Varese, Stefano (1939- )

Born in Genoa in 1939, anthropologist Stefano Varese left Italy for Peru in 1956. His ethno-historical doctoral researches on the Asháninka of the Gran Pajonal region resulted in La sal de los cerros (1968), a milestone in the history of Peruvian Amazon studies. In the late 1960s, Varese gave up his position at the University of San Marcos to participate in the agrarian reform carried out by the new military government. While pursuing his studies of the Amazonian worlds, he contributed to a decree recognising the legal existence of native communities as late as 1974. Following the demise of this political experience, he went into exile, first in Mexico, then in the United States. Migration movements in Latin America and the United States became one of his fundamental research topics. Apart from teaching – namely at the University of California, Davis, where he helped create the Native American Studies department in 1988 – he pursued international activities of expertise on indigenous issues. Varese is a key figure in the history of applied anthropology.

Keywords: Applied anthropology | Ethnohistory | Peru | Amazonia | Amerindian studies | Asháninka | Migrations