Valeria Llano-Arias
Thesis Title: Communications strategies in environmental struggles: citizens’ agency in the water movement in Colombia and Latin America.
Funding: Mary Kelly Ad Astra Scholarship (UCD)
Biographical Note:
Subsequent to a degree in Social Communication and Journalism at the University of Antioquia in Medellín, Colombia, I have undertaken development and environmental work in Colombia, Ireland and Kenya. One of these experiences was within the Colombian campaign to promote the human right to water. After that, I pursued an MA in Communication at the University of Westminster in London. Now, I am undertaking a PhD to deepen my understanding of global and local popular environmental struggles.
My primary research interests are at the meeting point of sociology, communication for development, political economy, ecology and geopolitics. This research study will explore the linkage between global and local power relationships around water resources, and new social movements and their communication strategies. My work will investigate the social movements in defence of water in Colombia and Latin America, with an emphasis on communication, participatory democracy, local and global governance, neoliberal ideologies, privatisation, equitable access and environmental conflicts.
The internal and external interests on Colombian natural resources have led to environmental struggles claiming the respect and recognition of social, cultural and environmental human rights. Participatory and public communication have played a central role in the actions of environmental social movements. In my research, I will be focusing on the public and participatory communication strategies carried out by the movement in defence of water in Colombia and some other countries in Latin America, and their impact on citizen’s agency in the implementation of actions to strengthen democracy, local governance, and better management of water and other natural and public goods.
Awards Obtained:
• Mary Kelly Ad Astra Scholarship, School of Sociology, University College Dublin. Dublin, 2011
• Bicentenary of Latin American Independence Scholarship, University of Westminster, London, 2010
Email: valeria.llano-arias@ucdconnect.ie
