Mari mari kompuche! Hello, everyone! My name is Erin. I am a graduate student at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, where I am getting my PhD in linguistic anthropology.
I grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Roanoke, Virginia. As a kid, I loved spending time outdoors and traveling to new places with my family. When I went to college, I learned to speak Spanish through studying abroad in Spain and Argentina. I became interested in the relationship between language and culture and how the language(s) someone speaks influences how they engage with their environment. In 2017, I decided to enroll in graduate school to keep studying this topic! I hope to someday be a university professor so that I can share my knowledge and experiences with students.
Linguistic anthropologists like me study how humans use language to communicate with each other and interact with the world around them. My Fulbright research examines language among the Mapuche, an Indigenous people native to Argentina's Patagonia region. While Argentina's official language is Spanish, the native language of the Mapuche people is a language called Mapudungun. I will be working with Mapuche communities to help preserve and promote this endangered language. In particular, I will be examining how people use contemporary music such as pop, hip hop, and heavy metal as a form of linguistic and cultural revitalization. I am excited to share my experiences with you!
