Professor of Anthropology Laura R. Graham has been elected as president-elect (2020-2023) and president (2023-2027) of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America.

The Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America is an independent professional association for anthropologists specializing in lowland regions of South America. SALSA’s main goals are to foster sound and ethical research and to promote the education of students and the general public on issues that we study.

Graham’s research on Indigenous agency and politics of representation among Indigenous Peoples of Lowland South America focuses on the A’uwẽ-Xavante of central Brazil where she has worked since 1981 and also on Wayuu of Venezuela. She has written extensively on Indigenous speech, expressive culture, and forms of self-representation in national and international arenas, including ethnographic spectacle and use of new media technologies. Her books include the award-winning, Performing Dreams: Discourses of Immortality among the Xavante of Central Brazil (1995; available in Portuguese with original field recordings 2018), Performing Indigeneity: Global Histories and Contemporary Experiences  (with Glenn Penny, 2014) and Language and Social Justice in Practice (2018).  She co-directed the film Owners of the Water: Conflict and Collaboration over Rivers (2009) with indigenous filmmakers from Brazil and Venezuela.  She is currently writing a book on A’uwẽ Xavante uses of audiovisual technologies and other forms of cultural outreach as part of their efforts to achieve representational sovereignty.