Jennifer Collins

Education

Research

Politics in the Andean region; social and indigenous movements; new political parties and the new left in Latin America; democratization.

Professor Collins has authored several book chapters and articles on Andean politics and indigenous movements and parties.

Currently Professor Collins is working on a comparative analysis of the Morales and Correa administrations in Bolivia and Ecuador respectively that explores the reasons for higher levels of political polarization in Bolivia and the greater obstacles that Morales has faced in carrying out his political program.  She is also preparing her dissertation on the Pachakutik Political Movement in Ecuador for publication.

Courses

Comparative Politics; Political Development; Latin American Politics; Latin America in World Affairs; Radical and Utopian Politics

About

Prof. Collins grew up in Westchester, near New York City.  She lived and worked in Central and South America for more than eight years.  For two years in the 1980s she worked in the war zones of Nicaragua with the peace and justice organization, Witness for Peace, trying to change U.S. foreign policy and end U.S. support for the contras.  Subsequently she worked for four years in Quito, Ecuador with the Latin American Council of Churches.  Professor Collins and her Argentine husband met at 11,000 feet above sea level in the Bolivian Andes and they are still short of breath.  Together with her husband and daughter she loves to bike on the Green Circle, hike, backpack and travel.  She began teaching at UWSP in 2007 having previously taught at Colgate University in upstate New York.​​​

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