Profile
WIRZ_Gina

Gina Wirz-Suárez

PhD Researcher in Anthropology and Sociology
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Spoken languages
Spanish, English, French, German

PhD Thesis

 

Title: Forced migration and transnational activism: The case of Colombian women in exile

PhD Supervisor & Co-supervisor: Graziella Moraes Dias da Silva and Eléonore Lépinard (University of Lausanne)

Expected completion date: 2026

My research explores social movements and collective action through feminist and transnational perspectives, focusing on the experiences of Colombian women and in political exile, particularly in Geneva and Barcelona. It examines how exile, often imagined as rupture or silence, becomes a generative space of feminist resistance, agency, and transnational political participation.

Bridging feminist peace and conflict studies, transnational feminism, and the political sociology of exile, my work investigates how everyday practices, emotions, and forms of care become political resources. I analyze how women in exile mobilize across multiple scales, from kitchens and community halls to international forums, developing forms of grassroots feminist diplomacy, transnational advocacy, and memory activism that blur the boundaries between the domestic and the political.

One line of my research examines women’s engagement with feminist peace instruments during the Colombian Truth Commission (2019–2023). It explores how exiled women mobilized frameworks such as gender mainstreaming and the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda as epistemic and organizational tools to gain visibility, build alliances, and challenge exclusionary narratives in transitional justice.

Another strand addresses historical memory and reparation “from outside and below.” It analyzes how exile-based initiatives, through theatre, autobiographical writing, photography, and ritual, produce counter-narratives that contest official histories and national boundaries, transforming exile into a site of resistant and transnational memory.

Methodologically, my research combines feminist and ethnographical methods with extensive archival and digital work. I engage with the Colombian Truth Commission’s transmedia archives and repositories of women’s and exile organizations in Spain and Switzerland, alongside community-curated collections, testimonies, and visual materials. This archival engagement is not only documentary but collaborative: I treat archives as living, affective spaces where feminist and diasporic memories are continually reconstructed and contested in exile. 
 

Profile


Gina Wirz-Suárez is a PhD candidate in Anthropology and Sociology at the Geneva Graduate Institute and a Research Assistant at the Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy. Her research interests lie at the intersection of feminist and women’s social movements, political advocacy, and transnational mobilization. Her current work explores the political activism of exiled and migrant women, with a focus on peacebuilding, migration policy, and transnational political engagement from a European perspective. She is currently a DOC.CH fellow of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). She holds a master’s degree in social sciences from the University of Lausanne, as well as a bachelor’s degree in political science and a Master’s in Gender Studies from the National University of Colombia. Her work also includes the development of participatory pedagogies and methodologies for peacebuilding and feminist praxis. 
 

Academic Work experience

 

  • 1.09.22-1.08.23- Teaching Assistant. Department of Anthropology and Sociology. Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID). 45%
  • 1.09.2021-31.08.2022- Graduate Assistant (substitute). Center for Gender Studies. University of Lausanne. Courses: Course Clinic Gender and Human Rights (2021-2) and Seminar Gender and sport (2022-1) Advisor: Prof. Eléonore Lépinard. 80%
  • 9.2019-12.2019. Student Assistant. Center for Gender Studies. University of Lausanne. Course: “Gender, Rights and Justice”. Advisor: Prof. Eléonore Lépinard and Dr. Marta Roca i Escoda. 40%
  • 9.2018-1.2019. Student Assistant. Center for Gender Studies. University of Lausanne. Course: “Gender, Rights and Justice”.  Advisor: Prof. Eléonore Lépinard and Dr. Marta Roca i Escoda. 40%
  • 8.2014-12.2014. Teaching Assistant. School of Gender Studies. National University of Colombia. Course: “Women, armed conflict and peacebuilding”.  Bogota, Colombia. Advisor: Prof. Dora Isabel Diaz. 50%
  • 14.2009-07.2011 Student assistant. School of Gender Studies. National University of Colombia. Research assistant at the library “Women and Gender”. Advisor: Prof. Magdalena Leon. 50%

Other Work Experiences

  • 2018. Intern- Caux Peacebuilding and Leadership Program. Initiatives of Change. Caux-CH. Advisor: Phoebe Gill. 100%
  • 2015.Administrative and pedagogical assistant. Diploma course “Strengthening of incidence capabilities for women leaders in the Colombian rural sector”. School of Gender Studies, National University of Colombia and OXFAM. Bogota, Colombia.
  • Project coordinator: ""Strengthening Systematization and Reporting Capacity for the Visibility and Impact of Organizational Processes in “Women's Confluence for Public Action” and to eradicate the different forms of violence against women"" Funded by the Norwegian Human Rights Fund and with the administrative support of Association for the Social Promotion Alternative – MINGA. Bogota, Colombia"

 

Areas of expertise
 

  • Feminist Studies
  • Social Movement Studies
  • Peace Studies
  • Forced Migration Studies
     

RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS AND WORKS

 

Peer-reviewed journal articles

  • Wirz-Suárez, Gina, and Mar Maiques Díaz. 2024. “Mujeres* En Movimiento: Co-Investigación Decolonial Feminista Sobre Los Activismos de Exiliadas y Migrantes.” Nodos y Nudos 8 (56): e21812. https://doi.org/10.17227/nyn.vol8.num56-21812.


Blog Post


Chapter in books: 

  •  Wirz-Suarez, Gina, and Claudia Tribín. 2025. “Tejiendo Propuestas En El Exilio: Aportes Del Grupo Internodal de Género a La Comisión de La Verdad y Su Legado.” In Cruzando Fronteras En Búsqueda de La Verdad: El Trabajo de La Comisión de La Verdad de Colombia Con El Exilio. Universidad Externado de Colombia. (forthcoming). 


Forthcoming (2025)

  • Wirz-Suárez, Gina. 2025. “Feminist Peace from Exile: Transnational Agency and the Politics of Everyday Resistance among Colombian Women.” International Feminist Journal of Politics. 

  • Wirz-Suárez, Gina. “Birds Carry Seeds: Feminist Diplomacy from Below among Colombian Women in Exile.” Manuscript in preparation. 2026. 

  • Wirz-Suárez, Gina, and Jeisson Martínez-Leguízamo. “Historical Memory from Outside and Below: Practices, Narratives, and Political Agency in the Reparation of Women and LGBTIQ+ People in Colombian Exile.” Submitted to Sociological Research Online. Manuscript in preparation. 2026


Master thesis

  • Wirz, Gina. 2020. “" Nous, les exilées “: Le positionnement politique de femmes exilées colombiennes en Espagne dans le processus des scénarios de construction de paix.” Master’s Thesis, Université de Lausanne.

  • (Wirz)- Suarez, Gina. 2016. La “Confluencia de Mujeres” En El “Congreso de Los Pueblos”: Nuevos Escenarios y Viejos Debates Para El Movimiento de Mujeres. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.10639.44964.
     

Working papers

  • Martínez-Leguízamo, Jeisson-Oswaldo, and Gina Wirz-Suarez. 2022. El exilio colombiano en España: una mirada a los umbrales del activismo político transnacional. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.25358.64328.

  • Wirz-Suárez, Gina. 2024. Mujeres* en movimiento: género, migración forzada y construcción de paz/ Women* on the move: gender, forced migration and Peacebuilding. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.13624.15365.

  • Wirz-Suarez, Gina and Jeisson Oswaldo Martínez Leguízamo. 2023a. I Encuentro Internacional de investigación sobre el exilio colombiano: saberes, debates y proyecciones. Instituto de Altos Estudios Internacionales y del Desarrollo. Ginebra - Suiza. 15 de Junio de 2023. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.24324.40322

 

Research and Public Engagement Events
 

 

Fellowships, Grants and Awards

 

  • 2022. Doc.CH fellowship grant for my doctoral project. Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF). Project: Forced migration and transnational activism: the case of Colombian women in exile.
  • 2013. Academic excellence award. Teaching Assistant Scholarship for master’s studies. Granted by the Council Headquarters of the Faculty of Humans Sciences. National University of Colombia.  Bogota, Colombia
  • 2014. Young researchers’ scholarship for master’s thesis. Granted by the Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (Colciencias) and the Faculty of Human Sciences. Faculty of Humans Sciences. National University of Colombia. Bogota, Colombia
  • 2010. Young researchers’ scholarship. Transdisciplinary research training program. Pontifical Xavierian University.  Bogota, Colombia

 

Affiliations

 

  • 2012- School for Gender Studies. National University of Colombia.  
  • 2018- Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO).
  • 2020- Latin American Studies Association (LASA).
    Center for Gender Studies. University of Lausanne.
  • 2021- Doctoral Program in Gender Studies (CUSO) 
    Swiss Association for Gender Studies (SAGS): Board member of the Latin American Research Network. 
    Swiss School of Latin American Studies (SSLAS).
    Global Migration Centre & Gender Center. Geneva Graduate Institute.
  • 2022- AtGender. The European Association for Gender Research, Education and Documentation.
  • 2023- Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy- Geneva Graduate Institute.
    Research group on Colombian exile

 

ResearchGate    Research project