Biographical Info

Blanca Yagüe is a Ph.D. candidate in Anthropology at the University of Utah. She holds an MS in Amazonian Studies from the National University of Colombia, Sede Amazonia, and a BA in Environmental Sciences from the University of Granada. Blanca has been working in the Amazon region for 14 years, mainly in Colombia. She has an interest in the cultural changes Indigenous peoples undergo when they transition to urban spaces. She looks at their foodways and the use of Traditional Ecological Knowledge as a way to understand adaptation to the urban environment and the maintenance of cultural tradition and ethic identities. Blanca’s research interests include food sovereignty and environmental justice. She is involved with the University of Utah Prison Education Project (UPEP) and conducts participatory research about Food Justice in Salt Lake City’s West Side, as part of the SPARC Environmental Justice Lab. She is the CLAC Program coordinator and a Research Assistant at the NHMU in the Native Voices initiative. She enjoys trying new foods, especially if there are insects involved. She also likes swimming in cold waters, reading, quiet places, and siestas.