Profile
Dr. Abigail Perez Aguilera is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management at The New School. She has a background in International Relations and Justice Studies. Her work focus on the construction of expertise in environmental justice cases.Her most recent work is titled “Affective Multi-Species Resistance as Radical Imaginations” to be published in an edited volume by Bloomsbury in 2023. As part of her research she will published the article “The End of Nature and the Human: A Global South Ecofeminist Approach to the Anthropocene” in the edited volume titled “Critical Environmental Reflections in the Anthropocene: Making Sense of Nature” to be published in 2024 by Taylor and Francis. She has co-authored the following articles; “Decolonize, ReIndigenize: Planetary Crisis, Biocultural Diversity, Indigenous Resurgence and Land Rematriation” (2021) in the edited volume Contesting Extinctions: Critical Relationality, regenerative futures. Recently, she co-organized a panel discussion titled “Uncommon Collaborations: Bringing Humanities and Sciences Together for Planetary Healing (II) for the Biennial conference of the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (ASLE). This panel was part of her work for the Humanities for the Environment Latin American Observatory Panel. As part of the panel, she presented a paper titled “Mapping the Body-Territory to Restore the Commons: A Multidisciplinary Approach from Latin America” in August of 2022, she presented a paper titled “Cuerpo-Territorio and Multispecies Cosmopolitics" at the Earth Crisis and the Global Environmental Movement conference hosted by the Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management at The New School, based on her current research on land-body entanglements and decolonial approaches to critical geographies. She has spoken on panels about decolonial feminisms, radical imaginations and environmental justice. In 2022, she spoke in a panel titled Indigenous Futures organized by Columbia Climate School, and in November of 2022, she spoke at the Jahadee Sisters Summit Love We More where she spoke about decolonization, radical imaginations and Global South feminisms. She has been invited as a lecturer at Humboldt State University, and Northern Arizona University.
Degrees Held
PhD, Justice Studies and Social Inquiry, School of Social Transformation. Arizona State University (2016)
Masters in Science. Justice Studies and Social Inquiry, School of Social Transformation. Arizona State University. (2012)
Certificate. Women's Studies. Programa Internacional de Estudios de la Mujer. Colegio de México.
Graduate Specialization. Sociology of Higher Education. Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana-Azcapotzalco, Mexico (2009)
Bachelor of Arts in International Relations, Honors Thesis. Universidad de las Americas, Mexico. (2006)
Professional Affiliation
Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment
Humanities for the Environment Observatory, HfE
Recent Publications
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Perez Aguilera, Abigail. (2025). Affective Multispecies Resistance as Radical Imaginations. Grassroots Responses to Extractivism: Case Studies from Around the World, 215.
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Figueroa Helland, L. E., Perez Aguilera, Abigail., & Mantz, F. (2021). Decolonize, ReIndigenize: planetary crisis, biocultural diversity, indigenous resurgence, and land rematriation. Contesting extinctions: decolonial and regenerative futures, 61-150.
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Figueroa-Helland, Leonardo, Cassidy Thomas, and Abigail Pérez Aguilera. "Decolonizing food systems: Food sovereignty, indigenous revitalization, and agroecology as counter-hegemonic movements." Perspectives on Global Development and Technology 17.1-2 (2018): 173-201.
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Perez Aguilera, Abigail (2016). The Wirikuta Case Abigail Pérez Aguilera. Ecological Crisis and Cultural Representation in Latin America: Ecocritical Perspectives on Art, Film, and Literature, 179.
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Perez Aguilera, Abigail (2016). The Tangibility of Maize: Indigenous Literature, Bioart, and Violence in Mexico. In Ecocriticism and Indigenous Studies (pp. 222-240). Routledge.
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Pérez-Aguilera, Abigail, & Figueroa-Helland, L. E. (2011). Beyond Acculturation: Political" Change", Indigenous Knowledges, and Intercultural Higher-Education in Mexico. Journal for Critical Education Policy Studies (JCEPS), 9(2).
Performances and Appearances
2025
Moderator. Rhythms of Change: The Perception and Mapping of Dynamic Processes. Art/Switch (New York) and Transparent Eyeball (Prague), hosted by Parsons School of Design, New York, NY. October 18, 2025.
2025
Panel Speaker. “Water Justice and Affectivity.” Horizontes Posibles para Futuros Post-extractivistas. Chiapas, Mexico.
2025
Panel Speaker. “Water Justice and Beyond.” Futures Initiative: The Future of the Panel. CUNY Graduate Center, New York, NY. April 22, 2025.
2024
Panel Speaker. “Ecofeminist Perspectives in Times of Crisis: A Multispecies Approach.” Escuela de Pluriversos Climáticos. Valparaíso, Chile. November 2024.
2024
Guest Speaker. “Environmental Policy and Expert Knowledge.” Universidad de los Lagos. Chiloe, Chile.
2024
Guest Speaker. “Decolonial Feminisms and Land–Body Entanglements in the Americas.” Workshop organized by Indigenous Collective, La Paz, Bolivia.
2024
Guest Speaker. “Toxicity and Land–Body Entanglements.” Tecnológico Autónomo de México, Mexico City, Mexico. August 13, 2024.
2024
Speaker. “Ecofeminism as Radical Imagination: A Body–Territory Approach.” Giant Hogweed: From Eradication to Nourishment, from Struggle to Care Symposium. New York, NY. May 9, 2024. Sponsored by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic and the European Union.
2024
Speaker. “A Global South Ecofeminist Approach to the Anthropocene.” Spring 2024 Speaker Series, Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA. April 11, 2024.
2022
Speaker. “Liberation at the Intersections.” Indo-Caribbean Gender Summit, Jahajee Sisters, Queens, NY. November 12, 2022.
2022
Panel Speaker. “Anti-Patriarchal and Anti-Racist Environmental Politics: Black, Indigenous and Global South Feminist Approaches.” The New School, New York, NY. August 9–13, 2022 (Online).
Research Interests
Radical imaginations, (Indigenous and Afro)futurity, multispecies relations, science and technoogy studies (STS) environmental humanities, climate change, environmental justice, environmental humanities, gender studies, toxicity and pollution. (Latin America and US Southwest)