A professor at the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB), Danielle Kurin, Ph.D. teaches and engages in field research in the Department of Anthropology. In addition to her work with the university, Dr. Danielle Kurin also holds memberships with professional organizations such as the Institute of Andean Studies (IAS), founded in 2004 to support research in South America.

The IAS recently released a Blue Ribbon Commission report discussing its intent to engage the African diaspora living in Latin America and to research the Afro-Latin American experience. The focus on the Afro-Latin communities comes from South American scholars and researchers realizing that they cannot understand indigenous cultures throughout this region without studying the African diaspora and black communities that comprise this cultural fabric. This understanding comes from indigenous cultures in this region becoming entangled in the African diaspora through European colonization of South America.

Part of this initiative includes contending with colonial policies that have promoted deeply-rooted social inequities while bringing to light modern perceptions of race and indigeneity (how a person/individual links them to a place). It also seeks to include this group of people absent (marginalized) from national historical narrative and academic research.

A culmination of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, the IAS Blue Ribbon Commission report also included best practices for studying this area of South American history. These best practices provide scholars and researchers within this field with guidance on addressing systemic racism within related disciplines, the Institute, and research/mentorship.