About me / sobre mi

I am a Ph.D. student, a waveless feminist, an anti-colonial community organizer, and a territorial storyteller. I was raised both intellectually and politically by Bolivia’s vibrant social movements, and their lessons form the foundation of my research agenda in academic spaces. My work foregrounds the knowledge and practices of Amazonian indigenous peoples—especially women and girls—and their relationship with the rainforest. Over the past eight years, I’ve engaged with elements such as poetry, cooking recipes, affective body-mapping, soundscapes and other sensory elements, while also accompanying political processes and memorialization directly related to the making and sustaining of dignified territorial life in the Amazon. Nested within this intersection, my work is dedicated to crafting indigenous feminist geographies for the fabulation and nurturing of worlds otherwise for the present, past, and future.

interests / intereses

Amazonian Indigenous Geographies; Indigenous Feminist Geographies; Embodiment and Intimacy; Memoryscapes; Autonomy and Self-determination; Food Sovereignty; Freedom.

Education / Educación

2021-26          Ph.D. Geography. University of California, Los Angeles. Los Angeles, California.

Committee: Dr. Susanna Hecht (Chair) and Dr. Kelly Kay (Co-Chair).

2021    M. A. Latin American Studies. University of Texas at Austin. Austin, Texas. Awarded Best Latin American Studies Master’s Thesis 2021.

Committee: Dr. Gregory Knapp (Chair) and Dr. Caroline Faria (Co-Chair).

2018    Graduate Specialty. Psychosocial Community Intervention. Universidad Católica Boliviana. La Paz, Bolivia.

2015    B.A. Psychology. Universidad Católica Boliviana. La Paz, Bolivia. Honorable Mention.

Publications / publicaciones

Books

2018      Guzmán, N. “Chinese capitalism in the Amazon: disposable bodies behind three infrastructure projects in Bolivia” (In Spanish). La Paz: FOBOMADE. (Co-edited and part of the Institute of Anthropological and Archaeological Research on Extractivism and Indigenous Peoples Studies from Universidad Mayor de San Andrés).

Peer-reviewed Articles

2024      Guzmán, N. “‘Esta carretera nos atraviesa’: Roadbuilding and Mapping the Cuerpo-Territorio of Amazonian Indigenous Girls in Bolivia.” Gender, Place & Culture, 1-24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2024.2338391.

2017      Guzmán, N. “Land, agroindustry and transgenics: Popular social conflicts in the Bolivia of Mother Earth” (In Spanish). Perspectivas Rurales. Nueva Época, 15 (30). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15359/prne.15-30.2

Book Chapters

2024       Guzmán, N. “Cuerpo-territorio and Indigenous Geographies Otherwise: Epistemological Irreverences and Embodying Territorialities in Praxis.” In Companion to Social and Cultural Geography. Wiley-Blackwell. (in press)

2021       Orsag, J. and Guzmán, N. “Technology, modernity, and the displacement of social conflicts: the continuous expansion of the agrarian frontier in the southern Amazon. Brazil and Bolivia (1960-2020)”. In Amazonía y expansión mercantil capitalista: nueva frontera de recursos en el siglo XXI. (In Spanish). La Paz: CLACSO and CEDLA. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv2v88d7q.6

Non-Refereed Journal Articles  (post)
2024

“Asserting Indigenous Autonomy in the Bolivian Amazon: Territorial Struggles for Self-Determination Unveiling the Straitjacket of State-Sanctioned Plurinationalism.” NACLA Report on the Americas, 56(3), 301–307. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10714839.2024.2388384.

2024

“Lo que murmura el aliento transpirau del monte”. Revista en/clave salvaje. Dossier Temático ‘(Re)Pensar la Amazonia’, 1(1), 153-158. Cochabamba: Centro de Estudios Populares (CEESP) and Rosa Luxemburg Foundation.

2023

“Knowledge, collaboration, and epistemic justice as an ongoing struggle.” Gender, Place and Culture New and Emergent Scholar 2023 Blog. Available at: https://genderplaceandculture.wordpress.com/2023/04/25/guest-blog-post-from-nohely-guzman-narvaez/

2022

“Embodied geographies: Feminist Body-Mapping with Amazonian Indigenous Girls and the Outlining of a New Academic Grammar.” Austin: Portal Magazine. University of Texas at Austin.

2020

“Resisting the horror: hope as an end in itself during COVID-19.” World Making in Nepantla: Feminist Ideals for Pandemic Times. Austin: University of Texas Press.

2016

“Demolishing tyranny: social utopias and transformations processes against extractivism” (In Spanish). Mapuexpress. Available at: http://www.mapuexpress.org/?p=15699.

2016

“Scientists or entrepreneurs? Transgenics for whom?” (In Spanish). SENA – FOBOMADE Monthly Boletín. Available in: http://senaforo.net/2016/01/27/fob2026/

Sensuous Interventions, Artistic Co-laborings, and Creative Scholarship (post)
2024

Guzmán, N. “Aquí ya no amanece: ecos y cicatrices del paso del fuego en la Amazonía de Moxos” (In Spanish). Soundscapes and Art Gallery Exhibit. La Paz, Bolivia. Fundación Patiño. October 8-11th.

2024

Guzmán, N. “Para Armando Normand, porque en esta tierra no hay lugar para más olvido” (In Spanish). Performed at Art Gallery Exhibit “Las Cosas Como Antes: Imaginarios Nacionales sobre la Amazonía Boliviana”. La Paz: Centro Cultural de España en La Paz.

2019

Guzmán, N. “Intimacies: traces of contradiction, perplexity, and longing of Amazonian indigenous girls intervened by Chinese companies”. Jasy Renyhê–Alianza Francesa La Paz. La Paz, Bolivia. June 12. Available at: https://youtu.be/7WObNF1-Cbo

2018

Guzmán, N., Orsag, J. and Hurtado, C. “Qhipi Consciente: Arte en Accion por el Medio Ambiente” Art installation, performance theatre, and music. La Paz, Bolivia. February 18th.

Community-driven Resources and Reports (post)
2021

Sánchez, P., Rivamontán, A., and Guzmán, N. “Iyambae: Reviving the defense of life. Chiquitana women’s stories”. (In Spanish). La Paz: Jasy Renyhê.

2019

Guzmán, N. “My Adventures’ Diary. Self-care, art, and poetry for Indigenous Girls” (In Spanish). La Paz: Jasy Renyhê.

2019

Guzmán, N. and Sánchez, P. “Taking care of each other: detecting, attending, and reporting violence against indigenous women” (In Spanish). La Paz: Jasy Renyhê.