Professor Dr. Luis Van Isschot

Biography

Luis van Isschot is a historian specializing in Modern Latin America, particularly Colombia. He authored the book "The Social Origins of Human Rights: Protesting Political Violence in Colombia’s Oil Capital, 1919-2010," published by University of Wisconsin Press in 2015 and later translated into Spanish by Editorial Universidad del Rosario in 2020. Professor van Isschot has been named a Faculty Research Fellow at the Jackman Humanities Institute at the University of Toronto for the 2025-2026 academic year, working on a project entitled "Corporate Lives and Landscapes: Construction, Development, and Representation of Foreign-Owned Enclaves in South America’s Oil Frontier." He is currently completing a book on civil society and organized popular tribunals, including the Bertrand Russell Tribunal and the Permanent Peoples Tribunal. His project has received support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and he is engaged in research concerning the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Van Isschot is a member of the Observatoire Violences research team, led by Marie-Christine Doran at the University of Ottawa, concentrating on the criminalization of protest in Latin America. His professional work has included involvement with Colombia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission from 2019 to 2023, where he conducted interviews with exiles living in Canada and organized outreach activities. He has written legal opinions regarding human rights violations and crimes against humanity in Colombia.

Research Interests

Experience