Introduction

Week 1: Course Introduction


Hi everyone! I'm Vanessa Leibel, and I'm a third-year student majoring in B.Sc. Global Resource Systems with a minor in B.A. Spanish Studies. I'm from Victoria, and I chose UBC because I love the mountains, beaches, and lifestyle of the West Coast but need the busy bustle of Vancouver! I love playing indoor or beach volleyball, getting coffee (an iced dirty chai is my go-to), watching sunsets at Wreck beach, and Thursday night karaoke at Fringe with my roommates. 

Within my Global Resource Systems program, I specialize in a region and a resource, and I'm focusing on environmental sustainability in Latin America. I grew up spending winters in Mazatlan, Mexico, where I became fluent in Spanish and fell in love with Latin American culture, history, and literature. Since then, I've had the opportunity to conduct research projects in Costa Rica with a Bribri community regarding rural climate change mitigation strategies, and participated in a field school in Chile investigating the role of native forests and exotic tree plantations in the Chilean and global bioeconomy; my post-undergrad goal is to either do a Masters in Land and Water Systems in the Faculty of LFS here at UBC, or immediately work in Latin America providing local solutions for global problems surrounding sustainability.

I'm very excited for this semester and this course specifically! I've only investigated Latin American indigeneity in my SPAN courses, which have actually included the Popol Vuh and The first new chronicle and good government, but have focused extensively on the Spanish linguistic elements; I'm fascinated to re-examine these texts in English to see the major differences and what new or different analyses and discussions can be drawn. Also, I'm excited to gain new knowledge from new course texts about the history and indigeneity of various regions within Latin America, and I'm hoping to see if Latin America and Canada can learn from each other in regards to our indigenous populations, like we touched on in-class yesterday.

Nice to meet you all, see you on Wednesday!

Comments

  1. Anonymous12 January 2024 at 16:45

    Hi Vanessa! Super interesting journey, you have a lot of amazing experience and I'm sure the future will be just as interesting. I would love to know your perspectives on Popol Vuh linguistically as well. See you in class!

    Isabella

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