Viviana Rangil: Lead Researcher
As a professor of Spanish at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and chair of the college’s Department of World Languages and Literatures, my interdisciplinary research focuses on Latin American studies. My academic and personal interests include gender studies, Latin American film, and of course, food studies. My publications include Comamos y te cuento: Recetas del norte argentino (2013), El cine argentino de hoy: Entre el arte y la política (2007), Otro punto de vista: mujer y cine en Argentina (2005), and the ditital archive Comida latina.
My contribution to Indigenous Markets is based on my fieldwork in Guatemala and México in 2018, and collaborative work with Skidmore student Alex Ahrens, who was in Perú during the spring of 2018.
Contact Viviana Rangil at vrangil@skidmore.edu
Alex Ahrens: Project Collaborator
I spend most of my time studying anthropology at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York. Since studying anthropology, ethnography has changed how I view my daily practices and my interactions with other people. When I have free time, I prefer to be outside in my vegetable garden or wandering through the Adirondack forest. My academic interests are connected to my personal interests, so many of the projects I have involved myself in are linked to ethnobotany, the relationship of food and culture, and human interactions with environment and natural resources. I hope to work for alternative futures that are more closely allied with the environment and traditional ways of life.
In the spring of 2018 I had the opportunity to study abroad in Cusco, Peru. I spent a month traveling the countryside and interviewing the women I met in open-air markets. During this time, I was lucky enough to witness the generosity and resourcefulness of the Quechua-speaking families in the highlands around Cusco. From this experience I am trying to enact in my own life the meaning of having enough, how I can relate to people whose lives and experiences are distinct from mine, and how I can live a life more directly linked to the land.
Contact Alex Ahrens at aahrens@skidmore.edu
Kelly Fuhs: Project Collaborator
Currently, I am studying at Hope College with a major in International Studies and Spanish, while completing minor in Peace and Justice Studies. These areas of study exemplify of my passions for Spanish, social justice and faith.
After living in Guatemala during a mission trip for a month and interacting with indigenous people, I became passionate about learning more about their life and their customs. I started researching and learning more about indigenous women in Latin America in two of my classes and, in May 2018, I had the opportunity to go to Mexico with Professor André and Carolyn Wetzel to compile oral narratives of indigenous women in different local markets. I hope to share this research with others so they can better appreciate and understand these women’s lives and the incredible work they do.
Contact Kelly Fuhs at kelly.fuhs@hope.edu
María Claudia André: Lead Researcher
I am a professor of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at Hope College, Michigan. My field of research is Latin American studies with a focus on gender studies, literature, art, and social movements. For the past few years, I have developed and collaborated with students in several Digital humanities project allowing me to develop a more interdisciplinary approach to teaching and research.
Some of my most recent publications are: Antología de dramaturgas argentinas de los años 20 (2010), The Woman in Latin American and Spanish Literature: Essays on Iconic Characters (2012) y Escrituras extremas: Feminismos libertarios en América Latina (2016).
Contact María Claudia André at andre@hope.edu
Carolyn Wetzel: Project Collaborator
I have double major in International Studies and Spanish with double minor in Sociology, as well as Peace and Justice Studies at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. In addition to this oral history project, I will be working on a research project on US foreign policy in Israel and Palestine in the fall semester of 2018. I am part of the Mellon Scholars program at Hope, a digital humanities program focused on the collaborative research of teachers and students in the arts and humanities. My research interests include Latin American and women’s studies, human rights and foreign policy, and conflict resolution on a global scale. I spent May 2018 in Mexico with Professor André doing interviews and taking a class, and I plan to spend a semester studying human rights in several countries in 2019. My future plans include attending law school and graduate school and working in international law promoting and legislating the protection of human rights. Through this project, I am learning how valuable it is to have oral narrations as well as to relate to these women on a universal and human level. I am grateful for the support of Professor André, the Mellon Foundation and the Oral History in the Liberal Arts (OHLA).
Contact Carolyn Wetzel at carolyn.wetzel@hope.edu
Acknowledgements
We would like to express our thanks to Skidmore College and the support of the Faculty Student Summer Research Program. Additionally, we would like to recognize the office of Information Technology, especially Aaron Kendall for his patience, and for teaching us more than we believed possible; this site would not exist without his work. Thanks to SIT Study Abroad: Peru – Indigenous Peoples and Globalization for the invaluable opportunities for undergraduate research. Finally, this project could not exist without the participation of the women with whom we worked during our interview process.
Thank you to Hope College, Great Lakes College Association, Haworth Fund and la Fundación Mellon for the scholarships which supported our research and fieldwork in Ecuador and Mexico in March and May of 2018; additionally, thanks to the significant colaboration of Kelly Fuhs and Carolyn Wetzel (Hope College). Special thanks to Geoffrey Reynolds (Joint Archives of Holland) and Victoria Longfield (Digital Liberal Arts Librarian at Hope College).
Bibliography