We would like to congratulate our affiliated faculty member Associate Professor of Sociology Kathryn Sampeck for being selected as the 2015-16 Central American Visiting Scholar of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) at Harvard University.
The David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS) at Harvard University works to increase knowledge of the cultures, economies, histories, environment, and contemporary affairs of Latin America; to foster cooperation and understanding among the peoples of the Americas; and to contribute to democracy, social progress, and sustainable development throughout the hemisphere.
As a visiting scholar at DRCLAS and Fellow at the Afro-Latin American Research Institute at the Hutchins Center at Harvard, Sampeck will be working on the project “Black Market: Early Colonial Cacao Wealth, Contraband Economy, and Afro-Central Americans in Colonial Guatemala.” Taking documentary evidence and personal archaeological work, Sampeck will explore how Afro-Central Americans influenced colonial Guatemala.
She will spend her time at DRCLAS and the Hutchins Center finishing writing about the restructuring of rights and obligations of Afro-Central Americans. She also plans to write about her archeological research on Afro-Central American-owned estancias. She will also be drafting a third article, presenting a lecture, participating in a colloquium, and contributing to Center publications, such as ReVista.
