Dr. Josefa Salmón, professor of Languages and Cultures, recently received a Fulbright grant to conduct research in Bolivia for the 2010-2011 academic year. 

Salmón's proposed research consists of a book project (tentatively entitled Becoming Indian Again: Cultural and Political Transformation in the Bolivian Andes) to study the roots of Indian thought that led to the emergence of the indianista movement in Bolivia making it possible to elect the first “Indian” president. Her research will also focus on the writing of a new plurinational constitution recognizing previously neglected Indian cultures and its approval by a referendum changing the politics of the country and influencing the politics of the rest of Latin America.

The Fulbright Program is the flagship of the international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S.government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United states and the people of other countries. The Fulbright Program provides participants -- chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential -- with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns.

A native of Bolivia, Dr. Salmón has been on the Department of Languages and Literatures faculty since 1986. She specializes in Latin American Literature and culture. She has written many articles on Andean and Central American literature and has published the following books: El espejo indígena (1997), Co-ed with Guillermo Delgado, Identidad, ciudadanía y participación popular desde la colonia al siglo XX (2003) and an edited volume, Construcción y poética del imaginario boliviano (2005).

Professor Salmón has read scores of papers at regional and international meetings and delivered numerous lectures. She teaches interdisciplinary courses in Spanish American culture and literature (The Mexican Revolution in Film and Fiction). She has been recognized for her excellence in teaching by the Loyola Alumni Association in 1994. She served as Chair of the Latin American Studies Committee and as Chair of the Department of Languages and Cultures from 1996 to 1999.