Director of the Center for Ethnic Studies, BMCC

I was born and raised in Lima Peru. I attended college at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú where I received a BA in Law [licenciatura en Derecho] with a thesis on a study of the legislation applied to Andean Peasant communities. I also received a minor degree in Anthropology [Diploma de Estudios Antropologicos– DEA] in 1984.

In 1985, I was awarded a fellowship to attend graduate studies at Indiana University, where I received an MA in Anthropology in 1988. I later transferred to Yale University and received a PhD also in Anthropology in 1997.

During my years at Yale, I worked at the Center for Latin American and Iberian Studies, and I was a teaching fellow in Anthropology and History departments. I also worked in the Prison and Immigration clinics at the Yale Law School, as a translator and legal interpreter.

I have taught at Connecticut College, Quinnipiac University and also at Fordham University–Rose Hill campus while living in Connecticut.

In 2000, I started teaching at BMCC as assistant professor of Anthropology in the Social Sciences. In 2005, I received an appointment from the Anthropology Department at the Graduate Center, to become a member of its doctoral faculty. This means I am able to teach doctoral courses as part of my tenure at CUNY, and also serve in dissertation committees.

In 2008, I became Director of the Center for Ethnic Studies at BMCC.