Susan Brewer-Osorio

Susan Brewer-Osorio is an Assistant Professor of Latin American Studies at the University of Arizona. She holds a joint appointment in the School of Government & Public Policy. Her research analyzes the micro dynamics of conflict and peacebuilding and organized resistance to militarized drug policies with a focus on Latin America. She approaches these topics using a broad range of qualitative methods including intensive field work, direct observation, and interviews. 

Dr. Brewer-Osorio’s current project on reintegration of former combatants of rebel groups analyzes Colombia’s innovative collective approach and impacts on grassroots peacebuilding. She is also involved in a collaborative research project on gender and ex-combatant reintegration with researchers at the Universidad EAFIT in Medellín, Colombia, and she directs the Security and Peacebuilding in Colombia study abroad program for the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS). 

She is a 2023-24 Fellow of the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy and a 2021 U.S. Fulbright Scholar (Colombia). She is also the recipient of a Peace Research Grant from the Peace Research Association Foundation (IPRAF) and a 2011 Fellow of the Drugs, Security, and Democracy (DSD) program with the Social Science Research Council (SSRC). Dr. Brewer-Osorio’s work is published in the Journal of Latin American Studies, Conflict, Security & Development, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, and the Latin Americanist. 

Dr Brewer-Osorio earned her Ph.D. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia in 2014. She previously worked as an Assistant Professor at Hobart & William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York, and as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.