Dr Natalia Buitron has had a deep connection to the Amazon since childhood. Her PhD led her back to study the region and its indigenous people more closely. And the Amazon has shaped her research and teaching ever since, resulting in long-term fieldwork with the Shuar of Ecuadorian Amazonia.
She has held the Jessica Sainsbury University Lectureship in the Anthropology of Amazonia since January 2022. “It was amazing for me to see this Lectureship advertised,” she explains in the Cambridge University Endowment Fund (CUEF) 2024 Annual Review. “Amazonia rarely attracts geopolitical interest in the UK. Securing the role was a dream come true. Cambridge offers a unique academic environment and the chance to drive local change.”
Natalia is among several students and staff interviewed for the CUEF Annual Review. Each have benefitted from the Endowment Fund's crucial support for the University, Colleges and Trusts. The Fund has enabled over 1,000 projects and programmes, including scholarships, bursaries, teaching and research.
The Lectureship in the Anthropology of Amazonia was funded in 2019 by a philanthropic gift from Cambridge alumna, Jessica Sainsbury. The fund of £1.5 million is invested in the CUEF.
The interview traces Natalia’s path from PhD study to her continuing research with indigenous communities. She seeks to understand how humans create institutions, but in a way that takes seriously indigenous political projects.
Read Dr Natalia Buitron’s interview in full.
Read the Cambridge University Endowment Fund (CUEF) 2024 Annual Review in full.