After her experience in Mexico City through University of Oregon’s new exchange program with the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), senior Erica Ledesma decided she wants to continue pursuing her research goals as a graduate student one day if there are funds available to make this possible.

Ledesma is a first-generation Mexican-American, Chicana identified, attending the UO on a diversity scholarship for an ethnic studies and cultural anthropology major with a minor in Latin American studies.

Ledesma learned about the exchange program during her sophomore year when she went to a talk by history professor and Latin American Studies Program Director Carlos Aguirre. Attending UNAM was a dream of hers, and she knew right away she wanted to seize the opportunity to participate.

After applying and being interviewed for the UO-UNAM exchange program, Ledesma became just the second UO undergraduate to enroll, arriving in Mexico City in January 2013. She was the only UO student in the program during her first semester and quickly fell in love with the university and its learning environment.

While extending her stay for a second semester, another UO student arrived in the program. The UO–UNAM exchange program is now very popular and regularly accommodates two students at a time.

Ledesma has been doing research focusing on Mayan women in the context of the war in Guatemala, and how the war challenged and/or transformed their traditional gender roles. 

“Mayan women’s gender roles have been challenged and changed because of the war,” she says. “I’m interested in seeing how their lives have been challenged due to the absence of their husbands and the destruction of their families.”

Oregon has a significant population of indigenous people of Mexico and Central America, Ledesma says, adding that she was blessed recently with the opportunity to interview a Maya Quiche woman who was involved in human rights and exhumations in Guatemala. She looks forward to continuing her research on the effects that “la violencia” had on Mayan women in Guatemala.

Ledesma would eventually like to return to UNAM to do graduate work in Latin American studies, but exchange costs for graduate students are prohibitive. Both the College of Arts and Sciences and the Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies are currently working towards gaining the resources to make financial support for students like Ledesma more accessible so they can continue their research in graduate programs.

— by Alice Evans, Center for Latino/a and Latin American Studies