Juan Leon Coraje
Visiting Scholar Spring 2005
Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies (CILAS)

Area of Expertise: Social Forestry

Country of Expertise: Bolivia

Current Research Project:

Project Title: Social Situation of the Guaraní Communities of Bolivia

Academic Background: Mr. Juan Leon Coraje has a Bachelor's degree in Forestry and is currently working on his Master's degree at Nur University in Santa Cruz.

Mr. Leon Coraje is well-known social forester in Bolivia and has worked in his field for over 10 years. He is currently working for the Grupo Nacional de Tabajo para la Participacion (GNTP), an NGO in Santa Cruz, Bolivia and previously worked for many years for CIAT, an NGO-funded tropical research organization focusing on lowland ecology.

He has researched many areas including Andean social organizations, cooperative farming projects, and the inter-relations between ecology and culture. He has worked in the highlands with peasant groups, in the Amazon with lowland indigenous groups, and in the valleys with farmers, artisans, and neighborhood groups. His most recent work advocating participatory processes in indigenous communities is especially interesting. The current projects on Guaraní struggles in the south of the country look to the issues that are consuming Bolivia right now: Indian rights to land and autonomy, and the exploitation of Indian labor.

Juan Leon Coraje, of Quechua descent, comes to CILAS from the Cochabamba valley, and combines his life experience with his academic training in an amazingly graceful and humble way. He has much to teach about field work methodologies, cross-cultural interactions, and ethical relations with field communities.

Selected Publications: