César Estrada

This profile was current as of 2021, when he was part of the on-campus Kellogg community.

César Estrada is a lecturer at the Department of Sociopolitical and Legal Studies at the Western Institute of Higher Education (ITESO), the Jesuit University of Guadalajara, where he teaches courses on criminal violence in Mexico. His research specializes in the study of violent conflict in the context of organized crime and human rights violations in Mexico.

While at Kellogg, Estrada will work on a project entitled “Genocidal Violence Amid Mexico’s War on Drugs: A Critical Lens on Police and Criminal Brutality,” turning his dissertation into a book-length monograph that examines how the so-called war on drugs in Mexico strongly relies on the construction of social groups deemed as disposable and killable subjects. Estrada will be hosted jointly with the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies as the Kroc/Kellogg Visiting Fellow.

Estrada previously served as a director within the Unit of Policies and Strategies for Peacebuilding at the Secretary for Security and Citizen Protection in Mexico. He has taught upper-level courses on criminal violence, narratives, and drug trafficking at George Mason University and at El Colegio de San Luis.

Estrada holds an MS in international cooperation and development from the Instituto Mora in Mexico and a PhD in conflict analysis and resolution from the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University.