We are thrilled to announce the arrival of Dr. Michael Wilson Becerril as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Peace and Conflict Studies Department!
Prof. Wilson Becerril will bring new courses into our curriculum, and this fall semester 2022, he will offer PEAC 030: War in Lived Experience and PEAC 045: Peace and Conflict in Latin America. Check out the course descriptions and take advantage of the add period.
Dr. Wilson Becerril joins us from the Peace and Conflict Studies Program at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN and before that the Peace and Conflict Studies Program at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York. He received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Politics at the University of California, Santa Cruz and his B.A. from the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, where he completed majors in Political Science and International Studies, with minors in Peace Studies, Anthropology, and History.
Of ten fellowships he has held, two include the Jennings Randolph Peace Scholarship at the United States Institute of Peace and a Ph.D. Fellowship with the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict.
Prof. Wilson Becerill’s first book, Resisting Extractivism: Peruvian Gold, Everyday Violence, and the Politics of Attention is published with Vanderbilt University Press. He is the author of peer-reviewed articles in journals that include Journal of Resistance Studies, Terrorism and Political Violence, Peace Review, and Feminist Review. Michael is also a public intellectual, publishing regularly in popular journalistic and online outlets.
Mike says that his scholarship “generates practical and policy-relevant understandings of pressing issues, focusing on how the environment is entangled with various forms of conflict and violence as well as with diverse notions of justice, peace, and security—particularly in Latin America.”
Prof. Wilson Becerill is an experienced instructor of peace and conflict studies courses including:
- Introduction to Peace and Conflict
- Violence & Peace in Latin America
- Environmental Justice in Latin America
- Conflict Resolution
- War in Lived Experience
- International Human Rights and Advocacy
Mike says of his teaching: ”…my teaching is explicitly crafted to cultivate critical reflection, via discussion and writing, on structural and embodied forms of power—including race, gender, sexuality, class, ability, age, and more—investigating histories of oppression and resistance through the experiences and voices of marginalized groups.”
We look forward to Prof. Wilson Becerril’s arrival on campus. Drop by his office hours, and if you see him on a sidewalk, stop and welcome him!