Rowman and Littlefield.
  • Graybill, J., Hays-Mitchell, M., and Zeigler, D. 2020. “World Urban Development: Critical Geographical Perspectives.” In Brunn, S., Hays-Mitchell, M., Zeigler, D., and Graybill, J., eds, Cities of the World: Regional Patterns and Urban Environments, 7th ed., pp. 3-48. Rowman and Littlefield.
  • Godfrey, B., Hays-Mitchell, M., and Whitson, R. 2020. “Cities of South America.” In Brunn, S., Hays-Mitchell, M., Zeigler, D., and Graybill, J., eds, Cities of the World: Regional Patterns and Urban Environments, 7th ed., pp. 139-186. Rowman and Littlefield.
  • Brunn, S., Hays-Mitchell, M., Zeigler, D., and Graybill, J., eds. 2016. Cities of the World: Regional Patterns and Urban Environments, 6th ed. Rowman and Littlefield.
  • Graybill, J., Hays-Mitchell, M., and Zeigler, D. 2016. “World Urban Development: Critical Geographical Perspectives.” In Brunn, S., Hays-Mitchell, M., Zeigler, D., and Graybill, J., eds, Cities of the World: Regional Patterns and Urban Environments, 6th ed., pp. 3-46. Rowman and Littlefield.
  • Godfrey, B., and Hays-Mitchell, M. 2016. “Cities of South America.” In Brunn, S., Hays-Mitchell, M., Zeigler, D., and Graybill, J., eds, Cities of the World: Regional Patterns and Urban Environments, 6th ed., pp. 137-185. Rowman and Littlefield.
  • Hays-Mitchell, M., and Irvine, J., eds. Special themed issue titled “Gender and Political Transformation in Societies at War”, Journal of International Women’s Studies (2012) 13 (4).
  • “Gender and political transformation in societies at war." 2012. In Hays-Mitchell, M., and Irvine, J., eds, Journal of International Women’s Studies 13(4): 1-9, co-authored with Jill Irvine.
  • Brunn, S., Hays-Mitchell, M., and Zeigler, D., eds. 2012. Cities of the World: World Regional Urban Development, 5th ed. Rowman and Littlefield.
  • Zeigler, D., Hays-Mitchell, M., and Brunn, S. 2012. “World Urban Development.” In Brunn, S., Hays-Mitchell, M., and Zeigler, D., eds, Cities of the World: World Regional Urban Development, 5th ed., pp. 3-50. Rowman and Littlefield.
  • Hays-Mitchell, M., and Godfrey, B. 2012. “Cities of South America.” In Brunn, S., Hays-Mitchell, M., and Zeigler, D., eds. 2012 Cities of the World: World Regional Urban Development, 5th ed., pp. 137-187. Rowman and Littlefield.
  • S. Brunn, M. Hays-Mitchell, and D. Zeigler, eds, Cities of the World: World Regional Urban Development, 4th ed., Rowman and Littlefield (2008).
  • "Cities of South America." In S. Brunn, M. Hays-Mitchell, and D. Zeigler, eds, Cities of the World: World Regional Urban Development, 4th ed., Rowman and Littlefield (2008), pp. 142-199, co-authored with Brian J. Godfrey.
  • "Who Are the Victims? Where is the Violence: The Spatial Dialectics of Andean Violence as Revealed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru." In D. Cowen and E. Gilbert, eds, War, Citizenship, Territory, pp. 199-218. Routledge (2007).
  • "The Informal Economy." In B. Warf and A. Cravey, eds, The Encyclopedia of Human Geography, pp. 254-57. Sage Publications (2006). Reproduced in D. Goldfield, ed., 2007, Encyclopedia of American Urban History, vol 1, 379-381, Sage Publications (2007).
  • "Women's Struggles for Sustainable Peace in Post-Conflict Peru: A Feminist Analysis of Violence and Change." In J. Seager and L. Nelson, eds, A Feminist Companion to Human Geography, Blackwell Publishing (2005), pp. 590-606.
  • "Global Change and the South American City." In S. Brunn, J. Williams, and D. Zeigler, eds, Cities of the World: Contemporary World Urbanization, 3rd ed., Rowman and Littlefield (2003), pp. 122-167, co-authored with Brian J. Godfrey.
  • "Coping with Austerity: A Gendered Perspective on Neoliberal Restructuring in Peru." Gender and Development, (2002) 10:3, 71-81. Reproduced in C. Sweetman, ed., Gender, Development, and Poverty, pp. 71-81. Oxford: Oxfam GB.
  • "Globalization at the Urban Margin: Gender and Resistance in the Informal Sector of Peru." In J. Short and R. Grant, eds, Globalization at the Margins, Macmillan Press (2002), pp. 93-110.
  • "Danger, Fulfillment, and Responsibility in a Violence-Plagued Society." The Geographical Review, (2001) 91(1-2):311-321.
  • "Gender, informal employment and the right to productive resources: The human rights implications of microenterprise development in Latin America." In T. Fenster, ed., Gender, Planning and Human Rights: The Fragilities of Equality and Difference in Planning and Development for Multi-Cultured Societies, London: Routledge (2000), pp. 111-124.
  • "From Survivor to Entrepreneur: Gendered Dimensions of Microenterprise Development in Peru." Environment and Planning A (1999), 31:251-271.
  • "Development vs. Empowerment: The Gendered Legacy of Economic Restructuring in Latin America." Journal of Latin Americanist Geography (1997), 23:119-131.
  • "Voices and Visions From the Streets: Gender Interests and Political Participation Among Women Informal Traders in Latin America." Society and Space (1995), 13:445-469.
  • Chair, Department of Geography, 2006-2008, 2010-2012
  • Co-chair, Working Group on Student Life, Middle States Reaccreditation Steering Committee, 2006-2008
  • University Professor, First Year Seminar Program and Distinction & High Distinction Programs, Liberal Arts Core Curriculum, 2002-2005
  • Interim Chair, Department of Geography, Spring 2000
  • Coordinator, Latin American Studies Program, 1992-1994
  • Advisory Boards (various terms): Women's Studies Program, Africana and Latin American Studies Program, Peace and Conflict Studies Program

Inter-America Foundation; American Association for the Advancement of Science (Science and Human Rights Coalition); American Association of Geographers; Congress of Latin American Geographers; PanAmerican Geography and History Commission; United Nations Voluntary Fund for the Decade of Women; The Buffalo Seminary (Trustee); professional ski instructor (Portillo, Chile)

  • Colgate University Research Council, Hearst Fellowship, 2013
  • Mellon Foundation, Sabbatical Enhancement Grant, 2009
  • Colgate University Research Council, Picker Fellowships, 1994, 2000