SSAG’s Gold Medal and the Vega Symposium 2025
SSAG’s Gold Medal 2025 is awarded to Prof. Marisol de la Cadena, University of California, Davis.
Marisol de la Cadena is a Peruvian anthropologist who has made significant contributions to the anthropology of Indigenous peoples and the environment, theoretically situated at the intersection of Science and Technology Studies (STS), feminist theory, and political ecology. Her research spans studies on multi-species (or multi-entity) relations, politics, religion, history, and world anthropologies. Her academic work, published in both Spanish and English, has gained her considerable international recognition, and her theories have inspired anthropologists across the Global South and the Global North, including Sweden.
De la Cadena is perhaps best known for her ethnographic research in Latin America, primarily focusing on the cultural and political practices of Indigenous peoples in the Peruvian Andes. Early in her career, she gained attention for her groundbreaking article ”Women Are More Indian: Ethnicity and Gender in a Community Near Cuzco” (1991 in Spanish, 1995 in English), in which she problematizes ethnicity from a gender theory perspective. In her book Indigenous Mestizos (2000), she analyzed how the concepts of race and culture have become intertwined in Peru and how Indigenous communities have fought for recognition and visibility in a racialized society.
Her book Earth Beings: Ecologies of Practice Across Andean Worlds (2015) explores how Andean peoples interact with the environment and other non-human entities, particularly in the context of the expansion of neo-extractivism. It also examines how their knowledge and practices challenge Western conceptions of the nature-culture relationship. She has coined the term “onto-epistemic openings” and developed an ethnographic-philosophical method that has contributed to the so-called ontological turn in anthropology. The volume A World of Many Worlds (2018), which she co-edited with philosopher Mario Blaser, investigates the possibilities that emerge from dialogues between Indigenous peoples and the philosophy of science. This book, featuring contributions from scholars such as Alberto Corsín Jiménez, Marianne Lien, Isabelle Stengers, Marilyn Strathern, and Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, explores how diverse knowledges and practices create opportunities for a pluriverse: a cosmos composed of diverging political practices that can coexist.
De la Cadena’s latest and ongoing research project, Making Cow, is an anthropological study of the practices, politics, and socio-ecological effects of the cattle industry, based on ethnographic fieldwork in Colombia.
Beyond her academic work, de la Cadena has been actively engaged in issues of social justice in Peru and around the world. She has been a prominent voice in public debates advocating for Indigenous rights regarding resource exploitation, megaproject construction, and other environmental and developmental issues.
Born and raised in Peru, de la Cadena completed her undergraduate degree in anthropology at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú in Lima, followed by advanced studies in France and England. She earned her Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1996. Since 2010, she has been a professor of anthropology and, since 2017, a professor of STS, both at the University of California, Davis. She is also an affiliated researcher at the University of Western Sydney.
As a scholar who has built her career in the Global North, she has consistently worked to build and maintain connections with academia in the Global South through various collegial collaborations and visiting professorships, primarily in Latin America. She has also been an advocate for interdisciplinary collaborations and for anthropology’s role in influencing societal development.
The 2025 Vegas Symposium will take place on April 24.
The SSAG supports the International Geographical Union’s statement on the crisis in Ukraine
The International Geographical Union notes with dismay the alarming situation in Ukraine and finds the invasion of a sovereign democratic nation by Russian forces outrageous and unacceptable. These actions are undermining global security and stability and have led to deplorable human suffering and loss of life.
In the interests of peace and stability in international relations, we call for an end to the hostilities and for a resolution that respects the sovereignty of Ukraine and all its people.
The International Geographical Union stands in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and its community of geographers, along with those in Russia who are courageously manifesting their rejection of war. We wish the citizens of Ukraine great strength in resisting and overcoming this shocking crisis.
We note that scientists and scientific journalists in Russia have issued the following open letter on the situation:
https://www.eureporter.co/world/russia/2022/02/24/an-open-letter-from-russian-scientists-and-science-journalists-against-the-war-with-ukraine/
Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography (SSAG)
- SSAG publishes the scientific journals Geografiska Annaler, Series A: Physical Geography, Geografiska Annaler, Series B: Human Geography and kritisk etnografi – Swedish Journal of Anthropology, and the yearbook Ymer – an anthology in Swedish on a current theme of research.
- SSAG supports geographical and anthropological research with scholarships.
- SSAG arranges gatherings with lectures and the scientific symposium the Vega Day with international speakers.
- SSAG hands out medals.
Anyone who is interested in geography or anthropology is welcome to become a member.