Juanita Arango Vallejo

Email: j.arango_vallejo@unsw.edu.au

Supervisors: Emma Christopher, Zora Simic

Juanita Arango Vallejo is a Colombian PhD Candidate engaged in collaborative research with the Afro-descendant community of the Yurumanguí River, whose ancestors were subjected to enslavement and brought to Colombia’s Pacific region during the colonial period. Since then, the community has continuously resisted to safeguard its territory, cultural heritage, and worldview. Juanita’s research focuses on anthropological work with women in the community, documenting their life stories, activism, and leadership practices. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Latin American Regional Studies and Social Sciences from the University of Cologne and a Master’s degree in Latin American Cultural Studies from the University of Bonn. She has also worked as a student assistant at the Interdisciplinary Latin American Studies Center (ILZ) at the University of Bonn, where she taught graduate students and helped organize interdisciplinary international summer schools for emerging scholars from Europe and Latin America.