2012 - 2013
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Introductory Meeting
General welcome-back meeting featuring introductions from this semester’s co-coordinators, Allison Caine and Karla Peña, and a review of last year’s meetings and events, including Spring Semester conference, “Transforming Landscapes in Andean Societies.” An email was sent ahead of time to encourage incoming graduate students and new faculty with interest in the Andes to join.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Andean Circle coordinator research presentations
Introductory Meeting
General welcome-back meeting featuring introductions from this semester’s co-coordinators, Allison Caine and Karla Peña, and a review of last year’s meetings and events, including Spring Semester conference, “Transforming Landscapes in Andean Societies.” An email was sent ahead of time to encourage incoming graduate students and new faculty with interest in the Andes to join.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Andean Circle coordinator research presentations
Allison Caine and Karla Pena presented a brief overview of their research projects to the group.
Allison Caine is a second-year Anthropology PhD student in the Sociocultural subfield. Her planned research involves an ethnographic study among high-altitude herding communities in Cusco, Peru. Her interests include the articulations of place, reciprocity, and risk in climate change adaptation.
Karla Pena is an SNRE Environmental Policy graduate student working on her masters thesis entitled, "Democratizing Food Governance in Ecuador. She spent the summer researching the food sovereignty movement in Ecuador. She will be presenting her preliminary findings.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Nick Emlen: PhD Candidate Presentation
Andean Circle member Nick Emlen is a linguistic anthropology Ph.D. student, and recently returned from 19 months of fieldwork on the agricultural frontier between the Andean and Amazonian regions of Southern Peru. His presentation will be on “Language and Coffee in the Andean-Amazonian Borderland”.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Allison Caine is a second-year Anthropology PhD student in the Sociocultural subfield. Her planned research involves an ethnographic study among high-altitude herding communities in Cusco, Peru. Her interests include the articulations of place, reciprocity, and risk in climate change adaptation.
Karla Pena is an SNRE Environmental Policy graduate student working on her masters thesis entitled, "Democratizing Food Governance in Ecuador. She spent the summer researching the food sovereignty movement in Ecuador. She will be presenting her preliminary findings.
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Nick Emlen: PhD Candidate Presentation
Andean Circle member Nick Emlen is a linguistic anthropology Ph.D. student, and recently returned from 19 months of fieldwork on the agricultural frontier between the Andean and Amazonian regions of Southern Peru. His presentation will be on “Language and Coffee in the Andean-Amazonian Borderland”.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Movie Screening: Tambien La LluviaLACEG and Andean Circle present the screening of the film, Even the Rain (Tambien la Lluvia) directed by Iciar Bollain and written by Paul Laverty.
“A Spanish film crew helmed by idealistic director Sebastian (Gael García Bernal) and his cynical producer Costa (Luis Tosar) come to Bolivia to make a revisionist epic about the conquest of Latin America - on the cheap. Carlos Aduviri is dynamic as “Daniel,” a local cast as a 16th century native in the film within a film. When the make-up and loin cloth come off, Daniel sails into action protesting his community’s deprivation of water at the hands of multi-national corporations”. http://www.eventherainmovie.com
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Lesli Hoey Research Presentation
Andean Circle member Lesli Hoey research and teaching interests focus on ways policy planning; implementation and evaluation strategies facilitate or limit the development of equitable, healthy and sustainable food systems. She will give a presentation on her dissertation research on Bolivia and food policy implementation.
“A Spanish film crew helmed by idealistic director Sebastian (Gael García Bernal) and his cynical producer Costa (Luis Tosar) come to Bolivia to make a revisionist epic about the conquest of Latin America - on the cheap. Carlos Aduviri is dynamic as “Daniel,” a local cast as a 16th century native in the film within a film. When the make-up and loin cloth come off, Daniel sails into action protesting his community’s deprivation of water at the hands of multi-national corporations”. http://www.eventherainmovie.com
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Lesli Hoey Research Presentation
Andean Circle member Lesli Hoey research and teaching interests focus on ways policy planning; implementation and evaluation strategies facilitate or limit the development of equitable, healthy and sustainable food systems. She will give a presentation on her dissertation research on Bolivia and food policy implementation.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Karla Peña Presentation and Discussion: "Social Movements in Ecuador and the Re-election of Rafael Correa"Karla Pena is a graduate student at the School of Natural Resources and Environment writing her master thesis on social movements and political capital in Ecuador. On February 18, 2013, Rafael Correa was re-elected President of Ecuador for another four year term. In her talk, Karla will provide an overview of social movements in Ecuador, starting with a short documentary (25 min) of the 2000 coup d'etat. Following the film, she will discuss how social movements in Ecuador work with formal politics to impact and implement policy and what challenges and opportunities may come from the re-election of Correa.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Carrie Brezine Presentation and Discussion: "Untangling Andean Mathematics" At the time of Spanish contact, the Inkas were using khipu to record numerical data. Examination of khipu shows that their knotted cords could contain sophisticated arithmetical relationships. This suggests that the Inkas were practicing mathematics. How did Andean ideas of mathematics develop over the millennia preceding the Inka Empire? What can Andean textiles and fiber technology tell us about mathematical ideas? The question of how to investigate the history of an abstract subject like mathematics in cultures which did not leave texts raises other issues: Can “mathematics” exist without writing? Can non-textual media really be useful in exploring mathematical concepts? What is mathematics anyway? This brief informal presentation will discuss some of the sophisticated mathematical ideas involved in Andean textile production and some of the issues involved in deducing intellectual frameworks from material artifacts. This work is still very much in progress; I hope it will inspire questions, challenges, and discussion.
Tuesday March 19, 2013
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Carrie Brezine Presentation and Discussion: "Untangling Andean Mathematics" At the time of Spanish contact, the Inkas were using khipu to record numerical data. Examination of khipu shows that their knotted cords could contain sophisticated arithmetical relationships. This suggests that the Inkas were practicing mathematics. How did Andean ideas of mathematics develop over the millennia preceding the Inka Empire? What can Andean textiles and fiber technology tell us about mathematical ideas? The question of how to investigate the history of an abstract subject like mathematics in cultures which did not leave texts raises other issues: Can “mathematics” exist without writing? Can non-textual media really be useful in exploring mathematical concepts? What is mathematics anyway? This brief informal presentation will discuss some of the sophisticated mathematical ideas involved in Andean textile production and some of the issues involved in deducing intellectual frameworks from material artifacts. This work is still very much in progress; I hope it will inspire questions, challenges, and discussion.
Tuesday March 19, 2013
Abby Bigham Presentation and Discussion: "Natural Selection at High Altitude: Andean Patterns of Adaptation to an Extreme Environment"High-altitude hypoxia, or decreased oxygen levels caused by low barometric pressure, challenges the ability of humans to live and reproduce. Despite these challenges, human populations have lived on the Andean Altiplano for millennia and exhibit unique circulatory, respiratory, and hematological adaptations to life at high altitude. We and others have identified natural selection candidate genes and gene regions for these adaptations using dense genome scan data. These data suggest a genetic role in high-altitude adaption and provide a basis for future genotype/phenotype association studies necessary to confirm the role of selection-nominated candidate genes and gene regions in adaptation to altitude.
Friday, March 22, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
Rupture and Revival 4-Field Anthropology Graduate Conference, co-sponsored with the Michigan Anthropology Graduate Association, featuring Marisol de la Cadena (keynote speaker)
2011 - 2012
October 7, 2011
Círculo meeting: members & faculty advisor
2011 - 2012
October 7, 2011
Círculo meeting: members & faculty advisor
Members met informally to discuss the upcoming year and establish co-coordinators.
November 4, 2011
Círculo meeting: co-coordinators, members and faculty advisor
November 4, 2011
Círculo meeting: co-coordinators, members and faculty advisor
Co-coordinators met with group members to introduce themselves and discuss the schedule for the upcoming year and the lay-out for the Andes Environment conference. In these discussions, coordinators also reviewed and established a preliminary budget with the former co-coordinators.
December 8, 2011
Grant Writing Workshop
December 8, 2011
Grant Writing Workshop
Círculo members from a variety of disciplines will provide feedback for anthropology candidates Alysa Handelsman, Joshua Shapero, and Jennifer Tucker. Their grant proposals will be circulated to all Círculo members (via Círculo listserv) a week beforehand so that all students may arrive with feedback.
January 13, 2012
Informal Kick-off Meeting and Presentation: Karla Pena
January 13, 2012
Informal Kick-off Meeting and Presentation: Karla Pena
Catch up and talk about events for the semester. Karla will present on her proposed research on food sovereignty in Peru and show a short documentary.
January 20, 2012
Dissertation Chapter Presentation and Discussion: Randall Hicks
January 20, 2012
Dissertation Chapter Presentation and Discussion: Randall Hicks
Círculo members from a variety of disciplines will provide feedback for anthropology candidate Randall Hick’s dissertation chapter. This chapter will be circulated to all Círculo members (via Círculo listserv) a week beforehand so that all students arrive with feedback. Randy hopes that the interdisciplinarity of the feedback will strengthen his writing and his approach as he revisits this chapter in the months to come.
February 9, 2012
Museum of Anthropology Brown Bag Series: Allison Davis (Archaeology Alum)
February 10, 2012
Practice Job Talk: Xochitl Ruiz (PhD Anthropology)
February 15, 2012
Practice Job Talk: Margarita Huayhua Curse (PhD Anthropology: 2010)
Title: Discrimination and Racialization in a Peruvian Combi
TBD
Post-doctoral Research Presentation: Carrie Brezine
Post-Doctoral Scholar Carrie Brezine will present her current research in preparation for the Technology, Textiles, and Power in the Andes Conference.
TBD
Presentation: Ingrid Sanchez (Doctoral Candidate, Science Education)
March 23, 2012
Quechua learning workshop with Maria del Carmen Bolivar
March 31, 2012
Transforming Landscapes in Andean Societies.A multidisciplinary research symposium.
School of Natural Resources and Environment
April 6, 2012
Dissertation Chapter Presentation and Discussion: “The Ritual Boundaries of Las Varas” by Howard Tsai.
February 9, 2012
Museum of Anthropology Brown Bag Series: Allison Davis (Archaeology Alum)
February 10, 2012
Practice Job Talk: Xochitl Ruiz (PhD Anthropology)
February 15, 2012
Practice Job Talk: Margarita Huayhua Curse (PhD Anthropology: 2010)
Title: Discrimination and Racialization in a Peruvian Combi
TBD
Post-doctoral Research Presentation: Carrie Brezine
Post-Doctoral Scholar Carrie Brezine will present her current research in preparation for the Technology, Textiles, and Power in the Andes Conference.
TBD
Presentation: Ingrid Sanchez (Doctoral Candidate, Science Education)
March 23, 2012
Quechua learning workshop with Maria del Carmen Bolivar
March 31, 2012
Transforming Landscapes in Andean Societies.A multidisciplinary research symposium.
School of Natural Resources and Environment
April 6, 2012
Dissertation Chapter Presentation and Discussion: “The Ritual Boundaries of Las Varas” by Howard Tsai.
Círculo members from a variety of disciplines will provide feedback for anthropology candidate Howard Tsai’s dissertation chapter. This chapter will be circulated to all Círculo members (via Círculo listserv) a week beforehand so that all students arrive with feedback.
2008 - 2009
October 24, 20082008 - 2009
Introductory Meeting:
November 7, 2008
Círculo Presentation
Sergio Huarcaya: "Othering the Mestizo: The Transformation of Alterity Leading to the Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement" (12:00, West Hall 238A)
December 2, 2008
Círculo Discussion with Professor Peter Gose (1:00 pm, West Hall 209).
Followed by: Peter Gose: "Petty Disputes and Purity of Blood: Racial Slurs, Honor and Litigation in Seventeeth Century Lima" (4:30 pm, 1014 Tisch Hall)
January 23, 2009
Círculo Presentation
Kairos Marquardt: "Derechos y Deberes: Ideals of Civic Duty & the Inequities of Citizen Participation" (11:30 am, West Hall 242)
February 6, 2009
Círculo Discussion
Nicholas Emlen and Howard Tsai: "Homelands and Horizons" (11:30 am, West Hall 209)
March 21-22, 2009
Conference
The 37th Annual Midwest Conference on Andean and Amazonian Archaeology and Ethonohistory. Link to website.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Howard Tsai (Anthropology)
Las Varas: Archaeological Investigation of Highland-Coastal Interaction in the Jequetepeque Valley (Peru) during the Late Intermediate Period Or I Crossed the Bridge and Found a Dissertation Site.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Ximena Soruco Sologuren (Romance Languages and Literatures)
Ximena Soruco Sologuren (Romance Languages and Literatures)
Some reflections about the emergence of the cholo in Bolvia.
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005
Bruce Mannheim (Anthropology)
Urban-mestizo speech as a zero-degree register in Quechua linguistics: A critique and some modest proposals.
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Michael P. Ferguson (Anthropology)
Religion, Social Instability, and Context in Azángaro, Peru.
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Fernando Velasquez (Romance Languages and Literatures)
Fernando Velasquez (Romance Languages and Literatures)
Writing at a Crossroads: Arguedas between Literature and Anthropology.
SPECIAL EVENT / Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Miriam Doutriaux (Dumbarton Oaks) and Bruce Mannheim (Anthropology)
SPECIAL EVENT / Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Miriam Doutriaux (Dumbarton Oaks) and Bruce Mannheim (Anthropology)
A conversation on language and the archaeology of social boundaries in the prehispanic Colca Valley, Peru.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Julia Paley (Anthropology and Social Work)
Julia Paley (Anthropology and Social Work)
Indigenous movements and aid agencies: Convergence around the idea of participation. The case of Ecuador.
Friday, February 10, 2006
Javier Sanjinés (Romance Languages and Literatures)
Javier Sanjinés (Romance Languages and Literatures)
State, national culture and social movements in Bolivia.
SPECIAL EVENT / Wedesday, February 22, 2006
Jose Quezada Macchiavello (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú)
SPECIAL EVENT / Wedesday, February 22, 2006
Jose Quezada Macchiavello (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú)
The music of Baroque Cuzco
Friday, February 24, 2006
Roberto Frisancho (Anthropology)
Adapting to high altitude from conception to aging - I
Friday, February 24, 2006
Roberto Frisancho (Anthropology)
Adapting to high altitude from conception to aging - I
Friday, March 17, 2006
Kenny Sims (Anthropology)
How Local Groups Recover From State Collapse: A Case Study from the South of Peru
Friday, March 31, 2006
Roberto Frisancho (Anthropology)
Adapting to high altitude from conception to aging - II
2004 - 2005
Monday, 4 October 2004
Guillermo Salas (Ph.D. student, Cultural Anthropology)
"Corporate Social Responsibility and Mining Promises of Modernity: The First Years of Relations Between Compañía Minera Antamina and the Surrounding Communities (San Marcos, Ancash, Peru)."
Salas's talk explored how mines are deeply related to the promises of modernity and constitute one of their stronger forms of symbolic capital. These promises have been heterogeneous and have had different outcomes depending on the social context in which they were made. Salas's talk showed two different types of mining promises in Peru, focusing on current mining discourses of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development. The case of Antamina Mining Company was analyzed in order to explore the practices associated with these discourses. The local community's understanding of development as well as the place of the State in this picture were explored.Guillermo Salas (Ph.D. student, Cultural Anthropology)
"Corporate Social Responsibility and Mining Promises of Modernity: The First Years of Relations Between Compañía Minera Antamina and the Surrounding Communities (San Marcos, Ancash, Peru)."
Monday, 1 November 2004
Alexis Mantha (Postdoctoral Archaeologist)
"Late Prehispanic and colonial occupations of the Rapayan Valley, Upper Marañón Drainage, Peru."
"Late Prehispanic and colonial occupations of the Rapayan Valley, Upper Marañón Drainage, Peru."
The presentation is the result of a 320 km2 survey conducted in 2001 and 2002 in the relatively isolated region of Rapayán, which is located on the western side of the upper Marañón River in the Department of Ancash. The sites pertaining to the ultimate periods of Peruvian prehistory (LIP/LH) in that area are characterized by an exceptional conservation of its architectural features. After describing the settlements’ architectural variability, Mantha discussed aspects of cultural identity and some of the major events that occurred at Rapayán.
Tuesday, 16 November 2004
Tuesday, 16 November 2004
Julia Paley (Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology)
Dr. Paley spoke about her recent and ongoing fieldwork in Ecuador. Her research in Ecuador is funded by the Fulbright Commission and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. Paley's work in Ecuador focuses on participatory democracy, indigenous movements, and democracy promotion activities by international agencies in relation to citizen participation processes by alternative local governments. This was an informal works-in-progress discussion.
Monday, 6 December 2004
Paulo César Polo (graduate student in Romance Languages)
"To be and should be: A Dialogic approach to Peruvian Political Rhetoric (In Eearly XXI)."
Paulo César presented his goals for dissertation research, the stages he has already gone through, his theoretical and methodological doubts, and some examples of results. He focuses on the tools political leaders use to disclose their proposals in order to gain a favorable attitude from the population towards them; the role of the media as the lens through which this process takes place; and the adaptation of the people of this cumuli of information to their political common sense. Specifically, he analyzes the strategies built by current Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo and his main opposition to persuade their respective audiences, and how these politicians impose an ethos of themselves (what they are) as an ideal hypothetical president (what one should be) in regard to the assumptions the Peruvian people have about how the chief of the state must behave. He discussed a rhetorical analysis of the politicians, a content analysis of the media, and a discussion and analysis of the political interpretative repertoires of the Peruvian population.
Monday, 6 December 2004
Paulo César Polo (graduate student in Romance Languages)
"To be and should be: A Dialogic approach to Peruvian Political Rhetoric (In Eearly XXI)."
Paulo César presented his goals for dissertation research, the stages he has already gone through, his theoretical and methodological doubts, and some examples of results. He focuses on the tools political leaders use to disclose their proposals in order to gain a favorable attitude from the population towards them; the role of the media as the lens through which this process takes place; and the adaptation of the people of this cumuli of information to their political common sense. Specifically, he analyzes the strategies built by current Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo and his main opposition to persuade their respective audiences, and how these politicians impose an ethos of themselves (what they are) as an ideal hypothetical president (what one should be) in regard to the assumptions the Peruvian people have about how the chief of the state must behave. He discussed a rhetorical analysis of the politicians, a content analysis of the media, and a discussion and analysis of the political interpretative repertoires of the Peruvian population.
Wednesday, 12 January 2005
Barry Lyons (Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Wayne State University)
Mestizo identities in Ecuador
Dr. Lyons described his new research design and project on mestizo identities in Ecuador. The rise of the indigenous movement in Ecuador over the last fifteen years has challenged blanco-mestizos to revise their understandings of race, Indianness, and their own identities.
Barry Lyons (Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Wayne State University)
Mestizo identities in Ecuador
Dr. Lyons described his new research design and project on mestizo identities in Ecuador. The rise of the indigenous movement in Ecuador over the last fifteen years has challenged blanco-mestizos to revise their understandings of race, Indianness, and their own identities.
Wednesday, 26 January 2005
Viviana Quintero (Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology)
"Signifying Otavalo: Place, Belonging, and Social Distinctions."
Viviana Quintero's presentation examines how indigenous people and mestizos perceive and understand contemporary social life in Otavalo, Ecuador and its surrounding rural communities, particularly Peguche and Ilumán. She focused on how they remember their past interactions and construct an intercultural present and future as inhabitants of Otavalo.
Viviana Quintero (Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology)
"Signifying Otavalo: Place, Belonging, and Social Distinctions."
Viviana Quintero's presentation examines how indigenous people and mestizos perceive and understand contemporary social life in Otavalo, Ecuador and its surrounding rural communities, particularly Peguche and Ilumán. She focused on how they remember their past interactions and construct an intercultural present and future as inhabitants of Otavalo.
Wednesday, February 9, 2005
Andrés Arauz, (Economics major)
"On the Migrant: Networks, Identity and Development."
This was a discussion of Arauz's prospective research project on the dynamics of migration, transnational networks, and economic development. Arauz gave background information on the recent "boom" of research on Ecuadorian migration ranging from economics to anthropology to psychology, revealing the complexity of the Ecuadorian migratory process. Some key topics include: money laundering and remittances, flow of remittances, migration and the free trade treaty, socio-psychological factors, and academic migrants. For information on the conference he attended, please go to this link.
Andrés Arauz, (Economics major)
"On the Migrant: Networks, Identity and Development."
This was a discussion of Arauz's prospective research project on the dynamics of migration, transnational networks, and economic development. Arauz gave background information on the recent "boom" of research on Ecuadorian migration ranging from economics to anthropology to psychology, revealing the complexity of the Ecuadorian migratory process. Some key topics include: money laundering and remittances, flow of remittances, migration and the free trade treaty, socio-psychological factors, and academic migrants. For information on the conference he attended, please go to this link.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Edward Murphy, (doctoral candidate in Anthropology and History)
"Fractured Landscapes: An Anthropological History of a Neo-Liberal Model, Santiago, Chile." Edward Murphy, doctoral candidate in Anthropology and History, presented work-in-progress from the second and third chapters of his dissertation. These chapters explore how class, state, gender, and spatial formations intersect in the unprecedented mobilization of Santiago’s low-income pobladores during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Through a series of well-publicized land seizures sponsored by leftist political parties, the pobladores sought to establish what they termed “well constituted homes,” a state of being they claimed they deserved as citizens. While their claims were often successful, granting them a recognition that they previously lacked, the place that they found in the state and in the Santiago landscape was a tenuous and troubled one. Not only did the material benefits they received remain bounded within minimalist conceptions of poverty reduction, but persistent practices of exclusion and distinction marked the spaces they came to occupy. The goal of establishing “well-constituted homes” thus led to contradictory outcomes, in which separation and difference coexisted uneasily with solidarities and collective mobilization. Such contradictions, Murphy argue, contributed to the difficulties faced in the attempt to implement a “legal path to socialism” by Salvador Allende’s presidential regime (1970-1973).
Edward Murphy, (doctoral candidate in Anthropology and History)
"Fractured Landscapes: An Anthropological History of a Neo-Liberal Model, Santiago, Chile." Edward Murphy, doctoral candidate in Anthropology and History, presented work-in-progress from the second and third chapters of his dissertation. These chapters explore how class, state, gender, and spatial formations intersect in the unprecedented mobilization of Santiago’s low-income pobladores during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Through a series of well-publicized land seizures sponsored by leftist political parties, the pobladores sought to establish what they termed “well constituted homes,” a state of being they claimed they deserved as citizens. While their claims were often successful, granting them a recognition that they previously lacked, the place that they found in the state and in the Santiago landscape was a tenuous and troubled one. Not only did the material benefits they received remain bounded within minimalist conceptions of poverty reduction, but persistent practices of exclusion and distinction marked the spaces they came to occupy. The goal of establishing “well-constituted homes” thus led to contradictory outcomes, in which separation and difference coexisted uneasily with solidarities and collective mobilization. Such contradictions, Murphy argue, contributed to the difficulties faced in the attempt to implement a “legal path to socialism” by Salvador Allende’s presidential regime (1970-1973).
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Allison Davis (Anthropology) and Veronique Belisle (Anthropology)
Allison Davis and Veronique Belisle, Ph.D. students in anthropology, discussed their participation in Alan Covey's archaeological survey outside of Cusco, Peru. Working with this project, they have identified archaeological sites ranging from camps of the earliest nomandic hunter-gatherers to storage facilities of the Inca empire. While Dr. Covey's work focuses on the period of Inca State formation, Allison and Veronique are using survey data to develop dissertation projects on the first agricultural villages and the Wari occupation of the Cusco area (respectively).
Allison Davis and Veronique Belisle, Ph.D. students in anthropology, discussed their participation in Alan Covey's archaeological survey outside of Cusco, Peru. Working with this project, they have identified archaeological sites ranging from camps of the earliest nomandic hunter-gatherers to storage facilities of the Inca empire. While Dr. Covey's work focuses on the period of Inca State formation, Allison and Veronique are using survey data to develop dissertation projects on the first agricultural villages and the Wari occupation of the Cusco area (respectively).
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
Bruce Mannheim (Anthropologist at the University of Michigan)"Interpretive Essay on Peruvian Reality"
Bruce Mannheim presented an "Interpretive Essay on Peruvian Reality." The piece dealt with transfugas and transsexuals during the Fujimori regime in Peru.
Bruce Mannheim (Anthropologist at the University of Michigan)"Interpretive Essay on Peruvian Reality"
Bruce Mannheim presented an "Interpretive Essay on Peruvian Reality." The piece dealt with transfugas and transsexuals during the Fujimori regime in Peru.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Patricia Zarate (Sociologist at the Kellog Institute from the University of Notre Dame)
Cocaleros, Coca Production, and Issues of Democracy and Governability in Peru Raul Hernandez presented his book, "La frontera occidental de la Audiencia de Quito: viajeros y relatos de viajes (1595-1630)" (Historian at the Kellog Institute from the University of Notre Dame)
Patricia Zarate (Sociologist at the Kellog Institute from the University of Notre Dame)
Cocaleros, Coca Production, and Issues of Democracy and Governability in Peru Raul Hernandez presented his book, "La frontera occidental de la Audiencia de Quito: viajeros y relatos de viajes (1595-1630)" (Historian at the Kellog Institute from the University of Notre Dame)
Wednesday, 8 October 2003
Presentation of the group's members.
Wednesday, 22 October 2003
Linguistic anthropology graduate student Mollie Callahan presented her research on Kallawaya healers in Chari, Bolivia, entitled "Medical Discourse and Ethnobotanical Expertise Among Bolivian Kallawaya Specialists." Callahan is en route to begin her field research in Bolivia, and sought feedback and suggestions from the group.
Wednesday, 5 November 2003
Screening and discussion of anthropology graduate student Sergio Huarcaya's film (in Spanish) "La Dignidad de los Pueblos: El Levantamiento del 21 de Enero de 2000."
This film depicts the events of January 21, 2000, in Ecuador, when an uprising of indigenous people, with last-minute support from low and mid-level military officers, succeeded in ousting the corrupted president, Jamil Mahuad. Mahuad's economic policies had been rapidly increasing the population of destitute Ecuadorians, most of them indigenous. On January 21, thousands of Indians and their allies surrounded the Congress. Several units of the army broke ranks and allowed indigenous activists to seize the building. Hours later, the movement declared a new government of "National Salvation. The victory was short-lived. Ecuador's top military officials replaced the mid-level military leader of the movement with one of their own. Before dawn, coerced by the United States government, the top officials ousted the National Salvation Government and installed Mahuad's vice president, Gustavo Noboa, as president. Mahuad was ousted, but the old political regime survived.
Wednesday, 3 December 2003
Assistant Professor of Art History (Michigan Society of Fellows) Stella Nair presented a talk entitled "Visual Culture and Andean Histories: Reinterpreting an Inca Royal Estate, 1450-1800 A. D."
Nair has been working in the Chinchero region, north of Cuzco, Peru, since 1997, investigating the manipulation of the rural landscape during the Imperial Inca and Spanish colonial periods. Drawing from this fieldwork, Nair's talk focused on a single building on an Inca private estate in order to examine the various ways that visual culture has been used to construct an understanding of the Andean past.
Kenny Sims (Archaeology Ph.D. Student) presented "After State Collapse: How Tumilaca Communities Developed in the Upper Moquegua Valley, Peru."
This paper, excerpted from a chapter in an upcoming volume "After Collapse," examines the effects of Wari and Tiwanaku collapse during the subsequent political periods of Moquegua history, AD 900-AD 1200.
Wednesday, 14 January 2004
Jessa Leinaweaver, a Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology, presented a talk entitled "Orphans, Anti-Orphans, and Social Responsibility in the Andes."
Wednesday, 14 January 2004
Jessa Leinaweaver, a Ph.D. Candidate in Anthropology, presented a talk entitled "Orphans, Anti-Orphans, and Social Responsibility in the Andes."
In this presentation, she explored the meaning of orphanhood in the Andes, drawing on two years of dissertation research. The words huerfano in Spanish and wakcha in Quechua cover two different but overlapping semantic fields. She traced the meanings of the words as they have changed in recent years, with a particular focus on the violence in the region and the birth of the orphanage, contextualizing the several co-existing definitions of "orphan". Orphan can variously mean poor, far from home, with deceased parents, or institutionalized. What can these different interpretations tell us about relatedness, morality, and social responsibility in Ayacucho, Peru?
Wednesday, 28 January 2004
Wednesday, 28 January 2004
Joshua Tucker (PhD Candidate, Ethnomusicology) presented a paper entitled "Musical Mestizaje and Social Change: Marketing, Migrants, and the Uses of música ayacuchana."
In recent years, Ayacuchano music has risen to a position of prominence among popular Andean genres throughout Peru. In this presentation, Tucker drew on two years of fieldwork in Ayacucho and Lima to outline some of the reasons why this is so. He discussed how musicians and mediators have drawn upon preexisting esthetic and social values associated with the genre, at the same time as they have infused it with new elements in order to effectively market it as the music of choice for Lima’s Andean middle class.
Wednesday, 11 February 2004
Sergio Huarcaya (Ph.D. student, Anthropology and History) presented a paper entitled "A Glorious but Fictional Past: The Limits of the Malleability of National History in Cacha, an Indigenous Jurisdiction in the Ecuadorian Andes."
Since the 1840s, the Ecuadorian State has laid the foundation of Ecuadorian nationhood on the Historia del Reino de Quito en la America Meridional, a narrative written by the Jesuit Criollo Priest Juan de Velasco by 1780. This account narrates the history of the Scyris, a pre-Columbian monarchy that ruled a vast and developed kingdom-state, having the indigenous locality of Cacha as one of its main sites. In spite of the official reproduction of the narrative, there is no evidence, save for Fr. de Velasco’s writings, of the existence of the Scyris. In addition, Cachans only learned that their locality and ancestors were an important component of Ecuadorian nationality after the establishment of the first schools in their communities during the early 1980s. Focusing on the historiographic production of the narrative, its role in Ecuadorian nation building, and its reception among Cachans, this research analyses the way in which Ecuadorian nationhood has excluded Cachans, as indigenous peoples, in spite of the official glorification of their supposed ancestry.
Guillermo Salas (Anthropology Ph.D. student) presented "Ritual Performance and Modernity: The Qoyllurit'i Pilgrimage and the Tensions of Cusco's Regional Society."
Five thousand meters above sea level, the shrine of Qoyllurit'i, or 'Shining Snow', is located at the bottom of the Qolqepunku glacier, one hundred miles east of Cusco, Peru. It is the focus of the biggest pilgrimage in the southern Peruvian Andes, where two different Christ figures are carried from the lowlands to reunite with a third - the Christ of Qoyllurit'i - painted on a rock and said to have disappeared into it. For the vast majority of the pilgrims, the Christ image painted on the rock is the focus of this shrine. However, intellectuals and Cusquenian urbanites who do not participate actively in the pilgrimage tend to frame it as an 'ancient native ritual' in honor of the Apu Qolquepunku, the powerful spirit of the glacier. The Christian elements are seen as merely an external and superficial imposition on its 'native essence'. Salas analyzed the relations between such essentializing discourses of an 'authentic Andean culture' - heirs of the Cusquenian 'Indigenismo' movement - the growing 'New Age' tourism industry at the pilgrimage site, and the patterns of discrimination towards Quechua highlanders seen as inherently incapable of dealing with 'modernity'. Salas's exploration of the ritual performances of the Qoyllurit'i pilgrimage and the discourses about it explores current tensions in Cusco, where Quechua people are discriminated against but their culture is celebrated. In the pilgrimage setting, he shows how Quechua highlanders and newly urbanized Quechuans are reshaping their identities in silenced struggles with discrimination patterns in the Cusco region.
Wednesday, 17 March 2004
Wednesday, 17 March 2004
Mandi Bane (Sociology Ph.D. student) presented her dissertation proposal, "The Indigenous Movement of Ecuador: An Old/New Model of Social Transformation."
The dissertation project will look at how constituents of the Ecuadorian indigenous movement combine strategic repertoires typically believed to belong to either "old" or "new" social movements.
Wednesday, 31 March 2004
The dissertation project will look at how constituents of the Ecuadorian indigenous movement combine strategic repertoires typically believed to belong to either "old" or "new" social movements.
Wednesday, 31 March 2004
Fernando Velasquez (Romance Languages Ph.D Student) presented a paper entitled "From Indians to citizens? The representation of the "Indian" in Peruvian popular music."
The paper analyzed the concept of indigeneity in the songs “Indio” by Alicia Maguiña (1964) and “Cholo soy y no me compadezcas” by Luis Abanto Morales (1959).