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SANTANA Isaac
Doctorant
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Adresse visiteur Laboratoire d'Anthropologie des Mondes Contemporains Adresse courrier Université libre de Bruxelles |
Anthropologist | PhD Researcher | International Development Cooperation
BIO
Isaac Santana-Peña is a Mexican anthropologist and international development cooperation professional pursuing a PhD in Anthropology at the Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), supported by Mexico’s Secretariat of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation (SECIHTI). He holds an MA in Anthropology of the Americas from the University of Bonn, Germany, and an MA in International Economic Relations and Cooperation, supported by a CONACYT scholarship, from the University of Guadalajara, Mexico.
His doctoral research, Narratives of Change, Towards a Decolonization of Development: Production, Intercultural Communication and Resistance, examines how state-led development interventions are negotiated and reconfigured with Indigenous communities.
RESEARCH PROFILE
His research interests span the anthropology of development, decolonial studies, and critical approaches to governance and social transformation. He approaches development as a narrative of change that legitimizes intervention and the reconfiguration of social functions within a given place. He is particularly interested in the politics of knowledge, critical interculturality, Indigenous epistemologies, and alternative conceptions of well-being, including Buen Vivir. His interdisciplinary perspective brings together anthropological and political approaches to explore how different ways of understanding the world shape institutions, collective life, and development practices, particularly in Latin America.
AREAS OF INTEREST
Anthropology of Development · Decolonial Studies · Indigenous Territorial Governance · Critical Interculturality · Narratives of Change · Indigenous Knowledge and Autonomy · Well-being · Intercultural Communication · EU–Latin America Cooperation · Migration
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
He currently serves as Belgium Hub Lead for Snowball Effect (SBE), supporting network development, partnership building, and proposal drafting.
His professional experience includes project design, international tender development, strategic planning, multi-stakeholder facilitation, and monitoring, evaluation and learning. He has worked with the European Commission, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and international development cooperation agencies across Europe and Latin America, including GIZ (Germany), AMEXCID (Mexico), ABC (Brazil), and other countries in the region. His private-sector experience includes work with the German-Mexican Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CAMEXA).
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2023 — Santana, I., & Gómez, F. Good Living and Indigenous Peoples in the Chilean Constituent Process: Ontological Conflicts. ILZ Working Paper Series, Puentes Interdisciplinarios, Series 2.
2021 — Santana, M., & Santana, I. 7 Myths and Truths of Our People. Published with financial support from a cultural funding programme of the Government of the State of Jalisco, Mexico.
2019 — Santana, I., & Contreras, A. Strategic Guidelines for the Implementation of Energy Learning Networks. Published as a consultant job for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Mexico.
2017 — Santana, I. Citizenship within Mercosur: Progress in Its Construction and Consolidation. Revista MERCOSUR de Políticas Sociales, 1, 13–34.
2017 — Santana, I. The New Neoliberal Scenarios of Mercosur and Their Implications for Internal Cooperation. InterNaciones (11).
LANGUAGES
Spanish (native) · English (C2) · German (C1) · Portuguese (B2) · Dutch (A2)
CONTACT
Feel free to connect with me as well on LinkedIn to exchange ideas, explore collaborations, or discuss shared interests.