Dr. Ariel Otruba recently joined VTIPG as a Non-Resident Research Associate. She is a Feminist Political Geographer and is currently serving as a faculty member in the Department of Historical and Political Studies at Arcadia University in Glenside, PA. Her research interests include critical geopolitics, border and migration studies, political violence, urban planning, and post-humanist approaches to political ecology. Prior to joining Arcadia, Dr. Otruba served as the 2022-23 In Focus War and Peace Scholar-In-Residence at Moravian University in Bethlehem, PA. Ariel completed her Ph.D. at Rutgers University in Geography in 2019. Her dissertation was entitled, “The Violent Geography of Borderization.” She is a scholar-activist who supports the advocacy, education and aftercare initiatives of the nonprofit organization Valley Against Sex Trafficking in the Lehigh Valley.

Dr. Otruba visited Blacksburg in early October to present on her work concerning long-time displaced individuals in Georgia, whose situations she has captured via PhotoVoice methodology in a photographic exhibition entitled, “Violent Infrastructure: Ecologies of Decay and Displacement.” That exhibit was featured at Newman Library from her visit until December 15, 2023.  Dr. Stephenson and Dr. Yannis Stivachtis (Department of Political Science) are currently working with Dr. Otruba to edit a book to be published by Virginia Tech Publishing later this year to accompany the Violent Infrastructure exhibition at future exhibit sites.  Dr. Stephenson commented on Dr. Otruba’s appointment by observing, “It is a special pleasure to have Dr. Otruba join our community. Her research is at once deeply considered and innovative, and she is exploring a vital set of policy and governance questions with portent not only for greater Europe, but also for the United States and the fuller realization of human rights for all populations worldwide.”

For further inquires, please contact Billy Parvatam.

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