Centering the Wisdom and Expertise of Indigenous Women
Paola Bacchetta, Professor
Gender and Women's Studies
Applications for Spring 2025 are closed for this project.
This project focuses on surfacing and centering the wisdom of indigenous women elders from Mesoamerica. The research includes library, archival, and database work, along with some transcribing of digital audio files. We will be analyzing and organizing narratives to surface nuance healing modalities that have existed for centuries and are now being “discovered” by western academics. The final aspects of the project include a conference with indigenous elders from South America and Mexico.
Role: URAP student will:
1.Conduct library research to locate nuanced examples of traditional
healing practices from Mesoamerica.
2.Analyze and organize texts and narratives on a database.
3.Translate and transcribe digital audio files from Spanish to English.
4.Conference: support indigenous elders with navigating the campus during their visits and capture notes at some of the plenary sessions for later analyses.
Qualifications: Qualifications: Understanding of, and experience with decolonial research methods; experience with medicinal plants from non-allopathic perspectives such as found in the work of Robin Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass. Experience working with indigenous elders. Having a feminist, critical race theory, Chicanx/Latinx/Native American studies background is important.
Required: Bilingual: intermediate skills in Spanish (conversational Spanish)
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Sandra M. Pacheco, Staff Researcher
Hours: 9-11 hrs
Off-Campus Research Site: We will meet on campus every other Thursday, when possible, otherwise through zoom. The bulk of the work can be conducted remotely.
Social Sciences