ESPO
Chaussée de Binche 151/M1.01.01
7000 Mons
Sandra Milena Rios Oyola
I am a FNRS postdoctoral researcher at ISPOLE. My research project investigates how transitional justice helps to restore victims' human dignity; I focus on the case of Colombia's Truth commission, Historical Memory Commission and Reparations. My research interests cover the study of democratic transitions, memory studies, and religious peacebuilding from an interdisciplinary perspective. I have participated in large international collaborative research teams and conducted fieldwork in various contexts including US, Colombia, Hungary, Chile and Germany.
Education
PhD in Sociology at the University of Aberdeen [2010-2014]
- Thesis: ‘Religion and the Social Construction of Memory amidst Violence. The Case of the Massacre of Bojayá (Colombia)’.
- Supervised by John Brewer and Cristina Flesher Fominaya.
- Scholarship by the Leverhulme Trust, Compromise after Conflict Programme (Overseas tuition fees, stipend and Research allowance).
MA in Religious Studies, Florida International University [2008-2009]
- Thesis: ‘Memory as an Act of Faith: Transnational Religious Memories of Colombian Migrants in Miami’.
- Supervised by Ana Maria Bidegain, Oren Stier and Christine Gudorf.
- Teaching Assistantship by the Department of Religious Studies (Overseas tuition fees)
BA, Sociology, Universidad Nacional de Colombia [2004-2008]
- Thesis: ‘The Rhetorical Construction of Miracles. Discourse Analysis of Pentecostal Testimony’ [La construcción retórica del milagro. Análisis del discurso de testimonios Pentecostales]
Publications
Book
2018 Rios Oyola, Sandra and Natascha Mueller-Hirth (eds.) Time and Temporality in Transitional and Post-Conflict Societies. London: Routledge, Routledge Advances in Sociology series. ISBN: 9781138631366
2015. Religion, Social Memory and Conflict. The Massacre of Bojayá in Colombia. Hampshire: Palgrave McMillan, Studies in Compromise after Conflict series. ISBN: 9781137461834
Journal Articles
2017. The Local Church's Defence of Human and Ethnic Rights in Chocó, Colombia. International Journal of Latin American Religions. 1: 309. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41603-017-0028-z
2017. La Memoria Social como Herramienta de la Justicia Transicional en Chile y Corea del Sur. Revista Colombiana de Sociología, 40 (1) Supl. pp. 129-147. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15446/rcs.v40n1Supl.65910
2013. Religious Emotions and Religious Peacebuilding: The Case of Bojayá (Colombia). Journal of the British Association for the Study of Religions, 15 http://diskus.basr.ac.uk/index.php/DISKUS/article/view/9/9
Book Chapters
2018. Religious Emotions and Forgiveness. In: John Brewer (ed.) Compromise after Conflict. Palgrave Mcmillan.
2018. (Forthcoming) with Acaron, T. Peacebuilding and Dance in Afro-Colombian Funerary Ritual. In: S. Appleby, J. Mitchell, H. Culberston and T. Hawksley (eds), The Arts of Peacebuilding, Oxford University Press 'Strategic Peacebuilding' Series.
2018. with Natascha Mueller-Hirth. Introduction: Temporal Perspectives on Transitional and Post-conflict societies. In: Natascha Mueller-Hirth and Sandra Rios Oyola (eds.) Time and Temporality in Transitional and Post-Conflict Societies. London: Routledge, Routledge Advances in Sociology series. ISBN: 9781138631366, pp. 1-16.
2018. with Natascha Mueller-Hirth. Conclusion: Defusing Time bombs: Towards and Understanding of Time and Temporality in Peacebuilding. In: In: Natascha Mueller-Hirth and Sandra Rios Oyola (eds.) Time and Temporality in Transitional and Post-Conflict Societies. London: Routledge, Routledge Advances in Sociology series. ISBN: 9781138631366, pp. 180-187.
2018. Peace Processes and Social Acceleration: The Case of Colombia. In: Natascha Mueller-Hirth and Sandra Rios Oyola (eds.) Time and Temporality in Transitional and Post-Conflict Societies. London: Routledge, Routledge Advances in Sociology series. ISBN: 9781138631366, pp. 50-64.
2015. Religion and the Social Reconstruction of Memory amid Violence in Bojayá, Chocó (Colombia): Creating TJ from Below. In: S. D. Brunn (Ed.), The changing world religion map: Sacred places, identities, practices and politics. New York: Springer. Pp. 3679-3699. ISBN: 9789401793766
2010. Análisis del Discurso Neopentecostal. In: C. Tejeiro (Ed.) El Pentecostalismo en Colombia. Prácticas religiosas, liderazgo y participación política. Observatorio Diversidad Religiosa. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. ISBN: 9789588063720
Dictionary Entry
(Forthcoming 2020). Religious Emotions and Religious Peacebuilding in Colombia, In: Jolyon Mitchell, Lesley Orr, Martyn Percy, Francesca Po (eds.). Wiley Blackwell Companion to Religion and Peace. John Wiley & Sons, Limited.
(Forthcoming 2018). Colombia, In: Gooren, Henri, ed. 2019. Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions. Religions of the World. Springer International Publishing. //www.springer.com/us/book/9783319270777.
2009. Protestantism in Colombia, In: D. Patte (Ed.) The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Other Publications
2017. Bojayá y los Medios: En contra de los discursos de Invisibilidad y Olvido. In: Verdadabierta.com http://www.verdadabierta.com/debate-la-prensa-en-torno-de-las-victimas/6647-bojaya-y-los-medios-en-contra-de-los-discursos-de-invisibilidad-y-olvido, May 22.
2016. Colombia: peace must overcome the legacy of fear. In: Latin America Bureau, http://lab.org.uk/colombia-peace-must-overcome-the-legacy-of-fear , April 27.
2010. Colombia: Religious Scenario. In: Hemisphere, vol 19, Spring. pp 11-12 (ISSN 08983038), https://lacc.fiu.edu/hemisphere/hemisphere_vol_19.pdf
2010. La construcción retórica de los milagros de sanación en Iglesias Neopentecostales, [Rhetorical construction of healing miracles in Neopentecostal Churches]. In: Memorias del II Congreso Internacional sobre diversidad y dinámicas del Cristianismo en América Latina, Diversidad y Dinámicas del Cristianismo en America Latina. Editorial Universidad San Buenaventura, Serie: Religión, Sociedad y Política.
2008. El Espíritu Neopentecostal y la Estética de Consumo, [The Neopentecostal Spirit and the Consummerism Aesthetic]. In: Memorias del XII Congreso Latinoamericano sobre Religión y Etnicidad: Cambios Culturales, Conflictos y Transformaciones Religiosas CD. Universidad del Rosario, Bogotá. ISBN: 970-94056-4-0
- Diploma
Year Label Educational Organization 2014 PhD in Sociology
Leiden University (NL)
Lecturer
2018 Elective: A World Made New Human Rights in Theory, in History and in Practice (3rd year)
Tutor
2018 Politics of Latin America (2nd year)
History of Latin America (1st year)
Master in International Relations
Lecturer
2017 Imagining and Building Borders: A Global History of Migration Regulation and Restriction
BA in International Studies
Lecturer
2017 Thesis Seminar: Transitional Justice, Peacebuilding and Conflict Resolution in Latin America (3rd year)
2017 Thesis Seminar: Probity and Corruption in Latin America (3rd year)
Tutor
2017 Cultural Studies (1st year)
2017 An Introduction to Modern Latin American History (tutor coordinator) (1st year)
2017 Philosophy of Science (1st year)
University of Aberdeen (UK)
Tutor
2012 Business Research Methods
2012 Introduction to Sociology II
2011 Introduction to Sociology I
Universidad San Buenaventura (CO)
Teaching Adjunct
2009 – 2010 Research Seminar at the Master Program on Religious Studies
Universidad del Rosario (CO)
Teaching Adjunct
2009 – 2010 Religion and Conflict in Latin America
2009 – 2010 World Religions
Universidad Nacional de Colombia (CO)
External course – Teaching Adjunct
2009 Violence, Religion and Conflict
Florida International University (US)
Teaching Adjunct / Teaching Assistant
2009 Meditation and Mystical Traditions (Online course)
2009 World Religions
2008 Religion: Analysis and Interpretation
Guest Lecturer (selected)
1 March 2018 Lecture on ‘Politics of Memory and Transitional Justice’ in the course Elective: Memory, Truth and Transitional Justice in Modern World History, Leiden University
20 November 2017 Lecture on ‘Transitional Justice’ in the course International Human Rights, Utrecht University
06 June 2016 co-directed workshop on ‘Qualitative Methods applied to Socio-Legal Research’, School of Human Rights Research, Utrecht University.
11 April 2016 Lecture on ‘Transitional Justice’ in the course International Human Rights, Utrecht University
16 March 2016 Lecture on ‘Women, International Law and Peacebuilding’ in the course Gender and International Humanitarian Law. Utrecht University
23 January 2016 Lecture on ‘Memorialization and Transitional Justice’ in the course Regime Change through Transitional Justice’. Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at the University of Erfurt
19 March 2015 Lecture on ‘Transitional Justice and Social Memory’ in the course ‘Transitional Justice and Good Governance’, Utrecht University
3 March 2015 Lecture on ‘Religion, Rituals and Conflict’ in the course ‘Securitisation of Development: Violence, Humanitarianism, Social Transformation’, International Institute of Social Studies
13 March 2013 Virtual Lecture on ‘Land rights and development’ in the course ‘Our Developing World’, Venier College, Quebec
FNRS Chargé de la Recherche, ISPOLE, Université catholique de Louvain, 2018-2021 How transitional justice helps to restore victims' human dignity; I focus on the case of Colombia's Truth commission, Historical Memory Commission and Reparations.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), Utrecht University, March 2015 – April 2016 NWO-ORA TJDI Project (The Impact of Transitional Justice Measures on Democratic Institution-Building). In charge of conducting comparative qualitative research in Chile, East Germany, Hungary, Japan, and South Korea. Additionally, I organized conferences, internal communication, and fieldwork interviews.
Doctoral research, University of Aberdeen, September 2010 – January 2014 Conducted fieldwork in Colombia, desk research and participated in multiple summer schools and international conferences.
Research Assistant, Florida International University, 2008-2009 Colombian Studies Institute at the Latin American and Caribbean Centre.
FIELDWORK EXPERIENCE
September 2016 Colombia (Medellín, Bogotá, Quibdó), interviews and field observation.
February 2016 Chile, TJDI Research Trip, interviews and field visit to memorials and museums.
January 2016, May 2015 Germany, TJDI Research Trip, interviews and field visit to memorials and museums.
July 2015 Hungary, TJDI Research Trip, interviews and field visit to memorials and museums.
May and August 2012 Colombia fieldwork, PhD.
2009 Florida fieldwork, MA.
ORGANIZED CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS
2015 ‘Disillusions and Accomplishments: How Transitional Justice Changes Societies’. 30- 31 July, Utrecht University.
2015 Collaborative TJDI workshop with research teams at Utrecht University and University of East London, Utrecht University.
2015 Conference ‘Challenging Conventional Wisdom: Assessing the Impact of TJ on Democratic Institution-building’. 18 November, Utrecht University.