About Me
From the lens of an anthropologist: Listening to different perspectives - learning, analyzing, solving problems
I am an applied anthropologist and ethnographer who has lived and conducted original research in the Netherlands, Peru, and the United States. One of my recent projects, collecting and recording life histories of US veterans from WWII to present for the National Park Service’s Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, has led to an on-going commitment to interview veterans for the Veterans History Project at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. I have applied anthropological training in problem solving strategies for businesses and in projects for the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the US Forest Service in Juneau Alaska. My academic training: MA in Anthropology from Georgia State University, an MA in Spanish from University of Tennessee, an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management and guest scholar at Amsterdam School of Social Science Research.
Fieldwork is hands-on exploration
After 36 years, I returned to Peru for three months, rejuvenating my passion for ethnographic fieldwork. Photo taken atop Punto Callan , a high mountain pass (4,229 m / 13,871 ft) located in the Cordillera Negra mountain range in the province Ancash, Peru. Here, I camped overnight to experience the dramatic sunrise over the adjacent tropical glacial mountain range, Cordillera Blanca.
Home is truly in the heart
Travel has been an opportunity to learn about the world by engaging with people, listening, observing...
and in the process, I learn about myself and what I value most in life - people, justice and sunsets!
Every Veteran has a story worth telling, and preserving in the Library of Congress Veterans History Project
Interviewing veterans is a valuable way of honoring their service and giving back by contributing their stories and personal perspectives to the Library of Congress Veteran History Project in Washington D.C. These first-hand accounts are forever accessible to the family, researchers, educators and future generations. The Veteran and the next-of-kin always hold the copyright to the collection maintained by Library of Congress Veteran History Project archivists.