IPE Summer Research Grant awarded to Pamela Lara Perez

Congratulations to Pamela Lara Perez (IPE ’18), who has been awarded a 2017 IPE Summer Research Grant! Pamela will travel to Chiapas, Mexico to study local indigenous women’s experiences with exercising and asserting their autonomy and self-determination. Pamela will use her Spanish language skills to conduct personal interviews with indigenous women; additionally, she will analyze how organizations like “Chiapas Indigenous” are taking actions to support the women. Pamela hopes to give a voice to the indigenous women in Chiapas by highlighting how they navigate living under Mexican law while possessing a separate culture and identity.

Previously, Pamela has studied abroad in Taiwan at Tunghai University, where she expanded her Chinese language skills and completed her Chinese minor. Pamela chose to be an IPE major because she wanted to connect the world on a larger scale, drawing on all realms of the social sciences with the flexibility to study multiple regions of the world. After she graduates, Pamela plans on working at an NGO for a year and then going to grad school to pursue a career where she can travel and help connect countries and people together. In her free time, Pamela enjoys traveling, hiking, reading, and discovering new restaurants – “I am always on the search for great food and new experiences!”