Omar Sierra

Omar Sierra Cháves is a sociologist and PhD candidate in Latin American History (Bielefeld University/University of the Basque Country), with MA degrees in Interamerican Studies and Conflict Resolution. His research examines land-grabbing, cacao, and coloniality in 19th-century Venezuela. He works at the editorial office of the María Sibylla Merian Center for Advanced Latin American Studies (CALAS, Bielefeld) and contributed to the editorial work on the Handbook The Anthropocene as Multiple Crisis: Perspectives from Latin America.

Universität Bielefeld

Omar.sierra@uni-bielefeld.de

Project

“Gran Cacao and Coloniality in the Caribbean: Land-grabbing and Power of the Tovars in Post-Independence 19th Century Venezuela"

This research examines how the Tovar family—archetype of the mantuano oligarchy—reproduced power in post-independence 19th-century Venezuela through land-grabbing, productive diversification, strategic marital alliances, and their insertion into the international financial architecture that dominated foreign trade. The study articulates these dimensions with an analysis of internal conflict within their domains to trace the divergent trajectories of some of their former haciendas.

Publications

Kaltmeier, Olaf, Ann-Kathrin Volmer, Luisa Raquel Ellermeier, Omar Sierra, and Eric Rummelhoff, eds. Forthcoming 2026. Contesting the Anthropocene: Latin American Perspectives beyond Coloniality and Capitalism. London/New York: Routledge.