I am a historian focusing on Colombia and Latin America, who is especially interested in human rights, the production of knowledge about violence, memory and visual studies, drug policy and the war on drugs. I have a B.A in Political Science and an M.A. in History from the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. I also completed my History PhD at the University of Montreal. My dissertation examined the tensions between human rights and humanitarian discourses that shape policies, institutions and how we think about, analyze, debate and remember the past in Colombia.

More information about Nicolas Rodriguez Idarraga

Research

Nicolás Rodríguez´s academic interests center on the production of knowledge about violence and human rights as a discourse that is mobilized and as a category that makes violence socially legible. He is also interested in critical security studies, drug trafficking, drug policy, and Latin-American history. His research focuses in memory studies. Specifically Nicolas’ is currently looking at visual representations of victims in the Colombian conflict and trying to answer how do the discourses and images of humanitarianism and human rights mobilize power differently. He has conducted extensive fieldwork in Colombia, Canada and United States. At Leiden University he teaches on security studies, research design, and the relation between memory studies and world politics. He has received funding by the Administrative Department of Science and Technology and Innovation in Colombia (Colciencias), the Canada Research Chair in Latin America, the Research Network on Latin America (Réal), the Montreal Center for International Studies (Cérium), and the University of Montreal.