Profiles | Dr. Astrid V. Pérez Piñán

Senior Research Associate

I was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, but I spent significant years in the town of Mayagüez (known as “the town of mango” and “the town of pure waters”). I arrived to Turtle Island/Canada in 2012. Through my research, I critically explore the tensions inherent to high level global development agendas (e.g. SDGs) and locally generated, self-determined social and diverse economic alternatives to the mainstream economic development paradigm. In my work, I combine interdisciplinary and community engaged research with intersectional feminist scholarship to explore the emergence and resurgence of diverse economic models that center wellbeing, self-determination and push back on neoliberalism. This includes work on development cooperation policies, food sovereignty, reproductive justice, gender equality and decolonization.