Press Room

Alison Joersz - 2009 Summer FLAS Recipient

Alison used her FLAS award to study at two different programs run by the University of Massachusetts, Boston in Summer 2009. The first program was a 3 week Kreyòl intensive program located in Boston and the second was a 4 week study abroad program in Haiti (called "Haiti Today"). The program in Haiti consisted of courses in language, culture and history with excursions to important cultural sites throughout the country. It was a great introduction to the country both in terms of language and culture. Both programs were incredibly beneficial to my language skills but they were also very important to my development as a researcher of Haiti. I was able to network with important actors in the field of Haitian studies and even had the wonderful opportunity of working directly with Haitian university students as we took classes together and socialized during my time in Haiti. This has proved invaluable to both my language skills and has helped shape my preliminary research plans for next summer.

Sergio Miguel Huarcaya - 2009 - 2010 Gutierrez Dissertation Award Recipient

The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies is pleased to Announce Sergio Miguel Huarcaya as the 2009-2010 Gutierrez Dissertation Award Recipeint.

Sergio plans to use the Gutierrez Award to support his family and himself while he finishes the writing of his dissertation.

His dissertation, entitled Subjectivity and Indigenous Political Activism in the Ecuadorian Highlands, studies the emergence of the Ecuadorian Indigenous Movement. Using ethnographic and archival evidence, he argues that indigenous challenges to dominant constructions of social identity and differentiation, during the 1970s and 1980s, were fundamental for the articulation of ethnic demands by the leadership as well as for the massive support for mobilization on ethnic grounds by the indigenous peasantry.