Alba Menéndez Pereda
Education
Currently PhD Candidate, Interdepartmental Archaeology Graduate Program, University of California, Los Angeles
2017 MPhil, Archaeology of the Americas, University of Cambridge
2016 BA, Archaeology and Ancient Civilizations, University of Durham
Areas of Interest
Inca Empire, Andes, landscape studies, environmental humanities, built environment, architecture, materiality, sacredness, sensory experiences, sound studies, colonialism in the Americas, cross-cultural exchanges.
Profile
Alba Menéndez Pereda (she/her/hers) is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Interdepartmental Archaeology Graduate Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she studies the Inca Empire. In her doctoral research, Alba examines the making and experiencing of sacredness in the Inca capital of Cuzco from a place- and sense-centered perspective between imperial Inca times and the early modern period.
Alba graduated with a B.A. in Archaeology and Ancient Civilizations from the University of Durham, and with an M.Phil. in Archaeology from the University of Cambridge where she specialized in the Archaeology of the Indigenous Americas. Prior to joining UCLA, Alba participated in numerous research projects spanning various cultures and time periods, for which she conducted fieldwork and worked with museums in England, Italy, and Spain, and worked in a commercial archaeology company (CRM) in England.
Committed to engaging the wider public in the study of the Andes, Alba creates accessible and bilingual educational content for the Andean Lab Instagram. Additionally, she manages the Andean Lab and organizes the Andean Working Group, an interdisciplinary working group co-sponsored by the UCLA Latin American Institute and the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology which brings together local and international scholars working on the Andes. She has previously organized the Indigenous Material and Visual Culture in the Americas Working Group in addition to contributing to the organization of many other academic and cultural events.
SELECTED FIELDWORK
Proyecto de Investigación Arqueológica Paisajes Arqueológicos de Pañamarca, Nepeña, Peru (Columbia University and Denver Museum of Nature & Science)
Proyecto de Investigación Arqueológica Chincha, Chincha, Peru
Wardell Armstrong Archaeology (CRM), Ipswich, England
Medieval Islamic settlement of Madinat Albalat at Romangordo, Cáceres, Spain (CNRS–Université Lumière Lyon 2)
Cerro de la Merced, Cabra, Córdoba, Spain (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)
“Caves in Context: The Place of Caves in Middle Bronze Age Southern Lazio,” Collepardo and Pastena, Italy (University of Durham)
PRESENTATIONS
Archaeological Institute of America – Orange County Society (May 2024)
Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting, New Orleans (April 2024)
American Anthropological Association / Canadian Anthropology Society Annual Meeting, Toronto (November 2023)
Aural Architecture: Sound, Space, and Spirituality, Department of Music, Stanford University, Stanford (May 2023)
Vernacular Architecture Forum Annual Meeting, Plymouth (May 2023)
College Art Association Annual Conference, New York (February 2023)
(Re)thinking Landscape: Ways of Knowing / Ways of Being Conference, Yale University, New Haven (September 2022)
Sound, Space and the Aesthetics of the Sublime Conference, Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, Stanford University, Stanford (May 2022)
Lunch & Learn, The Fowler Museum (April 2022)
Early Modern Research Group, Center for 17th- & 18th-Century Studies, UCLA (April 2021)
AWARDS
Mayers Fellowship, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Dissertation Fieldwork Grant, The Wenner-Gren Foundation
Sarah Elizabeth Gilfillan Award, Fowler Museum
Bliss Symposium Award, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection
Short-Term Fellowship, John Carter Brown Library
Archaeological Research Grant, Archaeological Institute of America - Orange County Society
Orlando Ridout Fieldwork Fellowship, Vernacular Architecture Forum
Edilia and François-Auguste de Montêquin Junior Scholar Fellowship, Society of Architectural Historians
Fellowship for Postgraduate Studies in North America and Asia-Pacific, “la Caixa” Foundation
Dissertation Fieldwork Fellowship for International Studies, International Institute, UCLA
Graduate Student Research Grant, Latin American Institute, UCLA
Graduate Student Summer Fellowship, CMRS Center for Early Global Studies, UCLA
Edward A. Dickson Fellowship in the History of Art, Department of Art History, UCLA
Early Modern Studies Summer Grant, Center for 17th- & 18th-Century Studies, UCLA
Graduate Summer Research Mentorship, Graduate Division, UCLA
TEACHING
Guest Lecturer, Art, Science, and Technology, Department of Design Media Arts, UCLA (Spring 2022)
Instructor of Record, Intro to Archaeology: Past, Present, and Future, Educational Studies Program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Spring 2022)
Reader, Inca Art and Architecture, Department of Art History, UCLA (Winter 2022)
Instructor of Record, Entendiendo la Sudamérica Indígena: Investigación y Colección, Instituto de Conservação e Restauro Pachamama (Fall 2021)
Teaching Assistant, Art and Architecture of Ancient Americas, Department of Art History, UCLA (Spring 2021)
Teaching Assistant, Medieval Art, Department of Art History, UCLA (Winter 2021)
Teaching Assistant, Museum Studies, Department of Art History, UCLA (Fall 2020)
PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT
Social Media Manager, Andean Lab, UCLA (2019–present)
Workshop Facilitator, Explore Your Universe, UCLA (2020, 2022)
Social Media Manager, Institute of Andean Studies (2020–2021)
Demonstration Facilitator, “Andean Textiles,” Annual Open House, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA (2019)
Workshop Facilitator, “Adventures in Archaeology,” 826LA, Los Angeles (2019)
Demonstration Facilitator, Prehistory and Archaeology Day, University of Cambridge (2016)
LANGUAGES
Spanish, native speaker
English, bilingual
Quechua/Kichwa, beginner
French, beginner
ADDITIONAL LINKS
News from the Cotsen: Instagram Posts for Andean Lab Receive International Thumbs-Up