News
-
In January 2026, I had the chance to present material from my Wenner-Gren–funded research at the VI Research Symposium in the Humanities and Social Sciences (VI Jornada de Investigación en Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales) at the Universidad de Concepción, in a panel on “Resistances, territorial defense, and community mobilization.” The jornada was organized by doctoral students in History and in Territorial Studies, and brought together historians, geographers, and anthropologists working on questions of territory, environment, and political conflict in southern Chile. Beyond the presentation itself, it was a pleasure to spend time on the UdeC campus, learn more about the…
-
Special Issue: Securitisation and the Gendered Everyday: Global South Approaches Guest Editors: Debanuj DasGupta, Sagnik Dutta, and Niharika Banerjea I am very pleased to share that my article, “Playing the Good Samaritan”: Rethinking securitization and care work through a politics of conviviality in Santiago, Chile,“ has been published in Political Geography as part of the forthcoming special issue Securitization and the Gendered Everyday: Global South Approaches. This special issue brings together scholarship that interrogates how security logics shape—and are shaped by—everyday life across the Global South. Moving beyond post-9/11 frameworks centered on the global North, the issue highlights how racialized,…
-
I’m delighted to share that I’ll be presenting my paper, “The Specter of the Plurinational State of Chile,” at the Annual Meetings of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) in New Orleans. Panel: Ghosts of Democracies Past and OtherwiseSaturday, November 22, 2025 | 2:30–4:00 p.m. | Marriott, Galerie 2 This session brings together scholars examining how the past continues to haunt democratic projects across diverse geopolitical and historical contexts. Decades after the Global Sixties and the post–Cold War wave of democratization, democracy appears to be in crisis at a global scale. Hailing from multiple disciplines and institutional backgrounds—and inspired by the…
-
I recently joined Matt Peterson and Anthony Dest on the Woodbine podcast to talk about our work in Chile and Colombia, and about what autonomy and peace mean in practice. We discussed Anthony’s new book, Dissident Peace: Autonomous Struggles and the State in Colombia, alongside my own research on Mapuche politics of autonomy, autogestión, and everyday forms of democracy in Santiago and Wallmapu. The conversation moved through the challenges of building autonomy as a form of life beyond the state and market economy through forms of care and refusal. Thank you to Matt Peterson and Woodbine NYC for hosting, and…
-
Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of meeting with Erika and Pamela from Memorarte Arpilleras Urbanas, a feminist textile collective that has run open workshops across Santiago, worked with neighborhood associations, collaborated with the Museo de la Memoria y los Derechos Humanos, and exhibited in the Conflict Textiles Collection in Ulster, Northern Ireland. Their work connects memory, care, and collective pedagogy through the practice of embroidery. In our conversation, Erika recounted the story of one of their first arpillera workshops in Parque Andrés Hernández, named in honor of a French priest committed to social justice who was killed during…
-
I’m thrilled to share that I’ll be spending the next year in Santiago, Chile, for a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Universidad de Los Lagos, supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation’s Hunt Postdoctoral Fellowship. This opportunity marks a significant next step as I work on my first monograph, Emergent Citizenships. The book builds on my doctoral research and explores how Indigenous Mapuche communities in urban Chile navigate state neglect and imagine alternative forms of political belonging. It’s a project rooted in collaborative ethnography, critical theory, and a deep commitment to decolonial praxis. I’m especially excited to be working closely with Héctor…
-
As the Spring 2025 semester wraps up, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to the students in my three courses this term—ANT 202: Concepts and Methods in Cultural Anthropology, ANT 280: Anthropological Perspectives of Latin America, and ANT 385: Race, Indigeneity, and Social Justice in Latin America. In ANT 202, it was a joy to guide you through the foundational concepts and methods that define anthropological thinking. Your thoughtful engagement with fieldwork, reflexivity, and the ethics of representation brought real life and depth to the classroom. I’m especially proud of how you approached your final projects with curiosity and…
-
Emory University, Anthropology Seminar Room I’m deeply grateful to have shared my work at the Colonial and Postcolonial Studies (CPCS) research workshop this past Tuesday, where I presented my paper, “The Specter of the Plurinational State of Chile: The Politics and Poetics of Autogestión.” It was a meaningful opportunity to reflect on the tensions between state recognition and grassroots autonomy, and to think collectively about the imaginative and practical stakes of Indigenous politics in contemporary Latin America. I was honored to present alongside Dr. Drishadwati Bargi, whose paper “‘Why Should My Life Be a Sacrifice to One Man?’: The Paradoxes…
-
This is an example post, originally published as part of Blogging University. Enroll in one of our ten programs, and start your blog right. You’re going to publish a post today. Don’t worry about how your blog looks. Don’t worry if you haven’t given it a name yet, or you’re feeling overwhelmed. Just click the “New Post” button, and tell us why you’re here. Why do this? Because it gives new readers context. What are you about? Why should they read your blog? Because it will help you focus your own ideas about your blog and what you’d like to…
Nikola Garcia Johnson 