Lynn Stephen, ‘Why Central American Women Fleeing Violence Seek Asylum’

The George and Ann Platt Distinguished Lecture presents Lynn Stephen, the Philip H. Knight Chair and Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon and a participating faculty member in ethnic studies, Latin American studies, and women’s and gender studies. She founded the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies and served as director for nine years (2007-2016). She served as president elect and president of the 12,000 member Latin American Studies Association from 2017-2019.

Stephen’s scholarly work centers on the impact of globalization, migration, nationalism and the politics of culture on indigenous communities in the Americas. Her current collaborative research explores the structural opportunities and challenges that facilitate and impede indigenous women’s access to gendered justice in Guatemala and the U.S. She explores this question through comparative research on two routes to gendered justice that some indigenous Guatemalan women have used: specialized courts for crimes of femicide and other forms of violence against women in Guatemala and gender-based asylum in U.S. immigration courts.

For more information, visit the Institute for the Study of the Americas website.