- Urban Sociology, Work, Population and Development, Research Methods, US Latinos and Latin America
General Information
Biography
Dr. Lissette Aliaga Linares received a Bachelor of Science in Social Sciences at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima-Peru, and both Master of Arts and Doctorate in Sociology and Demography at the University of Texas at Austin. She joined the University of Nebraska at Omaha as a postdoctoral fellow in the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS) in 2013. Until 2018, Dr. Aliaga-Linares held a joint appointment as a Senior Research Associate at the Center for Public Affairs Research (CPAR). At OLLAS and CPAR, Dr. Aliaga Linares was responsible for working closely with scholarly and local communities to conduct and publish research on the socio-demographic changes and conditions of Latinos in Nebraska.
Teaching Interests
Dr. Aliaga-Linares graduate and undergraduate courses contribute to the Sociology and Anthropology concentrations on Inequality & Social Justice as well as Work & Organizations. Many of her classes are cross-listed with the Latin American Studies and International Studies' majors. She has also led the OLLAS study-abroad to Peru periodically with an emphasis on the informal economy and/or the sociology of tourism.She currently teaches Research Methods, Methods Lab, World Population and Social Issues, Urban Sociology, and Urban Latin America.
Research Interests
Dr. Aliaga Linares' primary research areas of interest include residential segregation, informal economies, and urban poverty in major Latin American cities and Latino communities in the United States. She has conducted research in many Latin American countries including Peru, Chile, and Colombia as well as the U.S.-Mexico border. She is the author of the book "Sumas y Restas: Los Dilemas del Capital Social en la EconomÃa Informal" (Additions and Substractions, Social Capital Dilemmas in the Informal Economy, in English), which examined how street vendors cooperated albeit competition. She has published various chapters and journal articles on street vending policies in different cities in Latin America. She is currently working towards finishing a book manuscript from her dissertation research.She has also published various policy briefs and reports on the demographic trends of the Nebraska Latino population. (For a selected list of publications, see links below)
Service Summary
Dr. Aliaga-Linares has contributed to many community-based research projects. Prior to her arrival in the United States, she was a community-based researcher for the NGO Alternativa in Lima-Peru. During her graduate studies in Austin-Texas, she assisted the Workers Defense Project with the collection of information about day laborers' hiring practices to advocate for the 2005 anti-soliciting bill. She has also served as a consultant to various development agencies such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, the International Labor Organization, and the international network Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO).Dr. Aliaga-Linares co-founded the Nebraska Chapter of the Scholar Strategy Network to connect area scholars to policymakers, journalists, and civic organizations, and she currently leads this chapter.
Education
BA, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima, Peru, Social Sciences, 2000
MA, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, Sociology, 2006
Ph D, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, Sociology, Demography, 2012