Evelyn Encalada Grez
Education
- Doctor of Philosophy, PhD (2018). Social Justice Education, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) of the University of Toronto, Canada.
- Master of Arts, MA (2003). Political Science, York University, Canada.
- Bachelor of Arts, Honours, BA (Hons) (1998). Political Science and Latin American and Caribbean Studies. York University, Canada. (鈥淎venues to Cuban Culture鈥� Summer School Program for BA Degree, 1996, Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.)
Areas of Interest and Expertise
Labour Migration鈥擶ork, Gender, and Sexuality鈥擱ace, Immigration, and Citizenship
Latin American/Latinx Studies鈥擳ransnational Ethnography鈥擠ecolonizing and Transformative Pedagogies
Community-Engaged Research
Dr. Encalada Grez is currently supervising Masters level graduate students and does not supervise PhD students.
Current Research Projects
- 丁香园AV Small-SSHRC Grant - Temporary Foreign Worker Programs, Indigeneity, and Livelihoods: The Case of Mayan Farm Workers in Canada
- The Canadian Myth and the Exclusion of Internationally Trained Physicians
- Migrant Farmworkers and Transnational Livelihoods within a Global Pandemic
- Co-investigator, SSHRC:
Understanding Precarity in British Columbia - Racial Difference by Law: Differential Racialisation and Access to Justice for Migrant Farm Workers - Understanding Precarity in BC (UP-BC) Subgrant Project - Migrant Farmworkers from Guatemala in BC and Contours of Precarity, Indigeneity, and Racialization
Biography
Dr. Encalada Grez is a transnational labour scholar and community-labour organizer committed to critical sociology and decolonial theories of knowledge production that centers diverse ways of knowing and precarious workers鈥� experiences within the margins of the global economy. She is the co-founder of the award wining collective, Justice for Migrant Workers, J4MW that has advocated for the rights of migrant farmworkers in Canada for two decades. Her research bridges grass-roots activism with academic scholarship and through this approach Dr. Encalada Grez has extensively documented the lives of Mexican migrant farmworker women who work and forge transnational livelihoods between rural Canada and rural Mexico.
As a public sociologist, Dr. Encalada Grez has mobilized her research through various media such as documentaries and given talks in venues such as Parliament Hill, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and at the United Nations in New York. She has also worked transnationally with export-processing workers in Mexico and Central America and as lead travelling faculty teaching US university students in over 6 countries. For three semesters, she was also the Academic Director of an intensive social justice study abroad program in her city of birth, Valparaiso, Chile. Dr. Encalada Grez is driven by her immigrant working class experiences and committed to decolonializing and transformative pedagogies.
CERi recognized Dr. Encalada Grez's research impact with the "Emerging Community-Engaged Researcher Award" in 2022. See link for more.
In late 2023, she was also named and selected as one of the "Top 10 Most Influential Hispanics" in Canada.
Research and Work Experience in 鈥�
Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, India, Jordan, Mexico, Nepal, Nicaragua, Senegal & United States
Languages
English and Spanish
Publications [*corresponds to refereed publications]
Action Canada for Sexual and Health Rights, Justice for Migrant Workers (Encalda Grez), YWCA Hamilton, the Community Research Platform at McMaster University, the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic, and the Sexual Rights Initiative, 鈥淏arriers to Abortion in Canada-Joint Stakeholder Report - Universal Periodic Review of Canada 44th Session (October 鈥� November 2023):
Encalada Grez, E., Gamboa, P., & Purewal, S. (2023). The Myth of Canada: The Exclusion of Internationally Trained Physicians. A Community-Engaged Research Report, RADIUS 丁香园AV:
(Also in The Conversation: "Why is Canada snubbing internationally trained doctors during a health-care crisis?"
Pratiquer la m茅decine au Canada lorsque form茅 脿 l鈥櫭﹖ranger : un 鈥� incompr茅hensible 鈥� parcours du combattant: )
*Weiler, A. M., & Grez, E. E. (2022). . Canadian Food Studies/La Revue canadienne des 茅tudes sur l'alimentation, 9(2), 38-52.
*Encalada Grez, E. (2022). "." Mexican Studies/Estudios Mexicanos, 38(1), 140-169.
*Encalada Grez, E. (2019) 鈥淐ontestations of the Heart: Mexican Migrant Women and Transnational Loving from Rural Ontario鈥�, International Journal of Migration and Border Studies, 5.1/2, pp. 118-132.
Encalada, E. and Clarke, M. (2016) 鈥淓velyn Encalada Grez in Conversation with Marlea Clarke.鈥� Migration, Mobility, & Displacement 2.2, pp. 76-89.
*Preibisch, K., and Encalada Grez, E. (2013) 鈥淏etween Hearts and Pockets: Locating the Outcomes of Transnational Homemaking Practices among Mexican Women in Canada鈥檚 Temporary Migration Programs鈥� Citizenship Studies, 17.6- 7, pp. 785-802.
Preibisch, K., and Encalada Grez, E. (2011) 鈥淩e-examining the Social Relations of the Canadian 鈥楩amily Farm鈥�: Migrant Women Farm Workers in Rural Canada,鈥� in Pini, Barbara and Leach, Belinda (eds.) Reshaping Gender and Class in Rural Spaces, Ashgate; Farnham, pp. 91-112.
Encalada Grez, E. (2011) 鈥�Policy Brief: Vulnerabilities of Female Migrant Farm Workers from Latin America and the Caribbean in Canada.鈥� FOCAL: The Canadian Foundation for the Americas, Policy Brief, pp. 1-6.
Encalada Grez, E. (2010) 鈥�.鈥� Just Labour, Spring 16, pp. 76-83.
*Preibisch, K., and Encalada Grez, E. (2010) 鈥淭he Other Side of el Otro Lado: Mexican Migrant Women and Labor Flexibility in Canadian Agriculture" Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 35.2, pp. 289-315.
Encalada Grez, E., Paz, A., and Fuchs, E. (2008) 鈥淢igrant Workers under Harper: Guests, Servants and Criminals鈥�, in Healy, T., (ed), 鈥淭he Harper Record.鈥� Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, pp. 197-203.
Encalada Grez, E. (2006) 鈥淛ustice for Migrant Farm Workers: Reflections on the Importance of Community Organising.鈥� Relay: A Socialist Project Review. July/August, pp. 23-25.
Encalada Grez, E. (2005) 鈥淗arvesting the Seeds of Resistance: The Plight of Migrant Farm Workers in Ontario.鈥� Women and Environments International Magazine. 68-69 pp. 1-7.
Film collaborations
Migrant Dreams, Director Min Sook Lee (2016) [url ]
Teo in Toronto (2013) Director Min Sook Lee
[url ]
El Contrato, (2003) Director Min Sook Lee
[url ]
Selected Podcasts / Videos
Below the Radar Podcast (2021) "Women, Work, More: Migrant Women & Transnational Loving"
(2020)
CBC Radio - The Current (2016) ""
Select Online Panels/roundtables
Scholar Strike Canada (2020) ""
The Leap (2020) ""
Service to Wider Community - Supporting Trans/national Labour Movements
May 2022 onward 鈥� Board Member, Migrant Workers Centre of BC
February 2022 鈥� Course Instructor 鈥� Canadian Labour Congress - Labour College of Canada Course: Education for Action/Organizing for Change
September 2020 鈥� onward- Member, BC Employment Standards Coalition
September 2020 鈥� onward -External Advisor and International Representative, Centro de Apoyo al Trabajador, (CAT), Puebla, Mexico
May 2001鈥� onward 鈥� Co-founder and Transnational Organizer, Justice for Migrant Workers, J4MW (Website: )
Courses
Spring 2025
Future courses may be subject to change.