Biography
I graduated with my MA in Cultural Anthropology at FSU in 2003 as Michael Uzendoski's first MA student. I went on to study at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with Andrew Orta and Norman E Whitten, Jr. I was awarded a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad grant in 2008 to continue research in the urban indigenous community of Lumbisí, Ecuador, where I also did my research for my MA thesis. I completed my PhD in 2012 in Socio-cultural Anthropology. Currently, I am Vice Dean of the College of Social Sciences and Humanities and professor of anthropology at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito, in Quito Ecuador. USFQ is ranked the number one private, liberal arts and Research University in the nation, 73rd in the Latin America Region. For the last two years I have been involved with two new research projects, the first on the intersection of territories, government regulated spaces, and local economies in San Cristobal, Galapagos Islands in conjunction with the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. The second project entitled "Spiritualities" (Espiritualidades in Spanish) involves a collaborative ethnographic investigation with 7 faculty members in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, 40 USFQ undergraduate students, 20 lesser known religious/spiritual communities within the Metropolitan District of Quito in conjunction with the City Museum Foundation of Quito. We will launch a 5-museum exhibit in the historic center of Quito beginning next month and culminating in December. If I can provide any additional information, I would be glad to lend a hand! I am so happy to see that the FSU anthropology program reviving, as I have very fond memories of my studies there!