I am a sociocultural and urban anthropologist focusing on Latin America. My research interests include city planning and design, urban law and bureaucracy, materiality and the urban environment, infrastructure and technology, territory and property regimes, and militarism and security.
Photo by Leyda Cardozo. Portal El Tunal, Bogotá, Colombia, 2023.
Originally from Bogotá, Colombia, I have conducted research in the city during the past two decades. Early in my career I worked as a researcher on urban security and governance in Colombia. From 2000 to 2004 I was a consultant at Bogotá's City Government.
As Associate Professor of Urban Anthropology at the University Honors College at Portland State University, I am developing an urban-based, research intensive teaching program. My first book explores the relations between urban knowledge, downtown renewal, and everyday repertoires and practices of (in)security in Bogotá. I am also working on two new research projects. The first is a comparative study of aerial cable car technologies and urban engineering in Latin American cities. The second is an investigation of frontier urbanism, sustainability, and (post)oil cities in the eastern plains region of Colombia.
My research has been funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation, the Social Science Research Council and Open Societies Foundation, the Inter-American Foundation, and the American Council of Learned Societies.
Contact: fedperez@pdx.edu