Arnisson Andre Ortega
Assistant Professor, Geography and the Environment
Degree
Ph.D. Geography, University of Washington, Seattle, 2012
Specialties
Community geography, Urban geography, Population Geography, Global south cities, Migration, Transnationalism, Suburbanization, Population, Socio-spatial theory, Decolonization, Quantitative Methods, Mixed-methods, Critical Demography, Counter-mapping
Personal Website
http://www.andreortega.net
Biography
I am a human geographer and critical demographer who is
passionate about social justice. My interests lie at the intersection of urban,
population, and community geographies. In particular, I examine the spatial politics
of urbanization in the cities of the Global South, interlinking urban
transformations with transnational mobilities of migrants, capital, and ideas,
and interrogating the multiple spatial configurations of accumulation by
dispossession. Over the past few years, I have focused on urban transformations
in the Philippines, contributing to theorizations of new urban forms in the
Global South, transnational urbanisms, and geographies of dispossessions.
I am an advocate for decolonial approaches in geography,
particularly in underscoring commitment to place and in blurring the boundaries
between the spaces of research and praxis. I am interested in developing
creative ways of translating knowledge into practice by making use of mixed
methods and participatory methodologies.
My theoretical expositions draw from Global South terrains in order to
further enrich an understanding of the ever-changing spatial configurations of
capital, cultures, economies, and politics; and to make sense of the enduring
neo-colonial relations that undergird the production of multiple spaces.
My articles have appeared in the Annals of the Association
of American Geographers, Urban Geography, Cities, and Geoforum, among others. My
recent book entitled “Neoliberalizing Spaces in the Philippines:
Suburbanization, Transnational Migration, and Dispossession”, examined the
spatial contradictions of suburban development in Manila’s peri-urban fringe,
wherein real estate growth and the transnational mobilities of Overseas
Filipinos have led to large-scale dispossessions of informal settlers, farmers,
and indigenous peoples caught in urban transitions. The book won the 2018
Institute of Philippine Culture Award for Best Global Research About the
Philippines and the 2017 Philippine Social Science Council Virginia Miralao
Award for Research.
More recently, I have collaborated with other scholars,
artists, and activists on counter-mapping projects that work with communities
caught in development aggression in the Philippines. Several counter-mapping
initiatives are also being planned to support indigenous communities in Asia
and Latin America. I have also made initial inroads in conducting comparative
transnational urbanisms by interlinking transnational mobilities of foreign
retirees with urban change in the Philippines, from the role of East Asian
retirees in spurring real estate development in Metro Manila to the island
urbanisms arising in part due to interracial marriages and partnerships. Future
research will compare how transnational mobilities of overseas migrant workers
and residents shape sustainability issues in peri-urban communities in the
Philippines, Rwanda, and Bangladesh.