This seminar will be presented by Guillermo Douglass-Jaimes.
Environmental and health threats impact people in places in an increasingly urban world. The complex, interrelated, and dynamic nature of these problems requires theoretical and methodological approaches that match that complexity. This talk provides an overview of my dissertation study and field work in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where I aim to understand how classifications of urban boundaries are constructed by the state, and contested and negotiated by community members. Using a mixed-methods approach, I explore ways we can bridge statistical and spatial analysis with qualitative data from communities to better address urban health disparities. I combine state gathered data from the Brazilian census, municipal statistics on favela slum communities, and community gathered mapping data along with ethnographic interviews of community member. Furthermore, as a queer scholar of color I bring my own intersectional identity into my framing and understanding of how and why we need multiple perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches to examine disparities that cut across identity groups.
Speaker Bio:
Guillermo Douglass-Jaimes is currently pursuing his PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on the social and spatial determinants of health with special attention to place and neighborhood effects on health. Guillermo uses geospatial analysis, and qualitative research methods, to highlight localized health disparities. His work is situated in global health equity and is driven by an interest and inquiry in how conceptions of place and identity can be products of social marginalization as well as sources for community resilience. Guillermo teaches a research methods course in Masters Urban Sustainability Program at Antioch University Los Angeles. As a first generation college graduate, Guillermo is committed to empowering students to succeed in academic and professional careers by uncovering the hidden structures that create differentiated outcomes through his mentoring. Guillermo’s work has entailed collaborations with environmental health scientists, social scientists and epidemiologists as well as community-based organizations working on environmental health and environmental justice issues. Guillermo holds a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from UCLA and a Bachelor of Science from the University of California, Riverside.
