Brenda Pereya, Academic Director of Argentina Program, SIT Study Abroad
Brenda Pereyra, is presently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Buenos Aires' prestigious College of Social Sciences. Professor Pereyra is a trained social worker who has been a faculty member at the University of Buenos Aires and University of Lanús for the past 18 years teaching a variety of graduate and undergraduate courses. Her emphasis has been in supervising senior theses and pre-professional practices, as well as teaching about analysis and observation of social problems in Argentina. During the summer of 2008 professor Pereyra was the recipient of the Linnus Palme scholarship that afforded her the opportunity to conduct research and teach at the University of Lund. While in Sweden, she guest lectured in numerous courses sharing her research on social movements in Argentina and social work in Latin America.
Human rights are inherently a part of professor Pereyra's expertise as reflected in her research on social inequality, labor rights and combating poverty. Professor Pereyra has collaborated and consulted with diverse stakeholders in South America working to combat inequity, from governmental entities to community organizations. In an ever-changing world, where movement among international borders is more fluid than ever, Professor Pereyra's research also explores the phenomenon of migration in Argentina, specifically within Buenos Aires. Her present research focuses on the evaluation of impoverished neighborhood organizations' reactions to the national economic crisis. More specifically, Professor Pereyra is conducting groundbreaking research that analyzes community soup kitchens and the collective coping strategies developed in the city of Lanús in Buenos Aires. Professor Pereyra's most recent published work focuses on migration, globalization and gender in Argentina and Chile. Her other publications span a wide spectrum from microcredit, voter registration and rights to elements present in a healthy citizenry.
Professor Pereyra was the Academic Director of SIT Study Abroad's Southern Cone: Regional Integration, Development and Social Change from 2002 until she helped to create the Argentina program Social Movements and Human Rights in 2006. Running a program focused on Human Rights for four years has given her broad experience on different aspects of this topic in the context of Argentina. She notes that working with students to understand the interrelationship between social movements and human rights has been particularly rewarding.
