CENTRE for LATIN AMERICAN
RESEARCH and DOCUMENTATION
CENTRE for LATIN AMERICAN
RESEARCH and DOCUMENTATION
CENTRE for LATIN AMERICAN
RESEARCH and DOCUMENTATION
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Dr Dana Brablec
For the last 7 years, I have been working as an Affiliated Lecturer in Latin American Studies and Bye-Fellow in Sociology at the University of Cambridge, where I obtained a PhD in Sociology. At Cambridge, I taught MPhil courses on Indigenous studies and political corruption, as well as introductory BA courses in sociology and politics.
In parallel, since 2020, I have worked as a WISERD (Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data & Methods) Postdoctoral Researcher, examining the socio-political situation of socially excluded populations such as Roma, migrants, and refugees in the Czech Republic and the UK given the integration role of civil society organisations.
RESEARCH INTEREST
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RESEARCH INTEREST
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My main research focus, which inspires my current and new research projects on social entrepreneurship and urban gardens, is Indigenous urbanisation in Latin America. While not restricted to this context, I have mainly focused on the Mapuche case in Santiago de Chile. I am particularly interested in the different practices followed by the Mapuche in Chile to collectively re-construct their identity in cities after rural-to-urban migration and the post-colonial state's role in this process. I am currently leading the international project Urban Indigeneities: Being Indigenous in the 21st Century", which has evolved into a volume, currently under contract with Arizona University Press.
FEATURED PUBLICATIONS
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URBAN INDIGENEITIES: BEING INDIGENOUS IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
EDITED BY DANA BRABLEC AND ANDREW CANESSA
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How Indigenous peoples are challenging conceptions of belonging in an increasingly globalized world Today a majority of Indigenous peoples live in urban areas: they are builders and cleaners, teachers and lawyers, market women and masons, living in towns and cities surrounded by the people and pollution that characterize life for most individuals in the twenty-first century. Despite this basic fact, the vast majority of studies on Indigenous peoples concentrate solely on rural Indigenous populations. Aiming to highlight these often-overlooked communities, this is the first book to look at urban Indigenous peoples globally and present the urban Indigenous experience—not as the exception but as the norm. The contributing essays draw on a wide range of disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, architecture, land economy, and area studies, and are written by both Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars. The analysis looks at Indigenous people across the world and draws on examples not usually considered within the study of indigeneity, such as Fiji, Japan, and Russia. Indigeneity is often seen as being “authentic” when it is practiced in remote rural areas, but these essays show that a vigorous, vibrant, and meaningful indigeneity can be created in urban spaces too. The book challenges many of the imaginaries and tropes of what constitutes “the Indigenous” and offers perspectives and tools to understand a contemporary Indigenous urban reality. As such, it is a must-read for anyone interested in the real lives of Indigenous people today.
