Environmental Justice in Indigenous Ecuador
Stefano Varese
Native American Studies
Professor Emeritus Stefano Varese is a cultural anthropologist with experience in the Amazon region, the Andes, Central America and Mexico. He has published numerous articles and books on the Indigenous Peoples/Native Americans’ struggle to resist colonialism, territorial invasion and environmental destruction caused by colonists, oil industry, ranchers, miners and lumber companies. Varese has always sought to combine anthropological research and teaching with activism in social and environmental justice. Varese is the former director of the Indigenous Research Center of the Americas-IRCA and is an active member of the UCD Center for the Study of Human Rights and the UCD Hemispheric Institute on the Americas.
A Message to Students and Parents
I earned my PhD living and working with the Ashaninka people of the Peruvian Amazon. I learned from them the love for the tropical rainforest and its beauty and mostly the ability of the Amazonian people to manage and preserve their environment. After a few decades of working with a variety of indigenous peoples, I thought that younger generations of students may benefit from similar experiences with Amazonian people who are currently challenged by oil and mining activities that may destroy their land."