Faculty & Staff > Masters Students in Latin American Studies

2009-2010

Ashley Bowman, originally from Michigan, has been working as a fashion merchandiser in Ohio for the past three years. She received a B.A. in Latin American Studies from Yale University in 2006 and spent her junior year of college living and studying in Buenos Aires. While there, she volunteered with social and political organizations serving the queer people and researched and completed a thesis on the role of lesbians in the Buenos Aires LGBTQ community. In addition to a Latin American Studies M.A., Ashley is working towards a J.D. at Stanford Law School. She plans to continue exploring questions of gender identity and sexual orientation in Latin America, especially from a human rights perspective. In her spare time Ashley likes to run, travel, read, and learn languages.

James Burleson-Porras completed his B.A. in English Literature from Stanford in June 2008. He returns to Stanford to pursue his M.A. in Latin American Studies. Although born in Dallas, Texas, James spent most of his summers growing up in the highlands of Peru, his mother’s native country. His connection with this region deepened in high school, as he led humanitarian mission trips to Huancayo and the Mantaro Valley in Peru. After three years of self-guided university research, James transferred to Stanford to continue his investigations and passion in Latin American Studies. In joining the Bolivar House community James hopes to make a profound and lasting contribution to understanding this part of the world. His research interests include ideology and identity formation, identity consciousness, social innovation, and sustainability in the Altiplano region of Peru and Bolivia. James also enjoys lacrosse, skiing, painting, and music.

Casey Engelbert is native to the East Coast, hailing from the grand state of Delaware. He graduated in 2009 from the University of Notre Dame with a B.A. in Anthropology and Spanish, and a minor in Portuguese & Brazilian studies. Finding on-site study and research to be of crucial importance in his field of study, Casey spent as much time abroad in Latin America and Iberia as possible during his undergraduate career. He began by studying abroad twice, spending a summer in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, and a semester in Toledo, Spain. Next he performed an eight-week service-learning project in São Paulo, providing ministry in female prisons, working at a day-center for children of low-income families, and teaching English at a refugee home. Finally, as part of a senior year research project he first attended an international conference in Lisbon on the Portuguese Diaspora and later conducted original research in the city of Manaus on race issues in Brazil. At Stanford Casey would like to expand his understanding of Latino immigrants in the United States, a group he eventually hopes to serve as a lawyer. After having spent four years of school in the frozen tundra that is the upper-Midwest, Casey cannot wait to start enjoying some beautiful California weather. In his spare time Casey enjoys running, watching movies, being active, and spending time with family and friends.

Vijay Gallardo grew up in California and graduated from West Point with major in Latin American Area Studies and a minor in Environmental Engineering. While there, she took part in several exchanges with militaries and academies from around the world. She focused much of her studies on methods in maintaining and strengthening political stability and the challenges to the indigenous populations in Latin America. After completing aviation school and two deployments to Iraq, Vijay spent 21 months working in Central America where she worked in planning projects such as emergency disaster relief and medical support to some of the most remote areas in the region. Vijay looks forward to her next assignment as a Spanish instructor at West Point and the opportunity to use her experiences studying at Stanford to help better prepare the cadets for future military leadership around the globe. She enjoys reading, working out, and dancing.

April Jernberg grew up in Santa Cruz, California and graduated from San Jose State University, where she majored in Spanish and minored in Environmental Studies. During college she spent a year abroad in Granada, Spain. Upon graduation, she continued to work in her home community at a local NGO as a domestic violence and sexual assault advocate and counselor for Women's Crisis Support ~ Defensa de Mujeres. After two years of advocacy work, April moved to Mexico to experience its culture and society in order to better understand and support her clients. April first lived in La Saladita, Guerrero and volunteered at a rural kindergarten. She then went to Oaxaca to attend an intensive Latin American Literature course and volunteered at the Women's Study Group, La Casa de la Mujer. This experience led her to spend two years living in Costa Rica, Mexico, and Chile. While in Costa Rica, April interned with The Center for Justice and International Law. She became increasingly concerned about the role of women in environmental justice and food security issues and was motivated to intern with Amnesty International in Santiago, Chile, where she worked on a variety of international campaigns. She has also lived and worked on two organic farms in Latin America and is very excited to become involved with the Stanford Community Farm on campus and to continue learning about this dynamic geographical area.

Kara Kapp, from Riverwoods, Illinois, graduated in 2006 from Dartmouth College with a B.A. in International Relations and Environmental Studies and a minor in Spanish. As an undergraduate, she studied abroad in Montevideo, Uruguay and spent time as an environmental volunteer in Tarcoles Beach, Costa Rica. She later returned to Costa Rica to conduct research for her senior thesis on the International Politics of Rainforest Management, for which she was awarded the Downey Family Prize for outstanding scholarship. She is currently pursuing, along with her M.A. in Latin American Studies, a J.D at Stanford Law School. She is primarily interested in the intersection of law, culture, and international relations on the Latin American continent.

María Luisa Palomino was born in Lima, Peru. She graduated from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú with a bachelor and licenciado degree in Communications. During her undergraduate years, she worked for La Republica and Peru.21 newspapers. Her duties included covering the daily activities of the Peruvian president. In 2006 she joined Reuters news agency, where she worked almost three years as a correspondent for the Spanish Language Service. She also served the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú as a teaching assistant for one year. While at Stanford, María Luisa looks forward to deepening her understanding of Latin America's politics and economics, as well as learning Portuguese.

Mac Parish received his BA from Stanford in Anthropological Sciences in June 2009. Originally from San Francisco, while at Stanford he lives in a school bus whose appliances are powered by solar panels, and which he plans to convert to run on vegetable oil. During the fall of his junior year at Stanford, Mac studied abroad at the University of Buenos Aires. Having thoroughly enjoyed his time in Argentina, he decided to return the following summer to do research for his honors thesis in the rural north of the country. This project focused on the impact of conservation initiatives on a local community, and posited ways that the locals could use conservation and ecotourism for their economic and political benefit. He also spent a quarter abroad in Washington DC, where he interned at the World Wildlife Fund. While pursuing his Masters, Mac hopes to deepen his understanding of the impact of current political and economic situations in Latin America on environmental conservation. In his free time, Mac plays in a rock band called Vice. He also enjoys skiing, fly fishing, horseback riding and meditation.

Adam Riggs grew up in Idaho, Utah and Washington. He studied at Boise State University (art and music), Utah State University (BFA in Art and minor in Spanish) and University of North Texas (Secondary Education). He lived in Argentina for two years and taught High School Spanish for two years in Texas. Adam is currently serving as a Captain in the US Army with 2 tours in Iraq, and is selected to teach Spanish at the US Military Academy at West Point, NY after completing his course of study at Stanford University. He first became fascinated with Latin America while serving as a missionary in Argentina. He has dedicated his life to serving others in various capacities, from teaching students to helping the people of a war-torn country through his work in the military. His primary research interests include the study of failed and failing countries and their potential cure, international security, languages, art history, and cross cultural influence. Adam enjoys spending time with his wife and children, painting, playing the cello, gardening and prospecting.

Jared Ritvo is from Denver, Colorado. He is a 2006 graduate of Colorado College, where he majored in history with a focus on Latin America. Jared developed a particular interest in Brazil on a 2005 summer trip studying the history of Brazil and the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop. He was so fascinated by the country, its people and their culture that he decided to return a year after graduating to study Portuguese and teach English in Rio de Janeiro. After a recent third trip to Brazil, during which he visited parts of all of the country’s regions, he can say he has now spent over a year of his life there. In 2008, Jared furthered his study of and writing about Latin American current events as a Research Associate and Fellow at the non-profit, Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington D.C. He also has travelled extensively in Latin America outside of Brazil and looks forward to improving both his Spanish and Portuguese. He aspires to work as a print journalist covering Latin America. He is an avid fly-fisherman, cyclist, runner, and skier.

Guadalupe Rojo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina where she has earned a degree in Political Science at Di Tella University. In 2004, she spent a semester in Barcelona studying at Pompeu Fabra University where she became highly interested in separatist movements and the impact of these cross-cutting cleavages on the Spanish political arena. After graduating, she worked at non-governmental organizations and at the Communications’ Office of the City Government; but she’s mostly done teacher and research assistantships, like with Ricardo Salvatore (Guggenheim-UTDT) and Liliana De Riz (UBA). In 2007, she worked with Fabiano Santos at the IUPERJ –a well-known social science research institute from Rio de Janeiro- while she became fascinated about this Brazilian city. There, she also pursued some courses at the Social History Postgraduate Program at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and participated in a study group about military dictatorships in the region. Currently, she is interested in Latin American socio-political processes and particularly, in the comparison between Argentinean and Brazilian populism, authoritarianism and democratization phases. Guadalupe enjoys movies and playing hockey but above all she loves learning different languages and cultures, especially through meeting people and knowing their music.