I am a cultural anthropologist with a regional specialization in Latin America. I have conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork in rural Chile. My scholarly interests include: economic anthropology, political ecology, community resource management, identity, social memory, globalization, and migration. I am currently working on a new project that is studying the disease burden of tuberculosis in Mexican indigenous migrant communities along the U.S-Mexico border.
Office Hours Mon & Wed 12:30-1:30, Tues & Thurs 11-12, or by appointment in SB 100F (inside the archaeology lab)Spring 2010
ANT 317 Social Issues in Latin America
Other Courses
ANT 309
Environmental Anthropology
BOOK REVIEWS
ANT
292 Exploring World Cultures: Environmental Justice
BOOKS I have recently published two books on Chile: my ethnography of an agricultural community in the semi-arid north-central region and an edited volume of research on the social and environmental consequences of neoliberal economic policies.
Lost in the Long Transition: Struggles for Social Justice in Neoliberal Chile (editor) (Lexington Books, 2009)
Chapter 1 "Introduction: Enduring Contradictions of the
Neoliberal State in Chile"
Chapter 7 "Cultural History Written in the Margins:
Political Ecology of Copper and Community in the Little North"
Resiliency in Hostile Environments: A Comunidad Agrícola in Chile's Norte Chico (Lehigh
University Press, 2008)
JOURNAL ARTICLES
"Cowboys and Indians and
Comuneros:
Policy-Positioned Ascriptions of Ethnicity,
Identity, and History in Chile" Social
Identities: Journal for the Study of Race,
Nation, and Culture 12(2): 139-165 (2006) (published by Routledge)
"Clandestine
Artisans or Integrated Producers?: Standardization of Rural Livelihood in Chile's Norte Chico" Culture &
Agriculture 26(1-2): 38-51 (2004) (journal of the
Culture & Agriculture section of the
American Anthropological Association)
" Organization and Advocacy in
Rural Chile: Peasant-Worker
Consciousness in the Transition to Democracy"
Anthropology of Work Review 23(3-4):
25-30 (2002)(journal of the
Society for the
Anthropology of Work section of the AAA)
Review of Stories of Globalization: Transnational Corporations, Resistance, and the State by Alessandro Bonanno and Douglas H. Constance, Culture & Agriculture 32(2): 103-104 (2009)
Review of Capitalizing on Catastrophe: Neoliberal Strategies in Disaster Reconstruction edited by Nandini Gunewardena and Mark Schuller, Human Ecology: forthcoming
RECENT PRESENTATIONS
Paper: "From Taking Credit to Owning Up: Considering the Crisis in Chile" American Anthropological Association annual meeting, Philadelphia, Dec. 2, 2009 (Session: "Engaging the State: Ethnographic Perspectives from Latin America")
Paper: "Environmental Justice Ethnography in the Classroom" Society for Applied Anthropology
annual meeting,
Santa Fe NM, March 21, 2009 (Session: "Environmental Justice and Community Responses")
Discussant: "Local Identity, Neoliberalism, and the Regulation of Natural Resources in Chile" session, AAA annual meeting,
San Francisco CA, November 21, 2008
Paper: "Immigration Trends and Issues in North Carolina"
Society for Applied Anthropology annual
meeting,
Memphis TN, March 27, 2008
(Session: "The Face of Neoliberalism in America")
Paper: “Reflections on Ethnographic Fieldwork and Ecological Resilience"
AAA annual meeting, Washington DC, Dec. 1, 2007 (Chair: “Comparative Case Studies in Ecological Consciousness, Class Inequality, and Reflections on Resilience” session)
Paper: "Revolution, Repression, and Remembrance in Chile: The Films of Patricio Guzman and What They Offer Cultural Anthropology", AAA annual meeting, San Jose CA, Nov. 17, 2006 (Session: "Information Wars: Propaganda, Conflict, and Hegemonic
Struggle")
Co-organizer & Co-chair: "Origins and Expressions of Neoliberalism in Latin America: A Comparative
Approach" session at the SfAA annual meeting,
Vancouver BC, March 29, 2006 (Paper: " 'Lost In
Transition' In Chile: Matters of Growth With(out) Equity from Pinochet to 'The Third Way' ")
Organizer & Chair: "Neoliberalism in Place, Identities in Places: Political Economy of Space and Culture
in Chile" session at the AAA annual meeting, Washington DC, Dec. 4, 2005
(Paper: "Cultural History 'Written in the Margins': Spatialized Identity in Development
Discourse")
Organizer & Chair: "Chile in Transition: Social Change, Critical Questions" session at the SfAA annual meeting,
Santa Fe NM, April 9, 2005
(Paper: "The Diligence of 'La Guerra
Bruta ' and the Persistence of Memory: Continuity of the State and Discontinuities of Development in Rural
Chile")
Paper:"Policy-Positioned Ascriptions of Ethnicity: A Comparative Analysis", SfAA annual meeting, Santa Fe NM, April 6, 2005 (Session:"Heritage, Identity, Ethnicity")
Contact me
at:
alexanderwATuncw.edu