Biography
Vierelina Fernández is an International Relations scholar whose research focuses on feminist security studies, insurgency, and comparative politics between Latin America and the Middle East. She holds a Ph.D. in International Relations from Florida International University.
Her doctoral dissertation, Insurgent Feminism: A Comparative Empirical Analysis of the Colombian FARC and Kurdish PKK-YPG Guerrillas’ Contributions to Gender Equality, compares how two armed movements shaped gender equality. The first complete draft of the resulting book manuscript was workshopped by four senior faculty members at Rutgers University in October 2025, and revisions are underway.
Her research interests include rebel-to-party transitions, women in armed conflict, post-conflict democratization, Global South security theory and mixed methods. Her dissertation fieldwork took place in Colombia (May–October 2021) and in Turkey, France and Germany (January–June 2022).
Teaching
At Rutgers University she has taught Introduction to Latin America and Advanced Topics: Political Violence and Conflict in Latin America. Earlier she taught at Florida International University.
Education
- Ph.D., International Relations, Florida International University (2024)
- M.A., Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Florida International University (2020)
- Double B.A., International Studies and Latin American & Latino Studies, DePaul University (2015)
Languages: Spanish and English (native), French (conversational), Portuguese (read-only).
Funding and Recognition
Her research has received funding and recognition from the McKnight Foundation, the National Science Foundation (Graduate Research Fellowship, 2018), the Tinker Foundation, the Florida Education Fund, the Ford Foundation (Dissertation Fellowship Honorable Mention, 2022) and the McNair Scholars Program.