MALAS Student Profile: Lorraine Archibald
January 9, 2015
2014-2015 reveals an enthusiastic cohort of MALAS students with eclectic backgrounds and interests. Among these students is Lorraine Archibald (MALAS '16), whose concentrations are in History, Urbanism & Community Development, and Indigenous Studies.
Lorraine received her B.A. in Global Studies with a concentration in Latin American Studies from The College of William and Mary. She had interest and minors in American Studies as well as Literary and Cultural Studies. She chose the MALAS program for its interdisciplinary nature, its abundant resources and the positive work environment of the LAII.
She expresses that "As a second generation Peruvian immigrant, the issues and injustices that contemporary Latin Americans face hit home for me as it affects many aspects of my life and the lives of my loved ones. I became impassioned to study Latin America after learning about the historical background and consequences of U.S. intervention and neoliberal economic implementation. I feel an affinity to defend Latin American migrants and immigrants-particularly indigenous ones."
In 2010 she conducted research concerning borderlands, human rights, and immigration in Nogales, Mexico and Arizona. In 2011 she was awarded a Roy R. Charles Center International Student Research Grant to study migration, ceramic production, and community sustainability of the Shipibo-Konibo indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon. This year (2014) she was awarded with the Latino/a Graduate Student Fellowship from UNM's El Centro de la Raza and the Graduate Resource Center.
Lorraine lived in Lima for 8 months from August 2013-March 2014, while taking anthropology courses at Pontifical Universidad Católica del Peru and working as an English instructor. This experience gave her insight into the difficulties and consequences of centralized urban development and influenced her to study community and regional planning. She is interested in researching how urban indigenous peoples have preserved their identity in creative ways. She plans to return to Lima to research an urban settlement of Shipibo-Konibo indigenous migrants. She is currently exploring the historical causes of this migration and analyzing their implications.
She works for LAII's K-12 outreach, writing weekly reviews of multicultural children's books and contributing to a blog that supports educators who wish to incorporate lessons on Latin America and Latino culture into their classrooms. When not in graduate student mode, she loves music, dancing, cooking, cycling, ceramics, and yoga!
Lorraine also recently developed a photo essay on "Migration, Cultural Preservation, Sustainable Practices, and the Impact of Ethnic Inequality in Lima and Pucallpa, Peru" based on her personal and academic experiences. To read it, visit the SOLAS website.
To learn more about the LAII's current MALAS students, read all of our student profiles.
