Dr. Danielle Kurin is an anthropological bioarchaeologist and educator whose work focuses on ancient Andean civilizations, social collapse, and disaster. A former assistant professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, she has taught since 2013 while conducting field and laboratory research and publishing extensively, including her book on societal collapse in ancient Peru.
Danielle Kurin has led international fieldwork in Andahuaylas, Peru, and founded the Andahuaylas Museum and Lab, where she has supported regional research, education, and community engagement. Her experience teaching in both the United States and Peru, along with her work organizing academic programs and research initiatives, aligns closely with broader efforts that support collaboration and knowledge exchange across Andean studies.
Institute of Andean Studies and Research Support in the Andes
Research on Peru and the wider Andes does not happen in one place or one format. Scholars work through field projects, museum collections, and library records, and they still need ways to compare results and discuss unresolved questions. The Institute of Andean Studies (IAS), founded in 1960, supports that exchange through meetings and publications.
IAS defines its purpose as organizing, sponsoring, and assisting research on the native peoples of Peru and other parts of the region formerly included in the Inca Empire. The Institute also states that it does not directly organize or fund research projects. As an independent, not-for-profit organization, it instead supports a professional setting for Andean scholarship.
Rather than running excavations itself, IAS helps researchers share and discuss work already in progress. Participants submit topics across Andean archaeology, anthropology, history, art history, and related fields, then present their findings to others working on similar questions. That approach keeps attention on evidence, interpretation, and unresolved research problems.
IAS centers much of that exchange in its annual meeting, held in early January in Berkeley, California. Presenters can submit papers or posters and take part in discussion periods tied to those presentations. IAS also states that attendees and presenters do not have to be members; students are welcome, and advance registration is required.
IAS also gives poster presentations a built-in discussion format. Its meeting schedule includes a dedicated poster discussion session. The call for submissions explains that IAS keeps posters on display across both meeting days and sets aside a daily discussion period for poster authors.
Publication extends that conversation beyond the meeting dates. IAS publishes Ñawpa Pacha: Journal of the Institute of Andean Studies, established in 1963, and the title means “antiquity” in Quechua. The journal appears twice each year and is indexed in Scopus, which supports discoverability in a standard research database and preserves a stable publication record.
Membership connects to those activities in practical ways. IAS describes member categories that include IAS members, student affiliates, and Friends of the IAS, with dues tied to journal access and support for the annual meeting. IAS also highlights support for an International Travel Grant and presentation awards linked to participation.
The categories also carry clear differences in role and access. Active IAS members may vote and hold leadership positions, while student affiliates receive the journal but cannot vote in IAS elections. Friends do not vote, but they receive communications and may participate in activities such as the annual meeting.
A brief example helps a general reader picture how the pieces connect. A team preparing research from a Peruvian site can submit a paper or poster proposal for the IAS meeting. If IAS accepts the proposal, the team presents its findings, answers questions, and joins the discussion that the meeting format encourages.
This focused structure separates IAS from broader anthropology organizations. Broader anthropology associations cover many subjects, organizational units, and publications across the discipline. IAS operates on a narrower Andean scope, which concentrates attention on Peru- and Andes-focused research conversations.
Peru also includes internationally recognized heritage, such as the World Heritage-listed City of Cuzco, recognized for its importance to Inca civilization. Because IAS supports field, museum, and library research and sponsors meetings for discussing results and research problems, the Institute gives that work a recurring place to be presented and tested. IAS gives researchers a recurring setting for presenting, discussing, and publishing work on Peru and the wider Andes.
