A. Kim Clark, Western University
Anthropology
Associate Professor
London, Ontario
akc@uwo.ca
Office:
(519) 661-2111 ext. 85090
Bio/Research
My ongoing research is in the area of the historical anthropology of the nation and the state in Ecuador, with special reference to the first half of the twentieth century. My first research project examined the contradictory experiences of national incorporation in Ecuador as they varied by regi...
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Bio/Research
My ongoing research is in the area of the historical anthropology of the nation and the state in Ecuador, with special reference to the first half of the twentieth century. My first research project examined the contradictory experiences of national incorporation in Ecuador as they varied by region, ethnicity and class, focusing on political-economic aspects of nation building and state formation, and the discourse of modernization associated with them. In my second research project I began to move from problems of national incorporation toward the study of national ideologies in Ecuador, with special emphasis on racial ideologies and indigenous experiences of and challenges to elite ideologies. There I was particularly interested in examining the way that highland Indians in Ecuador were represented in official and elite discourse, and how Indians actively responded to these images and the policies and practices based on them. Indians were a particularly important group to consider, because they formed about half of the national population in the early-twentieth century. My examination of national and racial ideologies also led to a consideration of gender ideologies, as expressed through state policies towards poor women.
Currently, I am researching the relationship between state formation and public health campaigns in Ecuador, focusing on the racial and national ideologies constructed through medical discourse, and the policies that these ideologies informed. In particular, I am examining new forms of medical outreach and research among indigenous peasants and urban workers in the first half of the twentieth century, with attention to how these groups were conceptualized in medical discourse, and how they responded to these new forms of state intervention in their lives. In addition to examining the cultural projects of the state and subordinate groups’ experiences of the state, I am interested in developing a more nuanced notion of the state itself as a set of institutions with often conflicting interests and intentions.
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Currently, I am researching the relationship between state formation and public health campaigns in Ecuador, focusing on the racial and national ideologies constructed through medical discourse, and the policies that these ideologies informed. In particular, I am examining new forms of medical outreach and research among indigenous peasants and urban workers in the first half of the twentieth century, with attention to how these groups were conceptualized in medical discourse, and how they responded to these new forms of state intervention in their lives. In addition to examining the cultural projects of the state and subordinate groups’ experiences of the state, I am interested in developing a more nuanced notion of the state itself as a set of institutions with often conflicting interests and intentions.
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