Meet Ana Braconnier De León, 2021 Advancing Research Grants for Indigenous Politics Recipient

Ana Braconnier De León

Project Title: Indigenous Litigation facing Corporate Influence at the Court in Guatemala: An Indigenized Network (Ana Braconnier De Leon, CIESAS Mexico City)

Dr. Ana Braconnier De León is a 2021-2023 Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social in Mexico City. Her research focuses on judicial politics, Indigenous litigation, and elite countermobilization in Latin America, specifically in Guatemala. She is currently working on her book project where she examines the process of backlash against the high courts when these courts challenge the entrenched “extractive” interests of the political and economic elites. Through an in-depth qualitative study of the judicialization of natural resource extraction in Indigenous territories and corruption-related cases, she unveils the colonial foundations of the conservative status quo prevailing in the country. Additionally, Ana is working on two comparative research projects: one on land rights claiming in plural legal regimes; the other on truth commissions and conflict-related sexual violence. As a non-Indigenous scholar, she draws from activist scholarship to collaborate with grassroots in the struggle for justice in Guatemala. Ana received her PhD in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2021 and completed a Master’s in Latin American Politics at Sciences Po Paris in 2009. In between, she worked as a lecturer in Guatemalan universities and as a consultant for non-profits.

About the APSA Advancing Research Grants for Indigenous Politics Recipients

The APSA Diversity and Inclusion Advancing Research Grants provide support for the advancement of scholars from historically racial and ethnic underrepresented groups and for research that examines political science phenomena affecting historically underserved communities and underrepresented groups and communities. In December 2021, APSA also awarded eight projects for the APSA Diversity and Inclusion Advancing Research Grants for Indigenous Politics for a combined amount of $20,000. Read about the funded projects.