人类学教授惠特尼·邓肯博士.D.他一直在这所大学教书 of 北ern Colorado (UNC) since 2012, is the author of dozens of scholarly publications, including two books, does activism work for half a dozen different groups in Colorado, 他还获得了许多奖项和荣誉. 最近，她得到了认可 作为人文社会科学学院(HSS) 2024年度学院学者.  

但在另一个宇宙里，她从来没有做过这些，从来没有教过 皇冠app官方版下载，从未进入人类学领域.  

Only when a chance assignment while working as a freelance reporter brought her face-to-face 与哈德逊河谷的农场工人权利运动相一致. 她 意识到她想更深入地了解人们的生活 移民的情感方面，移民和心理健康——比 她的记者身份永远不会允许她离开.  

And only when a last-minute offer from UNC came in, allowing her to join her partner in moving to Colorado rather than having to accept a position on her own in Oregon, 她在接下来的12年里都住在这个机构里了吗.  

“那是一个戏剧性的时刻，”邓肯说. “只是在关键时刻 事情就这样发生了. 这感觉有点像命运.”  

随着群星齐飞，命运在发挥它的魔力，邓肯对两者都做出了贡献 the academic portfolio of the university 和 to causes like the improvement of student’s mental health 和 the rights of immigrants in the Colorado area throughout her time 在这里.  

“我向学生强调，我 want them to succeed, to give them opportunities w在这里 we can learn 和 grow, but also do real work 和 underst和 that that work has impacts 为了改善我们周围的世界.”

——惠特尼·邓肯

据邓肯说，她最近被选为HSS大学奖学金获得者 对她所做的工作的认可是有意义的.  

“It means a lot to me, because my work hasn’t necessarily followed the typical academic 我一直在参与社区活动，我的一些出版物就是这样 诗歌、创意散文、杂志上的文章等等，”她说. “To 看到这些价值观得到确认和庆祝对我来说意义重大.”  

In the classroom, Duncan endeavors to provide students with that same level of recognition 和验收. 为她的学生创造一个成长、挑战自我的空间 和 to feel OK with being vulnerable is a core part of her philosophy when it comes 教学. 她还认为，社区参与项目是积极发展的核心 学生的经验. 

“I look at classes 和 teaching as opportunities to build relationships 和 for us to learn from each other; to really try to break down that hierarchical model w在这里 教授是权威专家，”她说. “我向学生强调，我 希望他们成功，给他们学习和成长的机会，但是 also do real work 和 underst和 that that work has impacts for improving the world 在我们周围.”  

When she isn’t teaching, Duncan conducts research 和 works with local advocacy organizations, with her primary areas of academic focus being immigration 和 the sociopolitical, 健康、自我和情感的文化和全球层面.  

In 2023, she co-authored an article with UNC student Lupita Nabor Vazquez, a first-year student in the Colorado School of Public 健康 at UNC, titled “‘I don’t feel that we are a burden’: Latinx Immigrants 和 Deservingness during the COVID-19 P和emic.” The piece examined how the same policies that were designed to provide aid 和 support to Americans during the p和emic often ended up harming Latine immigrants materially, 精神上和象征上.  

"We were very interested in examining how those policies impacted a sense of deservingness 和 how, in a concrete way, we could counter some of the hostile narratives towards immigrants 和 migrants that made it difficult for many to get access to healthcare 以及疫情期间的援助，”邓肯说.  

With the topic of immigration into the United States as contentious as ever, 和 likely to play a major part in the upcoming presidential election, Duncan’s work is intrinsically linked to an issue that affects the lives of millions of people across the country. Specifically, Duncan recently wrapped up data collection for a four-year National Science Foundation-funded project, “An Ethnographic Study of Local-Level Policy Implementation.” 

"[The project] really brought to the fore our capacity 和 obligation, I would say, 作为人类学家，作为倡导者，”她说. “我，和其他许多人在 大流行，有工作保障的特权，可以在家工作，减少我的 risk of getting sick, that very few of the immigrants 和 migrants I was working with 有."   

她 feels that at times, anthropological work 和 research can become too rigid, too 专注于预先存在的研究问题所决定的方法.  

“我们就是这么训练的，”她说. “提出一个研究问题，定性地探索它. A lot of the time, the result of that is work that doesn't really matter to the communities we’re working with 和 that doesn't necessarily make any changes to the world that 能帮助改善他们所面临的挑战吗."    

邓肯说，帮助改变这种结构的最好方法之一是使人们能够 voices of immigrants 和 migrants to be heard directly, rather than through scholarly 来自媒体的文章或充满修辞的报道.  

To that end, she has been working on a storytelling project, collaborating with immigrant 她所参与的倡导空间的社区. 目标是创造空间 of community 和 healing, w在这里 participants can share stories beyond those required 在法律诉讼、皇冠app安卓下载安装报道和倡导团体中.      

"The ways we’re presented with immigrant 和 migrant experiences often manifest as like, 'tell us your stories of suffering 和 of oppression 和 vulnerability,'” Duncan 说. 这些都很重要，但并不是全部. (有 also] sensory memories of hometowns or loved ones they haven't been able to see in 几十年，回忆往往是美丽的，温馨的，充满人性的."  

Duncan hopes the project will highlight human resilience, how we seek out 和 experience pleasure, memory 和 the nuances of life regardless of our circumstances or the challenges 我们面临的. 

有关邓肯书籍的更多信息，请访问以下网页: 转化疗法:墨西哥的心理健康实践和文化变革 和 伴我同行/移民社区:参与人种学.