Biography
Supervisors: Carlos Vargas-Silva and Alexander Betts
College Affiliation: Green Templeton College
Thesis title: (Dis)Empowerments and Migration: The Case of Women and gender-diverse migrants in Mexico
Abril (she/her/ella) is interested in the intersections of migration, gender, sexuality, and agency. Her work centres on highlighting the agentic capacities of migrants within existing power structures, moving beyond vulnerability-focused narratives. Her doctoral research investigates how migration experiences transform and expand the agency of women and gender-diverse migrants, exploring how oppressive border regimes and personal life journeys shape migrants’ agency. Methodologically, she integrates participatory arts-based approaches within a mixed-methods framework, combining photovoice, surveys, photo-elicited group discussions, and individual interviews. Abril regularly convenes interactive workshops on participatory arts-based research methods for researchers, students and practitioners.
Abril is also a consultant on forced displacement and refugee well-being in Kenya and has a background in psychology, specialising in social and cultural psychology, gender studies, and sexuality. She has extensive experience collaborating with civil society and intergovernmental organisations on migration, asylum, well-being, and entrepreneurship in Mexico and East Africa.
Select Publications
The digitisation of US asylum application processes and externalisation in Mexico
Article | Forced Migration Review 73 | May 2024
Imprisoned, Lost and Empowered: Photo-Narratives of Refugees and Migrants in Mexico
Article | Oxford Monitor of Forced Migration vol. 11, issue 2 | January 2024
Photovoice practitioner from Mexico working with people to explore themes of Migration & Gender
Podcast | Our Creative Connection | 25/08/2023
