Laura Zanotti, an assistant professor of anthropology at Purdue University, is scheduled to visit at 1 and 2 p.m. today in Room 1165 in Blair Hall.

Donald Holly, an assistant professor from the anthropology department, invited her to speak about the Amazonian landscapes to serve as an aid with the material his introduction to anthropology class is covering.

“Her interest in community conservation, human geography, landscape ideas, and research is appealing” Holly said.

She conducted fieldwork in the Brazilian Amazon among the Kayapó and in Alaska with the Iñupiaq. She specializes in environmental anthropology, political ecology and ethno ecology.

“When we think about some of the major environmental problems and issues that face our world today-climate change, deforestation, droughts, biodiversity loss, the politics of protected areas-the Amazon region is one that often comes to mind,” Zanotti said. Holly said he chose Zanotti because she is someone who can connect with different disciplines, and is someone who can expose Eastern students to culture.

“Local, place-based knowledge provides a finer, more nuanced understanding of Amazonian landscapes and helps to identify the pressing needs and concerns of local communities,” Zanotti said. “I discuss my work with the Kayapo, an indigenous group in the Amazon, and talk about some of the lessons learned during my research and the role that anthropologists play in this kind of research.”

Zanotti completed her doctorate degree in cultural anthropology at the University of Washington Seattle, in 2008 and joined the anthropology faculty at Purdue University in 2009.

In upcoming research projects, she hopes to further explore the connections between nature, place, identity and space, Zanotti said.

Shatierra Parks can be reached at 581-2812 or sjparks@eiu.edu.