Mneesha Gellman

Déclaration

It is an honor to be nominated to the Executive Council. LASA has been my intellectual home since 2009, and remains a vital arena of inspiration that I look to for learning across disciplines, issues, and countries. LASA is a rapidly expanding, vital interdisciplinary space that pushes back against neoliberal, predatory tendencies across a range of industries, including higher education. 

If I am elected to the Executive Council, I would be a contributor to furthering LASA’s commitment to inclusive, equitable Congresses that foreground overlooked forms of knowledge. In addition, one way I could support LASA is to apply my years of experience in collaborative methodology, working with, not on, community stakeholders, and building systems where needed. From my background in human rights organizing, I see that people can more successfully address their needs when organizational support is offered. My experience participating in multiple LASA and other associational sections over the years shows me that there is room to actualize section potential through intentional support.

For example, sections might be able to better serve their members if they are supported in creating common calendars, rubrics for candidate elections, documents for award committees, and suggestions on updating bylaws. I have experience in this kind of systemic support from my recent three-year term (Vice-President Elect 2021-22, Vice President 2022-23, President 2023-24) in the Human Rights Section of the American Political Science Association. In that capacity, I created numerous written instruments to help guide the Section and was able to pass them on to the incoming leadership team, helping to strengthen what the section is able to do for members through institutional capacity.

I have also been part of sections that have faced challenges. My experience co-creating the Expert Witness section—one of LASA’s newest, smallest sections, has shown me how important it is to have sections built on long-term infrastructure for their flourishing. Also, participating in the leadership of the Ethnicity, Race, and Indigenous People’s section, and as a member in the Central America section, Mexico section, Otros Saberes, and Education section, have shown me a range of ways sections can conduct their business. If elected to the Executive Council, I would explore how to support LASA sections to reduce the governance burden while expanding space for their unique missions. 

In my devotion to addressing human rights issues through multiple forms of mobilization, I see the power of institutional memory as a tool that can be strengthened. My work as an expert witness in immigration court, as a scholar utilizing collaborative methodology working with Indigenous communities, and documenting cultures of violence across multiple states and institutions, shows me the importance of developing the tools that we have. I would love to put these tools to work for LASA if elected to the Executive Council.