Olga Sanmiguel-Valderrama

Born and raised in Colombia, South America, Dr. Sanmiguel-Valderrama practiced law in Colombia for five years before migrating to Canada in her late 20s.  Dr. Sanmiguel-Valderrama earned her LLM in international human rights law at the University of Ottawa, where she also worked at the Human Rights Research and Education Center co-directing a women's project with CEMUJER in El Salvador (Central America) funded by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).  In 2004, she graduated with her Ph.D. in Law from Osgoode Hall Law School at York University in Toronto, where she was also affiliated to CERLAC, The Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean at York University.

On the basis of extensive fieldwork in Colombia, her research and publications examine the contradictions between neoliberal international trade and military aid on the one hand, and respect for individual and collective human rights –in particular labor, environmental, and equality rights for women and racial minorities—on the other hand. These relationships and contradictions are examined through case studies where both trade and human rights laws and practices are in operation: first, the Colombian export-led flower industry. Her upcoming book (2012) is provisionally titled “No Roses Without Thorns: Trade, Militarization, and Human Rights in the Production and Export of Colombian Flowers” (click here to see book prospectus). Second, though the case of NAFTA and undocumented migration of Mexican and Central American into the USA.

Dr. Sanmiguel -Valderrama have published various articles in prestigious international academic journals presenting her research findings on the interrelationship between globalization, international trade, militarism, social reproduction, and human rights from multidisciplinary and transnational anti-racist feminist approaches. Her research have been supported by competitive grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Charles Phelps Taft Research Center, and the University of Cincinnati Research Council. Professor's Sanmiguel-Valderrama current areas of research and teaching are family-work conflict under globalization, the relationships between military aid, trade, and human rights in Colombia, feminist mothering, women, gender and law, international women's rights, and women's labor rights.

Ph.D. (Law): Osgoode Hall Law School, York University Toronto, Canada, 2004 (
Human rights implications of free trade agreements.)

University Teaching Practicum Certificate: Center for the Support of Teaching, York University Toronto, Canada, 2004

LL.M.: Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa Ontario, Canada, 1995

LL.B.: University of Los Andes Bogotá, Colombia, 1987

Languages:
Spanish: speak, read, and write (mother tongue)
English: speak, read, and write (second language)
French: read:

2006 -To Present Assistant Professor of Women's, Gender and Sexualities Studies and Faculty Affiliate, Department of Sociology, College of Arts and Science of Arts & Sciences, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio

2005 -2006 Friends of Women's Studies Visiting Assistant Professor, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio

2004 -2005 Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Criminal Justice and Social Welfare , Nipissing University, North Bay, Ontario, Canada

2003 -2004 Teaching Assistant, Labour Studies Program, Division of Social Sciences, "Introduction to Labour Relations in Canada", York University, Toronto, Canada

1999 -2003 Teaching Assistant, Law and Society Program, Division of Social Sciences, "Women and the Law", York University, Toronto, Canada

1987 -1992 Solicitor and Barrister--, Practiced labour, civil, and administrative law. , Bogota, Colombia

-1986 Teaching Assistant, Faculty of Law, Community Legal Aid Services Program, Universidad de los Andes, Bogota, Colombia

2019 - Leader (PI) of ¨The Americas, Latinx, and Indigenous People´s Research Center or ÄIRC.¨ College of Arts and Sciences Restructuring Initiative Grand for 5,000$, The University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati

2019 -2020 University of Cincinnati TAFT Research Center Fellow, Cincinnati

2017 -2019 Director of Latin American, Caribbean and Latinx Studies Program (LACLS), I created the BA and LAC&LS and transformed the Certificate on Latin American Studied to LACLS Certificate, The University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati

2017 -2019 Director of Social Justice Certificate, I created and established it, The University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati

2014 - Associate Professor, Department of Women´s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, University of Cincinnati , Cincinnati

2011 -2012 University Research Council (UC) Faculty Research Grant Type:Grant Level:University

2010 -2010 TAFT Research Center (UC) Travel for Research Grant Completed Type:Grant Level:University

2008 -2009 UC Faculty Development Council, Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CET&L) Individual Faculty Development Grant Completed Type:Grant Level:University

05-22-2007 -06-29-2007 UC Faculty Development Council Individual Faculty Development Grant Completed Type:Grant Level:University

2006 -2007 UC Faculty Development Council, Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning (CET&L) Individual Faculty Development Grant Completed Type:Grant Level:University

2005 -2006 Friends of Women's Studies Research and Conference Traveling Grant Completed Type:Grant

2002 -2003 Osgoode Hall Law School, Graduate Program in Law. Peter W. Hogg Graduate Award Completed Type:Grant

1998 -1999 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship Completed Type:Fellowship

1997 -1998 Faculty of Graduate Studies, York University Dean of Graduate Studies Academic Excellence Scholarship Completed

1996 -1997 Osgoode Hall Law School, York University Mary Jane Mossman, Feminist Legal Theory Scholarship Completed

1995 -1996 Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) Grant to develop a program for Promoting Women’s Rights in El Salvador, on behalf of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre, University of Ottawa. Award granted in conjunction with the NGO "CEMUJER" in El Salvador.

1994 -1995 Admission Scholarship, Graduate Studies in Law, University of Ottawa, School of Graduate Studies and Research.

2019 -2020 Charles Phelps Taft Taft Research Fellow Role:Fellow Active Type:Fellowship

2019 -2020 College of Arts and Sciences Restructuring Initiative Role:Collaborator 50005 Active Type:Grant

2019 -2019 UC´s Latino Faculty Association Distinguished University Leadership Award Role:PI Type:Grant

2019 -2019 Darwin T. Turner Champion Award Role:PI Type:Grant

2018 -2018 Faculty Development for Conference Presentation Role:PI Type:Grant

Work in Progress

Co-edited volume with Australian scholar Suzette Mitchell, "Where did I go? Reflection on Later Mothering among Highly Educated Women"Spring 2019. 
 

"Latinx in Agribusinneses: Gender, Race, Class and Citenzship in Canadian, U.S.A. and Columbian Labor and Immigration Regimes"

"Transnational Surrogacy in the Age of Globalization," coauthored with UC's MA in WGSS Rashida Manuela 

Invited Presentations

Sanmiguel-Valderrama, Olga (05-2018. ) Women’s negotiations and re-negotiations of unpaid social and reproductive labor in the global economy .Southern Labor Studies Conferences, Athens, Georgia . Level:State

Sanmiguel-Valderrama, Olga (04-2019. ) Women's Labors around the World under Globalization .UC's Research and Innovation Week, Cincinnati. UC. . Level:University

Sanmiguel, Valderrama, Olga (02-2018. ) Sanctuary Cities and the Rule of Law .UC School of Law Round Table, UC. UC. . Level:University

Sanmiguel-Valderrama, Olga (2017. ) Women’s work: sustaining the global economy through underpaid and unpaid labor .Berkshire 17 Conference of Women Historians , New York City . UC. . Level:State

Sanmiguel-Valderrama, Olga (2016. ) "Neoliberal "Free" Trade Demands on the Home: Unequal Exchange, Community Mothers, and Flower Workers in Colombia .National Women's Studies Association Conference, Montreal . Other Institution. . Level:International

Sanmiguel-Valderrama, Olga (2016. ) Women’s Paid and Unpaid Labor Shaping the Post-2007 Global Economy .Conference of the International Journal of Feminist Politics, Cincinnati. UC. . Level:University

Sanmiguel-Valderrama, Olga (2014. ) Integration of ILO Conventions into the Colombian Legal Regime: What use for women’s paid, underpaid, and unpaid labor? .the European Social Science History Conference, Vienna, Austria. UC. . Level:International

Sanmiguel-Valderrama, Olga (2014. ) Women's ILO: Transnational Networks, Working Conditions, Gender Equality .European Social Sciene History. Other Institution. . Level:International

Sanmiguel, Valderrama, Olga (2013. ) Transnational Feminist Encounters through Collaborative International Online Learning .National Women's Studies Association 2013 , Cinncinnati . UC. . Level:State

Sanmiguel-Valderrama, Olga (2013. ) Methods, Means and Mores: A Roundtable on “Doing” Global and Transnational Women and Gender Research .National Women's Studies Association, Cincinnati. UC. . Level:State

Sanmiguel-Valderrama, Olga (08-2013. ) "Global Women’s Work” .Labor and Working Class History Association (LAWCHA) , New York City . UC. . Level:State

Sanmiguel-Valderrama, Olga (03-2013. ) (In Press. ) Collective Resistance to Precarious forms of Labor in the Context of the Colombian fresh-cut flower industry .Project for Global Workers, Pennsylvania State University . UC. . Level:University

Paper Presentations

(03-2013. ) Collective Resistance to Precarious forms of Labor in the Context of the Colombian fresh-cut flower industry .

(10-2012. ) Criminalizing Manual Mexican Labor in the Age of Border Securitization: Impacts on Families and on their Social Reproduction Processes " .Cincinnati.

(05-2012. ) Preferential trade accords between Colombia and the USA: their implications for Colombia's sovereignty .San Francisco, California. Professional Meeting. Level:International

(07-27-2011. ) "Colorblindness in the Free Trade deals between Colombia and the USA : Why some Colombian minority groups oppose the FTA." .UC. Level:University

(06-2011. ) "Transnationalization and Racialization of Social Reproduction through Colombia-USA Preferential Trade Agreements: The Case of Community Mothers and Flower Workers" .San Francisco, California. Conference. Level:National

(11-2010. ) “Waves of Resistance in the Colombia Flower Industry” .Denver, Colorado. Conference. Level:National

(10-2010. ) “These Weapons are not just for Show: Class, Gender and Race Implications of Colombian-USA Military Cooperation Agreements” .Toronto, Canada. Other Institution. Level:International

(10-22-2009. ) “Community Mothers and Flower workers in Colombia: Transnationalization of Social Reproduction and Production for the Global Market” .Toronto, Canada. Conference. Level:International

(02-2009. ) “Resistance in the Colombia Flower Industry: Celebrating Flower workers’ day and Unionization” .Berea, Kentucky. Other Institution. Level:National

(02-2009. ) “Class, Gender and Race Struggles behind the Wars on Drugs and Terrorism in Colombia” .Athens, Ohio. Conference. Level:International

(06-2008. ) “Class, Gender and Race Struggles behind the Wars on Drugs and Terrorism in Colombia” .Cincinnati, Ohio. Conference. Level:National

(02-14-2007. ) “Agency, Codes of Conducts, and Collective Rights to Bargain in the fresh-cut Flower industries of Colombia and Ecuador” .Cincinnati, Ohio. UC. Level:University

(03-2006. ) “Labour Standards and Global Markets: Colombia’s and Ecuador’s fresh-cut Flower Industry in a Comparative Perspective” .San Juan, Puerto Rico. Professional Meeting. Level:International

(11-07-2005. ) “No Rose Without a Thorn: The Impact of International Trade on Women's Labour and Human Rights in the Colombian Flower Industry” .Cincinnati, Ohio. UC. Level:Local

(10-28-2004. ) “USA Conditionalities of Trade with Colombia: The War on Illegal Drugs, and Increasing USA military presence in Colombia” .Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Professional Meeting. Level:International

(05-06-2004. ) “Workers and Communities’ Struggles to Re-Gain Labour Rights Through International Cooperation and Codes of Conducts” .Toronto, Canada . Conference. Level:International

(05-28-2002. ) “Impact of Neo-Liberal Free Trade on Colombian Labour Legislation: the Case of the Colombian Flower Industry” .Vancouver, Canada. Professional Meeting. Level:National

(10-12-2001. ) “International Free Trade and Human Rights: Two Incompatible Goals?” .Toronto, Canada. Conference. Level:International

(05-08-2001. ) “Rosy or Thorny Trade? Colombia’s Export of Flowers: Lowering labour Standards and Increasing Environmental Degradation” .Toronto, Canada. Other Institution. Level:International

(05-2000. ) “Neo-liberalism and Free Trade in Colombia: Lowering Labour Standards in the 1990s” .Toronto, Canada. Conference. Level:International

(03-1999. ) “Impact of Structural Adjustment and Economic Integration of the Enforceability of Women’s Labour Rights in Colombia” .Bogotá, Colombia. Other Institution. Level:International

(07-1998. ) “Globalization, International Trade Agreements and the Enforcement of Labour and Women’s Rights” .Ontario, Canada. Conference. Level:International

(10-2012. ) “Border Enforcement at Family Sites: Social Reproductive Implications for Mexican and Central American Manual Labor in the United States,” sponsored by the Kunz Center for Social Research, Urban and Race Workshops, Department of Sociology, University of Cincinnati.

(05-2018. ) Women’s negotiations and re-negotiations of unpaid social and reproductive labor in the global economy .Athens, Georgia,. Conference.

(04-2018. ) Women's Labors around the World under Globalization .Cincinnati.

(02-2018. ) Sanctuary Cities and the Rule of Law .Cincinnati.

(2017. ) Women’s work: sustaining the global economy through underpaid and unpaid labor .New York City .

Neoliberal "Free" Trade Demands on the Home: Unequal Exchange, Community Mothers, and Flower Workers in Colombia (11-2016. ) Neoliberal "Free" Trade Demands on the Home: Unequal Exchange, Community Mothers, and Flower Workers in Colombia .Montreal, Canada.

(2016. ) Women’s Paid and Unpaid Labor Shaping the Post-2007 Global Economy .Cincinnati.

(04-2014. ) Integration of ILO Conventions into the Colombian Legal Regime: What use for women’s paid, underpaid, and unpaid labor? .Cincinnati.

(11-2013. ) Transnational Feminist Encounters through Collaborative International Online Learning .Cincinnati .

(11-2013. ) Methods, Means and Mores: A Roundtable on “Doing” Global and Transnational Women and Gender Research .Cincinnati.

(06-2013. ) Global Women’s Work .New York City.

(03-20-2013. ) Collective Resistance to Precarious forms of Labor in the Context of the Colombian fresh-cut flower industry .Pennsylvania State University.

Event Organized

Panel "Dirty War and Displacement in Colombia: A Video Screening and Discussion”featuring two short documentaries “What Happened in El Firme: Forced Displacement on the Colombian Pacific” and “The Hidden Story: Confronting Colombia's Dirty War” at the Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean (CERLAC), York University (moderator and discussant) Symposium 01-23-2002 Toronto, Canada Level:International

Panel, “International Institutions: Law, Culture, and Trade,” Conference on “The Reach of Law,” Joint Annual Meetings of the (American) Law and Society Association and Canadian Law and Society Association (panel chair) Conference 05-28-2002 06-02-2002 Vancouver, Canada Level:International

Latin American Studies Program, College of Arts and Science of Arts and Sciences, University of Cincinnati Board Member Type:University/College Service Level:University 2006 -To Present

TAFT Student Awards Committee (Student Awards Committee ) Member Type:University/College Service Level:University 2010 -To Present

Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department (Scholarship and Grants standing committee ) Type:Departmental Service Level:Department 2010 -2013

Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department, University of Cincinnati (North American Women's Studies concentration and federally-funded study abroad program in Mexico and Canada ) Committee Member Type:Departmental Service Level:Department 2005 -To Present

Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department, University of Cincinnati (Joint degree program (MA/JD) ) Representative Type:Departmental Service Level:Department 2009 -2010

Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department, University of Cincinnati (Graduate Studies Committee ) Member Type:Departmental Service Level:Department 2006 -2010

University of Cincinnati (Ad Hoc on "workload" ) Member Type:Departmental Service Level:Department 2010 -2010

National Women's Studies Association (Conflict Resolution ) Committee Member Type:Service to Professional Associations Level:National 2006 -2008

Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies Department, University of Cincinnati (Ad hoc on "library acquisitions" ) Member Type:Departmental Service Level:Department 2010 -2010

Division of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, York University (Tenure and Promotion ) Representative Type:University/College Service Level:University 2002 -2004

Colombian Mingas. USA-Colombia Free-Trade, and Mingas-no bases, (Interrogating and advocating against USA military and corporate intervention in Colombia ) Committee Member Type:Community Service Level:International 2009 -To Present

(Latin American, Carribean, and Latinx Studies ) Program Director 2017

The Americas, Latinx, and Indigenous People's Research Center (AIRC) (Proposal ) Director 2018

Judea Studies (Tenure Committee ) Committee Member 2018 -2018

Social Justice Certificate (Proposal Writing ) Director 2016 -2017

Taft Research Center (Executive Board ) Member 2015 -2019

(Taft Faculty Fellowships ) Committee Member 2016 -2018

(AAUP Associates Council ) Member 2016 -2018

(Interdisciplinary Programs ) Committee Member 2013 -2017

Latin American, Carribean, and Latinx Studies (Advisory Board ) Department Head 2016

Taft Global Studies Group Co-Director 2011 -2018

Arts and Sciences Dean's Office (Dean's Fellowship Awards ) Reviewer 2013 -2014

(Undergraduate Director's Council ) Committee Member 2013 -2014

WGGS (Search Committee ) Member Type:Departmental Service Level:University 2011 -2012

Latin American, Carribean, and Latinx Studies (Advisory Board Latin American, Carribean, and Latinx Studies ) Committee Chair Type:Departmental Service Level:University 2016

WGSS (Hiring Committee for the Urban Future Initiative for WGSS position ) Committee Member Type:Departmental Service Level:University 2016 -2016

WGSS (Sub-Committee to Revise WGSS's bylaws and RPT ) Member Type:Departmental Service Level:University 2016 -2017

WGSS (Human Sexuality Educator Position ) Member Type:Departmental Service Level:University 2011 -2012

Colombia, Latin America, militarization, trade, human rights, women's human rights, women's labor rights, flower industry, work family life conflict, mothering, feminist legal, law, legal, women, international trade

2007 -To Present: Association for the Research on Mothering (ARM)

2005 -To Present: Latin American Studies Association (LASA)

2005 -To Present: National Women's Studies Association (NWSA)

2001 -2005: Canadian Law and Society Association (CLSA)

2004 -2004: Canadian Association for Latin Americn and Caribbean Studies (CALACS)

2011 -To Present: Law and Society Association (USA)

WORK-FAMILY CONFLICT Level:Undergraduate

WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS Level:Undergraduate

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS Level:Graduate

FEMINIST THEORY: GLOBAL Level:Undergraduate

FEMINIST THEORY: GLOBAL Level:Graduate

FEMINIST METHODS Level:Both

LATINA FEMINISMS Level:Both

WOMEN, CULTURE, and POWER Level:Undergraduate

WOMEN GLOBAL ISSUES Level:Undergraduate

INTRODUCTION TO WOMEN'S, GENDER AND SEXUALITIES STUDIES Level:Undergraduate

INTRODUCTION to LATIN AMERICA, CARRIBEAN, and LATINX STUDIES Level:Undergraduate

-AMIT-4012 MRI DIR PRAC II Work-Family Conflict Level:Undergraduate

WOMEN CULTURE, and POWER Level:Undergraduate

INTRODUCTION TO LATIN AMERICAN, CARRIBEAN, and LATINX STUDIES Level:Undergraduate

WOMEN, GENDER, AND THE LAW Level:Undergraduate

WOMEN GLOBAL ISSUES Level:Undergraduate

GENDER, RACE, CLASS, and SEXUALLITY Level:Undergraduate

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS Level:Both

FEMENIST THEORIES: TRANSNATIONAL Level:Both

WOMEN AND ECONOMY Level:Undergraduate

FEMENIST METHODOLOGIES AND METHODS Level:Both

LATIN AMERICA AND LATIN FEMENISMS Level:Graduate

NORTH AMERICAN FEMENISMS Level:Graduate

FEMENIST THEORY: CONTEMPORARY ISSUES Level:Graduate

FEMENIST THEORY: COMPARATOVE PERSPECTIVES Level:Graduate

SOCIOLOGY OF INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS

GENDER AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

INTRODUCTION TO LABOUR RELATIONS in CANADA