Adriana Arista-Zerga
Assistant Professor in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, Faculty of Arts
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Biography
Dr Adriana Arista-Zerga obtained a PhD Social and Cultural Anthropology by the Autonomous University of Barcelona. She also has a Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education from the University of Nottingham, a MA in Anthropology from the National University of San Marcos in Peru and a MA in Human Rights from the International University of Andalucia in Spain. She is also a Lawyer and bachelor in Political Science from the National University of San Marcos in Lima, Peru.
Expertise Summary
I have extensive experience as anthropological/legal consultant and research experience in intangible and tangible cultural heritage, linked with the cultural law, cultural human rights, identity, museums, communities, memory and cultural tourism, in different research institutes, governmental (Peruvian Ministry of Culture-Qhapaq Ñam Project), international (UNESCO, SEGIB) and non-governmental organizations (Instituto de Estudios Peruanos) in countries as Peru, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
I am member of the SPLAS section discussion on decolonisation of the curriculum for Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies.
Teaching Summary
Since January 2016 I am a Lecturer in the Department of Modern Language and Culture, in Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American Area Studies at the University of Nottingham, where I co-convene core… read more
Research Summary
I have been working as a researcher for a long period of time which has included fieldwork in Peru and Spain. Since finishing my studies I have been working as a researcher as well as an independent… read more
Since January 2016 I am a Lecturer in the Department of Modern Language and Culture, in Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American Area Studies at the University of Nottingham, where I co-convene core module MLAC 2059 and teach on core module MLAC 3076 and I have delivered a masterclass as part of Year Abroad Language Support.
have gained valuable teaching experience in diverse settings, including universities, schools, and other educational institutes. This has allowed me to develop broad research and teaching portfolio across various cultures, whilst adapting to numerous high-pressured environments. In short, I have acquired a strong work ethic and demonstrated my professional adaptability. In these different settings, I was in charge of the implementation and coordination of the modules, classes, designing and organising the material from different resources, and for the assessment of the students.
After finishing my Master's studies, I was an Assistant Professor in the course of Andean Anthropology in the career of Anthropology, at the Faculty of Social Sciences of San Marcos University in Lima-Peru. Here I carried out the debates and discussion of anthropological papers related to the Andean area in Peru into the sessions.
On a postgraduate level, I was a teacher in the Cultural Management diploma of the Institute of the Museum of Art of Lima. This diploma was aimed at postgraduate people with different academic and professional backgrounds, but with a real interest to work in the cultural area. The course I taught was "Cultural Legislation", where I not only focused on the Peruvian experience but also on other countries' experiences, such as Spain and Italy, and the international cultural legislation.
As a guest teacher I have delivered the class "Cultural heritage and food: approaches to the social and cultural influence of food', for the Module Anthropology of Food from the Faculty of Medicine of the National University of San Marcos and for the Module Anthropology and Sociology of Food from the Department of Statistics, Demography, Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of Science from the Cayetano Heredia University both in Peru.
Current Research
I have been working as a researcher for a long period of time which has included fieldwork in Peru and Spain. Since finishing my studies I have been working as a researcher as well as an independent academic and legal consultant in different governmental and non-governmental organizations.
My research is aligned with the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures research strand, Memory Studies; I am attached to the Centre for the Study of Post-Conflict Societies. I am in the last stages of a research related to memory and culture in post-conflict countries. This project: "The sun amidst the dark: memory, tradition and cultural heritage during the internal armed conflict in Peru", seeks to identify the relationship between memory and cultural heritage during armed conflict. It starts from the idea that cultural elements, related to periods or stages of armed conflict, could be elements that articulate the past and also could become a meeting point, from the perspective of the victims themselves, and society in general. This work will focus on the study of the testimonies gathered for the preparation of the Final Report of Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Peru-CVR, an institution created in 2000, that was mandated to analyse the political, social, and cultural conditions, as well as clarify the events of the internal armed conflict, from 1980 to 2000 years. The final report from the CVR was presented in 2003, revealing that the most potent causes that led to the conflict were the big social divisions that persist even to this day, reflected in poverty and oblivion of populations from the highlands and the Amazon of Peru. After almost twelve years of the presentation of the CVR report, the testimonies will help to know and recognise, part of the past; this work is an analysis of the testimonies, in seeking cultural references, both tangible and intangible, in order to be able to know what happened to the cultural heritage during the internal armed conflict, and how it could recover story/stories that, eventually, could become symbolic compensations for many people who lost everything.
My research interests (cultural heritage, cultural diversity, communities) are blended into my teaching practice. I create safe, inclusive, decolonised learning environments supported by development of materials and initiatives.
I have implemented strategies in writing and oral seminars (approaches and materials) in order to decolonise the curriculum.
Past Research
Alongside with the Institute for Intangible Heritage-IPACIM, Barcelona-Spain. Project "The traditional food as a factor of economic development. International experiences, trends, and proposal for Catalonia".
- Responsible for the research and collection of primary and secondary resources in different languages English, Spanish, Italian, French, and Catalan.
- Responsible for the systematization of national and international experiences in Italy, France, Basque Country, and Nordic countries.
- Collaborator in the analysis of the experiences and trends.