Bio
I am a linguistic anthropologist and a historian of Indigenous Latin America. In my research, I use ethnographic, archival, and linguistic methods to examine language and belonging among the Indigenous peoples of the central Andes across the past six hundred years. I focus on the connections between linguistic difference and the environment, ethnicity, and religion. Against outsiders’ assumptions of Andean cultural or linguistic homogeneity, I work to recenter the historical and present-day diversity of Andean Indigenous peoples.
My teaching draws from my research to introduce students to themes in anthropology, Indigenous studies, and Latin American studies. In introductory courses, I highlight how ethnographic methods can help students understand their lives from new angles. My advanced courses address linguistic justice and the history of anthropological theory.
Courses
Anthropology 104 “Introduction to Cultural Anthropology and Human Diversity”
Anthropology 860 “History of Anthropological Theory”
Anthropology 690, “Problems in Anthropology: Language, Colonialism, and Resistance”