About

Amanda Daniela Cortez is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Anthropology. She received her BA degree in anthropology from the University of Washington (2014). Her undergraduate thesis focused on human-other primate relationships in the contexts of a biomedical research facility, a zoo, and a chimpanzee sanctuary. Specifically, it concerned how power structures influence varying relationships of use and care between humans and other primates.

Her current research project, “Framing Women and Animals: situating gender, indigeneity, and multispecies relationships in photography tourism,” seeks to understand the ways in which Indigenous women and animals together navigate the racialized and gendered identities that they construct and perform for tourists in Cusco, Perú. Researching with Quechua women and llamas, alpacas, and lambs, Amanda focuses on how their work in tourism can create new possibilities, as well as new vulnerabilities, for both the women and animals. She is also working toward graduate student minors in History and Philosophy of Science and Gender Studies. Amanda is a Notre Dame Dean’s Fellow. 

PhD Year
2019
Thematic Interests

My research interests lie at the intersection of human-animal relationships, indigeneity, and gender. I am specifically interested in how marginalized Indigenous peoples (especially women) respond to state exclusion, how this affects them economically, and what effect this has on their relationships with the animals.

Regions
Research Tags