Association of Latina/o and Latinx Anthropologists
2024 Award Winners
We’re thrilled to share our heartfelt congratulations to the remarkable winners of the 2024 ALLA Awards! Your achievements are truly inspiring, and we celebrate your success with great enthusiasm!
2024 ALLA Book Awards
The ALLA Book Awards are given for the best books in anthropology published from June 1, 2022, to June 1, 2024, on Latinxs and their communities. The winners are selected based on the originality of the research, the quality of the writing, and the importance of the topic for understanding the Latina/o experience in the United States or transnational communities linked to the U.S.
We would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to Vanessa Díaz, Hilario Lomelí, Rebeca Gamez, and Lourdes Gutiérrez Nájera for their dedicated service on the 2024 Book Award Committee.
2024 Senior Book Award
Christopher A. Loperena is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His research examines Indigenous and Black territorial struggles, extractivism, land, loss, and the socio-spatial politics of economic development. His geographic expertise spans Honduras, Caribbean Central America, and Puerto Rico. He is the author of The Ends of Paradise: Race, Extraction, and the Struggle for Black Life in Honduras (Stanford, 2022). In addition to his scholarly work, he has provided expert testimony at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and in support of US asylum claimants from Central America.
Book Description: In The Ends of Paradise, Christopher A. Loperena examines the Garifuna struggle for life and collective autonomy and demonstrates how this struggle challenges concerted efforts by the state and multilateral institutions, such as the World Bank, to render both their lands and their culture into fungible tourism products. Using a combination of participant observation, courtroom ethnography, and archival research, Loperena reveals how purportedly inclusive tourism projects form part of a larger neoliberal, extractivist development regime, which remakes Black and Indigenous territories into frontiers of progress for the mestizo majority. The book offers a trenchant analysis of the ways Black dispossession and displacement are carried forth through the conferral of individual rights and freedoms, a prerequisite for resource exploitation under contemporary capitalism.
Héctor Beltrán is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at MIT, where he teaches “Cultures of Computing,” “Hacking from the South,” and “Latin American Migrations.” He completed his PhD in Anthropology and MA in Folklore at UC Berkeley and holds a BS in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT. Héctor’s first book, Code Work: Hacking Across the US/México Techno-Borderlands, examines the political economy of knowledge work and manifestations of “hacking” between the US and México. Héctor draws on his computer science background as he develops theoretical frameworks that examine the technical aspects of computing along with issues of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and nation.
Book Description: In Code Work, Héctor Beltrán (Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) examines Mexican and Latinx coders’ personal strategies of self-making as they navigate a transnational economy of tech work. Beltrán shows how these hackers apply concepts from the code worlds to their lived experiences, deploying batches, loose coupling, iterative processing (looping), hacking, prototyping, and full-stack development in their daily social interactions—at home, in the workplace, on the dating scene, and in their understanding of the economy, culture, and geopolitics. Merging ethnographic analysis with systems thinking, he draws on his eight years of research in México and the United States—during which he participated in and observed hackathons, hacker schools, and tech entrepreneurship conferences—to unpack the conundrums faced by workers in a tech economy that stretches from villages in rural México to Silicon Valley.
Mariela Nuñez-Janes (profe) is a Professor of Anthropology and affiliate faculty with the Latino/a Mexican American Studies Program (LMAS) at UNT. She is the recipient of various awards for her engaged research and author of numerous articles and book chapters, including the book Eclipse of Dreams: The Undocumented-Led Struggle for Freedom (2020). Profe is a founding member and faculty lead for the Bilingual Homework Hotline, a community-engaged program inspired and informed by her scholarly activism and applied research in Latinx immigrant education and participatory methodologies.
Dr. Nuñez-Janes work profoundly resonates with the spirit of the ALLA Nuevas Direcciones Award, an award that celebrates Latinx anthropological work that pushes the boundaries of public anthropology and community engagement. We would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to Miguel Díaz-Barriga, Margaret Dorsey, and Lisa Cuéllar for their dedicated service on the 2024 Nuevas Direcciones Award Committee.
–Congratulations Dr. Nuñez-Janes!
2024 Junior Faculty Outstanding Scholarship and Engagement Award
Cecilia Vasquez is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California Riverside. Her research explores grassroots responses to sanctuary policies, detention, and community care in the Inland Empire. Other research interests include citizenship and belonging, accompaniment, and abolition. As an activist-engaged scholar, she is invested in public scholarship, having led community-art projects, organized public conferences, and choreographed dance pieces on issues such as migration, detention, and accompaniment. Her outstanding work has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the American Council of Learned Societies Emerging Voices Postdoctoral Fellowship, the University of California’s Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the ALLA Junior Faculty Outstanding Scholarship and Engagement Award.
The ALLA Junior Faculty Outstanding Scholarship and Engagement Award celebrates a scholar whose work not only advances knowledge but also directly addresses pressing issues within Latinx communities. Dr. Vasquez’s dedication to this intersection of scholarship and public engagement is further exemplified by her extensive experience as a dance practitioner, boasting over 25 years of training and professional performance with Grandeza Mexicana and Pacifico Dance Company.
We extend our sincere gratitude to Julie Torres and Almita Miranda for their dedicated service on the 2024 Junior Faculty Outstanding Scholarship & Engagement Committee.
2024 Award Winners
We’re thrilled to share our heartfelt congratulations to the remarkable winners of the 2024 ALLA Awards! Your achievements are truly inspiring, and we celebrate your success with great enthusiasm!
2024 ALLA Book Awards
The ALLA Book Awards are given for the best books in anthropology published from June 1, 2022, to June 1, 2024, on Latinxs and their communities. The winners are selected based on the originality of the research, the quality of the writing, and the importance of the topic for understanding the Latina/o experience in the United States or transnational communities linked to the U.S.
We would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to Vanessa Díaz, Hilario Lomelí, Rebeca Gamez, and Lourdes Gutiérrez Nájera for their dedicated service on the 2024 Book Award Committee.
2024 Senior Book Award
Christopher A. Loperena is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. His research examines Indigenous and Black territorial struggles, extractivism, land, loss, and the socio-spatial politics of economic development. His geographic expertise spans Honduras, Caribbean Central America, and Puerto Rico. He is the author of The Ends of Paradise: Race, Extraction, and the Struggle for Black Life in Honduras (Stanford, 2022). In addition to his scholarly work, he has provided expert testimony at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and in support of US asylum claimants from Central America.
Book Description: In The Ends of Paradise, Christopher A. Loperena examines the Garifuna struggle for life and collective autonomy and demonstrates how this struggle challenges concerted efforts by the state and multilateral institutions, such as the World Bank, to render both their lands and their culture into fungible tourism products. Using a combination of participant observation, courtroom ethnography, and archival research, Loperena reveals how purportedly inclusive tourism projects form part of a larger neoliberal, extractivist development regime, which remakes Black and Indigenous territories into frontiers of progress for the mestizo majority. The book offers a trenchant analysis of the ways Black dispossession and displacement are carried forth through the conferral of individual rights and freedoms, a prerequisite for resource exploitation under contemporary capitalism.
For more information on The End of Paradise, visit the following link.
–Congratulations, Dr. Loperena!
2024 Junior Book Award
Héctor Beltrán is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at MIT, where he teaches “Cultures of Computing,” “Hacking from the South,” and “Latin American Migrations.” He completed his PhD in Anthropology and MA in Folklore at UC Berkeley and holds a BS in Computer Science and Engineering from MIT. Héctor’s first book, Code Work: Hacking Across the US/México Techno-Borderlands, examines the political economy of knowledge work and manifestations of “hacking” between the US and México. Héctor draws on his computer science background as he develops theoretical frameworks that examine the technical aspects of computing along with issues of race, ethnicity, class, gender, and nation.
Book Description: In Code Work, Héctor Beltrán (Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) examines Mexican and Latinx coders’ personal strategies of self-making as they navigate a transnational economy of tech work. Beltrán shows how these hackers apply concepts from the code worlds to their lived experiences, deploying batches, loose coupling, iterative processing (looping), hacking, prototyping, and full-stack development in their daily social interactions—at home, in the workplace, on the dating scene, and in their understanding of the economy, culture, and geopolitics. Merging ethnographic analysis with systems thinking, he draws on his eight years of research in México and the United States—during which he participated in and observed hackathons, hacker schools, and tech entrepreneurship conferences—to unpack the conundrums faced by workers in a tech economy that stretches from villages in rural México to Silicon Valley.
For more information on Code Work, visit the following link.
–Congratulations Dr.Beltrán!
2024 Nuevas Direcciones Award
Mariela Nuñez-Janes (profe) is a Professor of Anthropology and affiliate faculty with the Latino/a Mexican American Studies Program (LMAS) at UNT. She is the recipient of various awards for her engaged research and author of numerous articles and book chapters, including the book Eclipse of Dreams: The Undocumented-Led Struggle for Freedom (2020). Profe is a founding member and faculty lead for the Bilingual Homework Hotline, a community-engaged program inspired and informed by her scholarly activism and applied research in Latinx immigrant education and participatory methodologies.
Dr. Nuñez-Janes work profoundly resonates with the spirit of the ALLA Nuevas Direcciones Award, an award that celebrates Latinx anthropological work that pushes the boundaries of public anthropology and community engagement. We would also like to extend our sincere gratitude to Miguel Díaz-Barriga, Margaret Dorsey, and Lisa Cuéllar for their dedicated service on the 2024 Nuevas Direcciones Award Committee.
–Congratulations Dr. Nuñez-Janes!
2024 Junior Faculty Outstanding Scholarship and Engagement Award
Cecilia Vasquez is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California Riverside. Her research explores grassroots responses to sanctuary policies, detention, and community care in the Inland Empire. Other research interests include citizenship and belonging, accompaniment, and abolition. As an activist-engaged scholar, she is invested in public scholarship, having led community-art projects, organized public conferences, and choreographed dance pieces on issues such as migration, detention, and accompaniment. Her outstanding work has been recognized with prestigious awards, including the American Council of Learned Societies Emerging Voices Postdoctoral Fellowship, the University of California’s Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellowship, and the ALLA Junior Faculty Outstanding Scholarship and Engagement Award.
The ALLA Junior Faculty Outstanding Scholarship and Engagement Award celebrates a scholar whose work not only advances knowledge but also directly addresses pressing issues within Latinx communities. Dr. Vasquez’s dedication to this intersection of scholarship and public engagement is further exemplified by her extensive experience as a dance practitioner, boasting over 25 years of training and professional performance with Grandeza Mexicana and Pacifico Dance Company.
We extend our sincere gratitude to Julie Torres and Almita Miranda for their dedicated service on the 2024 Junior Faculty Outstanding Scholarship & Engagement Committee.
Congratulations Dr. Vasquez!
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