Dr Lucía Rojas Rodríguez

Research Associate

I am a social anthropologist working with Professor Sarah Radcliffe in a research project about the geographies of indigenous citizenship in Latin America.

Biography

Career

• 2022 – present. Postdoctoral Research Associate. Department of Geography, University of Cambridge.

Qualifications

• 2022 PhD in Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge (viva held on 04/10/2022). Thesis title: The Great Shout of the Wolves’ Mouth. Indigeneity, social change and historical narrative in the Ecuadorian Andes
• 2016 MSc in Social Anthropology. London School of Economics and Political Science. Distinction.
• 2013 Advanced Master’s in Public Health Methodology (MPHM). Free University of Brussels.
• 2008 Bachelor’s in Social Sciences, speciality Anthropology. Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima.

Awards

• Ecuadorian Ministry of Culture award for research on Andean oral tradition in the parish of Facundo Vela, 2010.
• International research award in Participatory Research: “Galardón Latinoamericano de las madres y abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo en investigación acción participativa” Prize given by the UNESCO, 2009. The Project awarded explored cultural variables of nutrition in a Kichwa community of northern Ecuador.

Research

My main areas of interest are indigeneity, historical consciousness, memory and social movements. My doctoral thesis was a historical ethnography that touched on themes of indigeneity and social change. It combined archival research, oral history and ethnography, to show the complexities of being indigenous in Ecuador from the struggles over land at the time of the agrarian reforms to the present struggles over territory and autonomy.

Previously, I have conducted ethnographic research in other areas of Ecuador and Peru. In Perú, I worked in the Department of Madre de Dios looking at social determinants of health and the experiences and life stories of people who were diagnosed and treated for tuberculosis. I have also participated in preliminary research for Human Rights organisations in Ayacucho, Perú.

In Ecuador, I have worked for over ten years in the central Andes with Kichwa organisations in research, primary health and education projects. With the second degree organisation Fundación Runacunapac Yachana, we produced bilingual radio programmes based on the community’s concerns with primary healthcare. We also collected oral histories of families who participated in the land struggles in the 1980s and continue to be politically active in the present.

Publications

• Rojas, Lucía. (2019). Memorias de la vida cotidiana en las ‘zonas liberadas’ de Sendero Luminoso. El caso de las retiradas de Chungui y Oreja de Perro. Antropología. Cuadernos de investigación No. 20.
• Rojas, Lucía. (2009). Kiwicha Yuyachkani: Recordando el Amaranto. Secretaría de Desarrollo Social de la República Argentina, Buenos Aires.

Teaching

• 2010. Universidad Estatal de Bolívar, Ecuador. Subjects covered: Social Science and Qualitative Research Methods for healthcare professions.
• 2008. Universidad Bíblica Latinoamericana. Subjects covered: Introduction to Anthropology and Qualitative Research Methods.