Featured Graduate Student Research

Nate Blum

Nate's project is titled “Food sharing in Kaqchikel Communities.” Many of the Kaqchikel Maya continue to rely on subsistence agriculture to feed their families. Nate traveled to Guatemala to answer the question: What obstacles are faced in creating healthy nutritious meals for themselves and loved ones? Through CLACS Geography and Atmospheric Science graduate student and GTA, Nate studies the intersections of care relationships and their contribution to placemaking. 

Emily Tummons

 Emily is a Ph.D. student in Curriculum & Instruction. She traveled to the Kaqchikel Maya highlands, Guatemala, for two weeks to conduct a non-dissertation pilot study “Understanding Bilingual Kaqchikel Maya Teachers.” Emily, herself, has studied the Kaqchikel language for 22 years!

Cap McLiney

Cap's project is titled “The Mennonites of Masisea, Peru: A Tinker field project on land-use in the Peruvian Amazon". In Masisea, Cap did participatory field work with a remote group of “horse-and-buggy” Mennonites who began farming in the Amazon rainforest in 2017. Cap is pursuing an MA in Geography at KU. 

Kiera Eckhardt

Kiera is a Ph.D. student and Graduate Research Assistant in the Anthropology department. Kiera returned to Ecuador post-Peace Corps service to interview refugee service providers about their perspectives on universal citizenship and migration in the country. Her project is titled “Refugee Rights & Perspectives of Refugee Service Providers in Ecuador.”