Nikola Garcia JohnsonInstructor
Education
- PhD, Anthropology, Emory University, 2023
- BA, History & Sociocultural Anthropology, University of California, San Diego, 2014
Research
- Race, Ethnicity, and Indigeneity
- Anthropology of Citizenship
- Urban Indigeneity in Latin America
- Anthropology of the State
Nikola's research addresses the question: What new conceptualizations of democracy emerge amongst diverse groups working across racial lines to establish viable communities? It does so through ongoing ethnographic fieldwork within the Indigenous familial and social networks that bridge Santiago de Chile’s peri-urban neighborhoods and rural Mapuche Indigenous communities in Wallmapu (La Araucanía). Facing governmental neglect or hostility, peri-urban residents in many parts of the world form organizations based on racial identity and compete for scarce resources. In contrast, their research examines the conditions and practices in which different groups come together and envision new ways to surmount social inequality. Their research has been funded by various fellowships and grants, such as the Wenner-Gren Dissertation Field Research Grant, The Luce Foundation Communities of Practice Grant, the KPFA San Francisco Community Engagement Grant, and LGS Professional Development Support Funds. Their recent works include the edited collection Ethnographic Encounters with Destituent Power, an "Emergent Conversation" published in the Political and Legal Anthropology Review Online.
