Anthropology Alumna Earns Fellowship in Afro-Latinx Studies at Dartmouth

Vanessa Castaneda (B.A. Anthropology 2009) went on to earn an M.A. degree in Latin American Studies at New York University and a Ph.D. at Tulane. She has recently been awarded the Guarini Dean’s Postdoctoral Fellowship in Afro-Latinx and/or Afro-Latin American Studies at Dartmouth College, one of the seven elite institutions of the Ivy League. Dr. Castaneda conducted research for several years with Afro-Brazilian street vendors in the city of Salvador, Brazil, learning how they organized in order to gain the right to sell their local foods inside major soccer stadiums during prestigious international matches like the World Cup. “These women are really emblematic cultural icons of the city and region… I thought it was fascinating that this group of working class, older women, street vendors, beat this mega, multinational force,” she told the UNC Charlotte Office of International Programs.