Institute for the Study of the Americas

Anthropology

Edward Bennett

Advisor(s): Mark Sorensen
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA St. John's College; MA University of Maryland
Teaching Areas: Anthropology 101
Research Interests: Health impacts of economy among indigenous Northern Amazonians in Ecuador

Amelia Fiske

Advisor(s): Michele Rivkin-Fish, Margaret Wiener
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Bowdoin College
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: The embodiment of inequality, Migration, Health Disparities, Latin America

Diana Gomez

Advisor(s): Arturo Escobar
Previous Institutions and Degrees: MA History
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Social Movements; Human Rights; Deomocracy; Women's Studies; Latin American studies

Lawrence McBride

Advisor(s): Christopher Nelson
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Illinois State Univerty; MA University of South Florida
Teaching Areas: Introductory Anthropology
Research Interests: Memories of slavery; Ethics; Rastafari in Jamaica

Mary Margaret Morgan-Smith

Advisor(s): Patricia McAnany
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Millsaps College
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Colonial period archaeology in the Maya region, religious identity, household archaeology, ethnohistory

Claire Novotny

Advisor(s): Patricia A. McAnany
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Whitman College; MA University of South Florida
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Maya Archaeology in South Belize; Mexico and community archaeology; Ancient Maya social identity; Honduras and ritual landscape; Household archaeology

Caela O’Connell

Advisor(s): Karla Slocum, Arturo Escobar
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Wittenberg University Environmental Geography
Teaching Areas: Anthropology 101,
Research Interests: Human-environment relationships, sustainable development, fair trade, ecology, St. Lucia, Latin America, Caribbean

Laura Wagner

Advisor(s): Michele Rivkin-Fish, Peter Redfield
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Yale University; MA Anthropology, Univeristy of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Teaching Areas: Anthropology of War and Peace; Peoples of Africa; Introduction into Cultural Anthropology; Introduction to Anthropology
Research Interests: Haiti; Health; Human rights; Humanitarianism; Historical memory, Domestic servitude

Communication Studies

Jessica Fifield

Advisor(s): Carole Blair, Della Pollock
Previous Institutions and Degrees:
Teaching Areas: Rhetoric, Performance, Gender
Research Interests: Pan-American Representations of Youth (in Film, Music, Policy, etc.); Violence as a Strategy of Organizing for Social Change; Rhetoric of Criminality and Citizenship

English and Comparative Literature

Allison Bigelow

Advisor(s): Tim Marr
Previous Institutions and Degrees: MA English, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill BA, English, University of Maryland at College Park, May 2003 BA, Spanish, University of Maryland at College Park, May 2003
Teaching Areas: English (101, 102, 102i) and Spanish (105, 203)
Research Interests: Early literatures of the Americas, Renaissance/early modern contact literatures, nature writing and colonialist discourse

Geography

Laura Brewington

Advisor(s): Stephen J. Walsh
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BS Biostatistics University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Sustainable development, conservation policy, protected area creation and management, and the political ecology of the Galapagos Islands

Matthew Reilly

Advisor(s): Altha J. Cravey
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA History, Dickinson College MA University of Georgia, Athens, GA, Geography '01
Teaching Areas: Urban Geography, Urban Studies & Theory, World Regional & Human Geography
Research Interests: urban processes, urban history, public space, public sphere, Latin America, Cuba Youth in public space in contemporary Havana, Cuba

Holly Worthen

Advisor(s): Wendy Wolford and Altha Cravey
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA English/International Studies, University of Kansas MA Geography, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Gender, Migration, and Development in Rural Mexico

Health Policy and Management

Natalie Pritchet

Advisor(s): Rebeca Wells
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BSPH Health Policy and Administration, University of North Carolina
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Health

History

Enver Casimir

Advisor(s): Louis A. Pérez, Jr.
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Harvard; MA Univeristy of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Teaching Areas: Cuba, Caribbean History, U.S. & Cuba, Race in Latin America
Research Interests: My dissertation uses the career of Afro-Cuban boxer Kid Chocolate as a lens to examine how race and sport related to Cuban nationalism in the 1920s and 1930s.

Jeff Erbig

Advisor(s): Kathryn Burns
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Messiah College
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Rio de la Plata; History and Cartography; Property Right; Land Surveys; Mapping

Rachel Hynson

Advisor(s): Louis A. Pérez, Jr.
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA University of Kansas
Teaching Areas: Latin American/Caribbean History, Cuban History, Gender Studies
Research Interests: My current research examines mental illness in 19th and 20th century Cuba. For my masters thesis, I will explore the foundation of the Mazorra Psychiatric Hospital of Havana and how it reflects as well as engenders change in colonial Cuba.

Jason Kaufman

Advisor(s): Cynthia Radding, John Chasteen
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Goshen College; MA History, University of New Mexico
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Environmental History, Nationalism, Frontier/Borderlands History/Southern Cone

Clarisa Mondéjar

Advisor(s): Louis A. Pérez, Jr.
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA University of Chicago; MA University of Miami
Teaching Areas: Latin America, US History and Native American History
Research Interests: Buying and Being Cuban: Cuban Identity Formation through Material Culture, 1891-1903

Robert C. Nathan

Advisor(s): Louis A. Pérez, Jr.
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Vassar College; MA University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Teaching Areas: Latin American History, Modern U.S. history, Atlantic history
Research Interests: race, nationalism, and memory in twentieth century Cuba

Laura Premack

Advisor(s): John Chasteen Lisa Lindsay
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Wesleyan University Ed.M Harvard University M.A. University of North Carolina
Teaching Areas: Latin America/Brazil Africa/Nigeria Religion
Research Interests: Charismatic Christianity and African spirituality in the Atlantic World

Matthew Radford

Advisor(s): Louis A. Pérez, Jr.
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA University of Alberta; MA McGill University
Teaching Areas: Latin American History, Atlantic World History
Research Interests: My dissertation is focused on the Veterans and Patriots movement of 1923-24 in Cuba, a broadly based popular organization which decried US economic intervention and Cuban governmental corruption.

Ben Reed

Advisor(s): Cynthia Radding
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA History, DePaul University; MA Latin America Studies
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Colonial Mexico; History of Religion/Catholicism; Urban History Preaching

Jeffrey Richey

Advisor(s): John Chasteen
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Brigham Young University; MA University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Teaching Areas: Argentina, Brazil, and Southern Cone, Cultural history; race and ethnicity; nationalism; mass media; sport in society.
Research Interests: My dissertation project deals with soccer institutions and mass media in Argentina during the first half of the twentieth century.

Eliot Spencer

Advisor(s): John Chasteen
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Grinnell College M.A. UNC 2007
Teaching Areas: Latin America- colonial and national Atlantic World – transAtalantic slave trade
Research Interests: the consumption of foreign commodities in Latin America, especially in Venezuela, during the neocolonial period, the 1870s-1910s.

Music

Anna Ochs

Advisor(s): David Garcia
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Music/Anthropology, Vanderbilt University; MA Musicology, Pennsylvania State University
Teaching Areas: opera, zarzuelas, Latin/o American music, women and music, Mexican music
Research Interests: I study cultural and social issues including gender, race, and nationality in Italian opera, French opéra bouffe, and Spanish zarzuelas in Mexico City between 1867-1890.

Political Science

Santiago Anria

Advisor(s): Evelyne Huber
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA International Relations, Universidad Del Salvador; MA Latin American Studies, Simon Fraser University
Teaching Areas: Latin American Politics
Research Interests: Political parties; Social movements; Party formation; Informal institutions and party organization; Bolivia

Lauren Biddle

Advisor(s): Jonathan Hartlyn
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BS International Affairs/Spanish at Georgia Institute of Technology, MA Political Science at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 2006
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests:

Juan Ariel Bogliaccini

Advisor(s): Evelyne Huber
Previous Institutions and Degrees: Licenciado in Sociology - Universidad Católica del Uruguay Master in Educational Policies - Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile - 2005
Teaching Areas: Latin American politics Inequality
Research Interests: Inequality, deindustrialization, service economy Democratic institutions in Latin America

Sabrina Carlson

Advisor(s):
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Political Science, Christopher Newport University
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Social movements, gender politics

Patrick Egan

Advisor(s): Evelyne Huber
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BSFS Georgetown University UNC Chapel Hill – MA 2003
Teaching Areas: Latin American political economy
Research Interests: Research Interests International political economy Latin American political economy Foreign Direct Investment Labor rights Inequality Dissertation Project Foreign Direct Investment and the State in Brazil

Barrington Hill

Advisor(s): John Stephens, Evelyne Huber
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA English, Unviersity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill MA Public Policy, Tec de Monterrey
Teaching Areas: Poli 131 (Political Change & Modernization)
Research Interests: Institutional effects on regime and regime transition Politics of social policy

Sara Niedzwiecki

Advisor(s): Evelyne Huber
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Universidad Torcuato di Tella
Teaching Areas: Latin American politics
Research Interests: Process of social policy reform; welfare/social states in Latin America; Case studies: Brazil and Argentina

Sandra Osterkatz

Advisor(s): Evelyne Huber
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; MA Poltical Science, Universidad Carlos III (Madrid)/University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Teaching Areas: Contemporary Latin American Politics; Global Issues
Research Interests: Federalism; Social policy and inequality in Latin America and Southern Europe

Alissandra Stoyan

Advisor(s):
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Union College
Teaching Areas: Latin American politics
Research Interests: Latin America and Eastern Europe

Public Health

Nadya Belemky

Advisor(s): Steve Cole
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Psychology, Stanford University
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Infectious diseases; Mental health; Intersection of health and politcal science

Anisha Gandhi

Advisor(s): Audrey Pettifor
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA English/Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley; MPH Maternal and Child Health, Univeristy of California at Berkeley
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Social/Structural determinants of reproductive health attitudes and outcomes

Lindsay Rhodes

Advisor(s): Melissa Troester
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BS Biology University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Teaching Areas: Epidemiology, Biology
Research Interests: Genetic epidemiology and the Latino minority's representation in such studies

Kate Thanel

Advisor(s):
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA, University of Minnesota
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Relationship between social and environmental factors and HIV risk; Brazil's national AIDs program, Reproductive and sexual health in Latin America and Latino populations in the US

James Tonthat

Advisor(s): Deborah Bender
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BS Biology, Duke University
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Central America; Health disparity; Micro-credit

Angela Palermo Towers

Advisor(s): Sally Stearns
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BS North Carolina State University
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Tropical disease and HIV prevention in Brazil

Public Policy

Tia Palermo

Advisor(s): Krista Perreira
Previous Institutions and Degrees: UNC Chapel Hill, MS Economics, 2005 State University of New York (SUNY) at Geneseo, BA Economics and Spanish, 2002
Teaching Areas: Quantitative Analysis for Public Policy
Research Interests: Reproductive health issues, Latino health, program evaluation, health and education in developing countries Dissertation title: Transnational Issues in Reproductive Health

Religious Studies

Shannon Barry

Advisor(s): Laurie Maffly-Kipp
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA, The University of Texas
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Food and material culture; Gender and sexuality; Religious groups' engagement with environmental issues

Romance Languages

Mari Carmen Caña Jiménez

Advisor(s): Melehy
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA University of Sevilla; MA University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Teaching Areas: Span 344 (Latin American Culture) and Span 372 (Spanish Literature from the 18th Century to the present)
Research Interests: Transatlantic Studies- Contemporary narrative in Spain and Colombia. Focus on trauma and memory.

Emily Clark

Advisor(s): Alicia Rivero
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Spanish, Rhodes College; MA Teaching, University of Memphis
Teaching Areas: Spanish ESL
Research Interests: Southern Cone literature; Central American literature

Marta Cruz-Concepción

Advisor(s): F. Domínguez
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Indiana University M.A. Indiana University, Latin American Lit M.A., University of Michigan, Linguistics
Teaching Areas: Spanish language
Research Interests: African Diaspora-Caribbean; Puerto Rican studies and Literature; Cuban music; Equatorial Guinea Literature

Greg Severyn

Advisor(s):
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Spanish/Justice Studies, Kent State University
Teaching Areas: Spanish language
Research Interests: Latin American literature

Joshua Wasson

Advisor(s):
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Spanish/Economics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Teaching Areas: Spanish language
Research Interests: Literary representations of politically under-represented groups

Whitney Winters

Advisor(s): Alicia Rivero
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Spanish/Political Science, Univeristy of Hawaii at Manoa
Teaching Areas: Spanish
Research Interests: Political representations in Latin American Literature

Social Work

Lee Abernathy

Advisor(s):
Previous Institutions and Degrees: BA Spanish/Anthropology, University of South Carolina
Teaching Areas:
Research Interests: Mental Health, Substance Abuse, HIV/AIDS, Immigration, Social Justice. Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (Bolivia)