Elena received her MA in International Affairs from The New School in New York City. Her research focused on indigenous political movements in Latin America, and she won the department’s most Outstanding Thesis Award for research.
As a fellow with the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility, Elena has also worked with the International Rescue Committee prototyping a community led intervention for preventing Severe Acute Malnutrition in Kigoma, Tanzania.
Her other research interests include alter-political indigenous and environmental movements throughout the world, agro-ecological models of development, and food systems for climate-change resiliency.