Paula López Caballero is a Mexican historian and anthropologist working as a full-time tenured professor at the National University of Mexico (UNAM) and Research Associate at CLAS (University of Cambridge). The transversal hypothesis of her research is to understand the indigenous/non-indigenous divide, not as a given but as a highly unstable and elusive boundary and as an analytical problem in its own right. She is currently preparing a new monograph, tentatively titled Experts of Everyday Life. A history of ‘fieldwork’ in Mexico and the U.S., 1940-1960. Based on several ethnographic field notes and diaries, this book examines anthropological scientific practices, the implementation of indigenista and development politics, and the progressive institutionalization of indigenous/mestizo divisions in midcentury Mexico.

In addition to her publishing activities, Paula is involved in the research and return of anthropological archives to the sites where ethnographic research was conducted. She has worked with Susan Drucker-Brown’s field notes, photographs, and diaries and with contemporary residents of Jamiltepec, Oaxaca (Mexico), where Drucker-Brown conducted fieldwork in the 1950s. An exhibition of this project will be held at the University of Cambridge from 22 April 2024, more details can be found here

Our thanks to Leigh Baxandall for funding this Visiting Fellowship.