Professor Dr. María Méndez Gutiérrez

Biography

María José Méndez Gutiérrez is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on political theory, development studies, political violence, and the dynamics of the illicit global economy, particularly in the Global South. She critically engages with feminist theory and methodologies, and her work incorporates anticolonial and decolonial thought. Currently, she leads a SSHRC-funded international research project that aims to document the history of the Salvadoran Civil War through a gendered political economy lens. Her recent publications include 'Acuerpar: A Decolonial Feminist Call for Embodied Solidarity' in Signs (2023) and a chapter in the Oxford Handbook of Gangs and Society (2024), where she reflects on her positionality as a researcher studying gangs in Central and South America.

Research Interests