María José Yax-Fraser, PhD(c)

María José Yax-Fraser is an Indigenous K’iche woman in the diaspora. She is a feminist artivist, community and academic research practitioner, and mother of three children. Combining her artivist and arts informed research practice, María José is the co-researcher lead on artistic production with CAPSAP (Culture and Perspectives on a Sexual Assault Policy) project. María José is a member of the Nova Scotia Learning Lab and sits on the Expert Advisory Group (EAG) for the research project Violence Against Women Migrants and Refugees: Analysing Causes and Effective Policy Response! And As a feminist artivist and research practitioner, she constantly crosses academic and community boundaries. She has worked in settlement and migration, including forced migration, for the past twenty-eight years. She advocates for gender equality, equity and the advancement of women. She is a founding member of the Immigrant Migrant Women’s Association of Halifax (IMWAH). María José is also a PhD Candidate in Social Anthropology at York University. Her dissertation explores the meaning of a welcoming community for immigrant and migrant mothers in K’jipuktuk (Halifax). Her areas of academic and community-based research include housing and migration, underemployment, immigrant attraction and retention. She has a personal interest in human rights, affordable housing, the intersections of gender and development, the rights of indigenous people in Turtle Island and Abya Yala, and the eradication of gender-based violence around the world.