Demanding A Place in The City: From Squatter to Informal Settler to Homeowner

In this lecture, Dr. Racelis tackles the issues that vulnerable people living in informal settlements endure and adapt to in order to gain a foothold in a city and maintain hope.

Dr. Mary Racelis is a Research Scientist at the Ateneo de Manila University's Institute of Philippine Culture, as well as Senior Professorial Lecturer in its Department of Sociology and Anthropology. She is also Senior Lecturer at the University of the Philippines Department of Anthropology. Her international experience includes 13 years with UNICEF, first in New York as senior policy specialist in family/child welfare, women's development and community participation, then serving as Regional Director, Eastern and Southern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya.

She returned to the Philippines as Country Director of the Ford Foundation and continued publishing extensively on urbanization, the urban poor in informal settlements, community organizing, children, women and reproductive health. Her close interaction with community-based NGOs and People's Organizations through participatory action research as well as her service on several local and international NGO boards have given her the informal title of "activist social scientist."

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The Magisterial Lecture series is a collection of selected talks from Ateneo classes, delivered by some of the University’s most respected faculty members. They are produced and shared for the benefit of learners everywhere. Magisterial Lectures will be available on Areté’s YouTube channel for free.

Magisterial Lectures is an Areté Production done in partnership with The Department of Communication, Loyola Schools and the Eugenio Lopez Jr. Center for Multimedia Communication.