My research examines changes in ideologies of class and ethnicity within Indian and peasant movements in the Andean Region of South America during the twentieth century. Although ethnicity has come to dominate Indigenous political discourse, I have discovered that historically the rural masses defended their class interests, especially those related to material concerns such as land, wages, and work, even while embracing an ideology of ethnicity. Through the study of land tenure and political mobilization issues, I examine the roles of leadership, institutions, economics, and class relations in order to understand the formation of class ideologies and ethnic politics.
I am currently completing revisions on my book Class and Ethnicity in Ecuador's Modern Indian Movements which is to be published with Duke University Press. This book examines a convergence of class and ethnic ideologies within Indian and peasant movements in twentieth-century Ecuador. I have published several articles and book chapters and am editing a book Highland Indians and the State in Modern Ecuador with Kim Clark based on research related to this project.
I am beginning research on a new project on ethnicity and the Communist International in the South American Andes. I plan to search the Comintern archives in Moscow for reflections of subaltern voices. Did the Comintern acknowledge Indian concerns and incorporate them into their policies, or did Moscow unilaterally dictate a course of action in the Andes? To prepare for this archival research, I have begun Russian language study and applied for funding for a preliminary research trip. This is the first research project that extends significantly beyond my dissertation, and Revista Andina has just published an article based on my preliminary research on this topic. I have been in contact with Yale University Press, and they are interested in publishing the results of my work in their Communist Studies series. More information is available on my web page.
Ohio University published my first book Mariátegui and Latin American Marxist Theory. José Carlos Mariátegui was a Peruvian political theorist from the 1920s who rejected a rigid, orthodox interpretation of Marxism and was instrumental in developing a creative and indigenous Latin American revolutionary theory. This volume demonstrates the role Mariátegui played in defining a Latin American identity, the nature of his intellectual contribution to the development of revolutionary movements in Latin America, and the influence he had on successful revolutionary movements in Cuba and Nicaragua.
I have received a variety of awards and fellowships to support my research, including the prestigious two-year Social Science Research Council (SSRC)-MacArthur Foundation Fellowship for Peace and Security in a Changing World which allowed me to spend time as a Visiting Scholar at the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. This year I am a Fulbright Scholar in Ecuador, and I previously have won the coveted American Historical Association's Albert J. Beveridge Grant. I continue to seek such sources of funding to support my ongoing research endeavors. Publishers and editors have requested that I contribute articles to a variety of projects, as well as asking me to review manuscript submissions and write book reviews. I was instrumental in organizing the new Ecuadorian Studies section of the Latin American Studies Association. I have been nominated for the position of co-chair of the Andean Studies Committee of the Conference on Latin American History (CLAH). This is evidence of my emerging stature in the field..