Center for InterAmerican Studies

We are cordially inviting to our next IAS colloquium on Tuesday, 8th of July 2025 from 18 to 20hs (CET) at Bielefeld University, Main Building, Room V2-213.

José Antonio Villareal (FLACSO Ecuador) will present his work on "Mapping up the Plebeian Experience: Leadership, Political Agency, and Statecraft Process in Guayaquil-Ecuador From 1960 to Present Days".

José Antonio Villarreal Velásquez holds a PhD in History from Bielefeld University and a Master in Sociology from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO), Ecuador. He is an Associate Professor at FLACSO, Ecuador in the Departments of Sociology and Gender Studies. He is the former director of the Institute of Democracy (IDD-Ecuador) and former academic co-manager of the Maria Sybilla Merian Advanced Center for Latin American Studies (CALAS). He has been a visiting professor at the Catholic University of Ecuador, and the University of Guadalajara-Mexico, taught post graduated seminars at the University of Chile and the Universities of Leipzig and Bielefeld and participated as a researcher in various interdisciplinary projects related to urban transformations, the configuration of socio-political processes and practices of the inhabitants of the popular sectors in Latin America and Ecuador. His publications and research interests are related to the fields of urban and political history, political ethnography, collective action and statecraft processes, among others.