Lourdes Gutiérrez Nájera facts for kids
Lourdes Gutiérrez Nájera is an American cultural anthropologist. She is a tenured Associate Professor at Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies teaching in the American Cultural Studies curriculum. Her prior experience includes her work as assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at both Dartmouth College and Drake University. She is a member of the Latin American Studies Association, American Anthropological Association, and Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social. Her research is published in journals and books such as Beyond El Barrio: Everyday Life in Latina/o America. Other publications include reviews of scholarly work. Her academic accomplishments and research pertain to the field of Latinx national migration, indigenous communities in the United States and Mexico, and the U.S.-Mexican borderlands.
Early life
Gutiérrez Nájera received her bachelor's degree in Latin American Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles after transferring with an associate degree from Pasadena City College. In 2007 she published an award-winning dissertation and received a joint Ph.D. in Social Work and Anthropology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She holds a professional degree in Social Work with a concentration in Health Policy and Evaluation from University of Michigan.
Recognition
Gutiérrez Nájera was awarded first place for her dissertation "Yalálag is No Longer Just Yalálag: Circulating Conflict and Contesting Community in a Zapotec Transnational Circuit" at the American Association of Hispanics in Higher Education 2009 conference.
Research
Much of Gutiérrez Nájera's ethnographic research and work is within the frameworks of transnational migration and indigeneity. Gutiérrez Nájera's focus is on concepts of identity, conflict and belonging.
Hayandose
In her work, "Hayandose: Zapotec Migrant Expressions of Membership and Belonging," Gutierrez Najera conducted ethnographic research in the Los Angeles enclave of migrants from the Zapotec town of Yalálag, Oaxaca. Hayandose refers to the phrase "no se hayaban." The Yalaltecos use this phrase to explain a feeling of displacement, or of "belonging neither here nor there." Gutierrez Najera developed the concept of hayandose to explain cultural practices that create a sense of belonging, collective identity and community:
- "As Yalaltecos, part of the Oaxacalifornia experience, inhabiting a space that is neither fully Yalálag or Angelinos, reflects the ambiguities they feel about belonging neither here nor there. But through participation in cultural events and practices such as those described in this chapter, Yalaltecos living in Los Angeles create a sense of belonging."
Gutiérrez Nájera contends that the Yalaltec community displays the feeling of belonging, creation of space and community for transnational migrants in which migrants symbolically exist and participate in multiple sites. Other scholars who have contributed in the area of indigenous transnational migration include [Lynn Stephen], Jonathan Fox, Gaspar Rivera-Salgado and Robert C. Smith.
Conflict and migration
Instead of viewing conflict as a finite event, Gutiérrez Nájera describes it as a process. Using a historical framework, she argues migration and the state play a role in the production of conflict among Yalaltecans. She expanded on this in her essay "Transnational Migration, Conflict, and Divergent Ideologies of Progress". In this piece, she argues conflict and migration are "interrelated parts of broad historical, economic, and political processes" that unfold through the "circulation of people, ideas, and goods". This understanding of transnational migration as part of the process of local conflict offers a new perspective for social workers working with indigenous migrants.
Child welfare
Her work Latinos and Child Welfare influenced the literature and practices of social workers working with children in the Latino community. Gutiérrez Nájera helped identify the unique social service needs and characteristics of this population and has been cited by other scholars to help address these issues.
