In Their Words: Tanya Magana Marroquin

Name: Tanya Magana Marroquin

Department: Anthropology

What Award/Scholarship did you receive? Ryan Heumann Award

What year are you? 5th year

College: Oakes

Where do you call home? San Diego, California

With all of the choices for college, what made UC Santa Cruz stand out? I really enjoyed the friendly and collaborative culture of the campus. I also felt that this was by far the most resource-rich college I had visited. Of course, the trees and proximity to ocean were great bonuses too.

What is your field of focus Anthropology with Education

What do you hope to do once you graduate from UC Santa Cruz? I hope to get a job in either a non-profit organization or a college campus.

What is one memorable moment that stands out for you as a student here? I think I experience a routine, yet unique and breathtaking experience almost every morning. When I wake up early and walk across campus, it is usually a foggy/misty day with a slight breeze. I often see several deer comfortably walking about, often with baby deer. I also see hawks, owls, coyotes and the occasional banana slug in my path. It feels surreal to think that I am in a college campus in these moments.

How will this scholarship/award impact your academic life/research? This scholarship allowed me the amazing opportunity to host my first conference event at the renown American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. This event was one of the highlights of my undergradate career. After nearly a year of preparation and planning with students and professionals from all over California, and even out of state, we were all excited and looking forward to the end result. Without this scholarship, I may not have been able to physically attend the rich and dynamic conversations that happened in my event. Nor would I have been able to meet the amazing professionals who attended our session.

Research description: With this Mentoring Event dialogue, we opened a holistic discussion to undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty on the ethical and sociopolitical dilemmas faced by critical scholars in the discipline of Anthropology. As a field drawing increasing involvement from communities of color, those with disabilities, and the LGBTQ+ community, anthropology is being used as a medium for activism and advocacy through research. We discussed how contemporary scholars balance the colonial legacy of anthropology while moving forward with the activist potential of ethnography and knowledge formation. Questions we introduced in the forum included: how do established anthropologists and emerging scholars relate to the field of anthropology when native scholars such as Audra Simpson are calling for “ethnographic refusal”? How can we reach across our different positions to take opportunity of certain openings such as the recognition of reflexivity, activist and collaborative anthropology, and epistemologies formed outside the university? What are the different potentialities of these critiques for ensuring an equitable and ethical practice of the discipline?