Marcela Velasco

Marcela Velasco is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Colorado State University. Her teaching focuses on comparative government, Latin American politics, and environmental politics.

• Education: Ph.D. from Boston University

Her research explores ethnic politics, indigenous social movements, territorial governance, and environmental justice in Latin America, with a focus on Colombia. She employs collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches to study institutional change and the intersection of cultural identity with environmental policy.

Recent publications highlight themes of indigenous autonomy, collective trauma in ethnic territories, social movement influence on institutional reform, and environmental governance in Latin America. These works often analyze power dynamics between local communities and state institutions.

She teaches courses on Environmental Politics in the Developing World and Comparative Indigenous Politics in the Americas, addressing topics like sustainable development, multicultural rights, and the role of indigenous governance in environmental policy.