Department of Anthropology | Miami University
164 Upham Hall Phone: 513-529-8399 Fax: 513-529-8396
Civil Rights Activist Valeri Visits Anthropology
Submitted by petersm2 on January 26, 2010 - 12:00am
When scholar, activist and community organizer Maria Varela called up her friend Leighton Peterson of Miami's anthropology department to see if they could grab a cup of coffee together when she was in Ohio, she never expected to be put to work.
Instead of a cup of coffee, she found herself visiting classes in Anthropology, Women's Studies, Black World Studies and Theater, and meeting with faculty and students from a dozen different departments over two days.
"She's amazing," said Peterson of her visit. "When people found out she was coming, everybody wanted in on the action. And she's so generous she went along with it."
Maria Varela was a member of the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1962-1967 in Alabama and Mississippi. She developed educational materials for SNCC and CORE organizers and as a SNCC photographer, documented organizing work and movement events. Maria moved to New Mexico in 1967 at the invitation of Reies Lopez Tijerina.Varela worked for the Alianza Federal de Los Pueblos Libres and subsequently for La Cooperative Agricola and La Clinica del Pueblo in the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant.
Awarded a National Rural Fellowship in 1980, Varela acquired a Masters in Community and Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts (1982). In 1984 Maria and her neighbors founded Ganados del Valle a non profit sustainable development organization which created Tierra Wools and other small businesses from local agricultural and cultural resources. In 1990, she was awarded a MacArthur fellowship for her work in community development work in the Southwest.
From 1982 to present, in addition to her community organizing work, Varela held an adjunct professor position at the University of New Mexico, was appointed to the Hulbert Center Endowed Chair at Southwest Studies, The Colorado College where she is a visiting professor. She was the coordinator of the SWS Regional Research Initiative which involved student research fellows in community based research projects in the Southwest. Maria and her husband Lorenzo Zuniga have a daughter Sabina Zuniga-Varela.