About
Research topic:
Afro-descendant politics, heritage and territorial governance in Colombia
Kandya Obezo-Casseres is a PhD Candidate in Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her doctoral research examines how Afro-descendant communities engage with heritage recognition to shape local governance, negotiate authority and advance territorial futures. Her thesis, Exercising Heritage from Below: Afro-descendant Community, Local Agency and Territorial Governance in Colombia, draws on field research in San Basilio de Palenque, where she was born and raised. It develops the concept of exercising heritage from below to explain how local actors redefine the frameworks through which heritage, identity and public policy are understood and enacted.
Kandya holds an MA in Latin American Studies from Georgetown University, where she studied as a Fulbright Scholar, an MA in Development and Culture from Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar, and a BA in Social Communication from Universidad de Cartagena. Her doctoral studies are supported by an LSE PhD Studentship.
A Colombian scholar-practitioner, she brings more than a decade of experience across public policy, diplomacy, multilateral affairs, economic development and academia. She served as Colombia’s Vice-Minister for Multilateral Affairs and Consul General in Washington, D.C. Earlier in her career, she worked in Colombia’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and led entrepreneurship initiatives at the Cartagena Chamber of Commerce.
Across these roles, her work has connected international and national policy processes with the priorities of communities and local institutions. She currently teaches at both the London School of Economics and Political Science and King’s College London, and writes a column for the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.
Research interests Afro-descendant politics and community agency; cultural heritage and public policy; race, inequality and development; territorial governance and local development; international cooperation and multilateral affairs; environmental justice; Latin America and the Caribbean.
Supervisors: Professor Armine Ishkanian and Dr Robtel Pailey