What interested you in Anthropology?

"Two life experiences in particular contributed to my becoming a cultural anthropologist.  First, I cannot remember when or why my fascination with Mexico and Central America first germinated, as it was something that developed when I was a small child, before I even entered school.  But, the key event in my life was when I studied in Mexico City for a year as a Rotarian exchange student while in high school.  That year, my fascination matured into a lasting love for the peoples and cultures of Mexico.  The second major experience that contributed to my choosing anthropology was my childhood exposure to a violent world, including Viet Nam, the Cold War, and later, the violence in Central America.  Over the years, I have transformed my childhood anxieties over human violence into a research question and advocacy issue that still guides my scholarly ethos and actions: Under what conditions do humans behave with such violence toward one another and can such aggression be predicted and prevented?  I pursued this research question at Syracuse University where I gained my Masters and Doctorate degrees in Anthropology, with a graduate certificate in Women’s Studies.  I first looked at how Salvadoran refugee women utilized the power of motherhood and the testimonio as a means of social protest against the atrocities of war.  Following that, I received a Fulbright Robles Garcia grant to study gender and ethnolinguistic differences in adaptation, traumatic stress, and social support networks in a Guatemalan refugee camp in Campeche, Mexico.  There, I worked with Mayan peoples, including the Q’eqchi’, K’iche’, Mam, and K’anjobal.  Finally, my love for Mexico today is much more than a scholarly interest, as I am now mother to two bi-national Mexican-American sons and in effect have made anthropology much more than my occupation.  Today, my daily life is a continuous cultural encounter and anthropology has become my lifestyle.  It therefore gives me great satisfaction to introduce Bloomsburg University students to a culture that I value and identify with as much as my own."