Clara Pérez Medina

Clara (they/them) is a fifth year PhD student in the Department of Geography studying colonial and contemporary connections between Venezuela and the U.S., starting in the colonial period with the introduction of the printing press in Venezuela and stretching to the present-day migration of Venezuelans into the United States and the study of childhood trauma. Their dissertation explores the dynamism of racial systems as they interact in transnational, trans-empire contexts, specifically between Venezuela and the United States and their Spanish and British historical antecedents, and their intimate embodiments. Their work is generously supported by the National Science Foundation and the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship. They work also as a photographer, videographer, and filmmaker at the Latinx cultural center La Peña and in the broader Bay Area.