Latin American Anthropology

The department of anthropology at The University of Iowa has particular strength in Latin America and the Caribbean. Faculty members and graduate students have carried out research in recent years in Mexico, Brazil, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Honduras, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, St; Lucia, and Puerto Rico. Topics examined by faculty members include agriculture, language, indigenous rights, indigenous peoples in national and global arenas, ethnicity, politics, women’s organizations, artisans, development, globalization, and trade. Faculty and students regularly participate in the University’s active Latin American Studies program.

Faculty with Current or Recent Research Projects in Latin America and the Caribbean

Thomas Charlton (Mexico)
Michael Chibnik (Mexico, Peru)
Rudi Colloredo-Mansfeld (Ecuador)
Laura Graham (Brazil)

Current and Recent Graduate Students with Research Projects in Latin America and the Caribbean

Brandy Case Haub - “The Cultural Politics of the Puerto Rican Independence Movement”, ongoing doctoral research

Catherine Douillet – “Gender, Sexuality, and Ethnic and National Identity in Trinidad”, doctoral research supported by T.Anne Cleary Fellowship, Ph.D. 2005

Cynthia Fetter Kendall – “Zapotec Ethnic Populism: Culture, Identity, and Resistance in the Isthmus of Oaxaca”, M.A. 2002

Paula Ford - “Narratives of Social Healing: Cultural Politics and the Nicaraguan Women’s Movement”, Ph.D. 2000, research supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Fulbright Award

Brigittine French – “Language Ideologies and Collective Identities in Post-Conflict Guatemala”, Ph.D. 2001, research supported by T. Anne Cleary Fellowship

Douglas Hertzler - “Agrarian Cultures of Solidarity: Campesino Unions and the Struggle for Land and Community in Santa Cruz, Bolivia,”, Ph.D. 2002, research supported by Wenner Gren Foundation

Marcela Mendoza - “Politics and Leadership among the Toba of Northern Argentina”, Ph.D. 1998, research supported by CONICET (Argentine governmental organization)

Nicole Pineda – “Creative Conservation: Community Based Resource Management on St. Lucia”, M.A. 2003.

Michelle Ramirez - “Suffering, Mortality, and Morality: Menopause in Urban Oaxaca, Mexico”, Ph.D. 2002, research supported by National Science Foundation (NSF)

Bert Roberts – “Textiles for Tourists: Global Markets and Local Production in Todos Santos Guatemala”, M.A. 1999.

John Scott – “Language Ideology and Practice among Dominican Citizens of Haitian Descent,” doctoral research supported by Fulbright Award.

Judith Siebert - “Expressions of Ethnic Identity in the German-Chilean Community”, currently writing up dissertation

Stephen Tulley - “The Social Organization of Cacao Marketing in Southern Mexico” – doctoral research supported by Fulbright Award, Wenner Gren Foundation, National Science Foundation (declined)

Jerry Wever – “Shaping Creolization and Folklorization Processes: Expressive Culture and Creole Identity in St. Lucia and the Seychelles”, research supported by Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and Wenner-Gren Foundation

Benjamin Willett – “Ethnic Tourism in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala”, currently writing up dissertation

Juli Williams - "The aesthetics of sustenance: sense of place in a timber-dependent community in Oaxaca", M.A. 2007

Jon Wolseth – “Moral Struggles, Moral Lives: Youth and the Politics of Salvation in Honduras”, doctoral research supported by Wenner-Gren Foundation, Ph.D. 2004

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences