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 experience of sacredness at the heart of the Inca Empire through the early modern period from a place- and sense-centered perspective.

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 Americas. Prior to joining the Cotsen Institute, 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 unit (CRM) in England.

Committed to engaging the wider public in the study of the Andes, Alba creates accessible digital content for the Andean Lab Instagram. She has previously managed the Andean Lab at the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, and co-organized two interdisciplinary working groups on campus: the Andean Working Group and the Indigenous Material and Visual Culture in the Americas Working Group

SELECTED FIELDWORK

Proyecto de Investigación Arqueológica Paisajes Arqueológicos de Pañamarca, Nepeña, Peru

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 (Durham University)


PRESENTATIONS

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 2020)

AWARDS

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 Summer Fellowship, CMRS Center for Early Global Studies, UCLA

Graduate Student Research Grant, Latin American Institute, UCLA

Edward A. Dickson Fellowship in the History of Art, Department of Art History, UCLA

Early Modern Studies Summer Mentorship, Center for 17th- & 18th-Century Studies, UCLA

Steinmetz and Friends of Archaeology Research Travel Fund, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA

Graduate Summer Research Mentorship, UCLA

Birley Bursary Award, Department of Archaeology, University of Durham

TEACHING

Guest Lecturer, Art, Science, and Technology, Prof. Victoria Vesna, 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, Prof. Stella Nair, 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, Prof. Stella Nair, Department of Art History, UCLA (Spring 2021)

Teaching Assistant, Medieval Art, Prof. Sharon Gerstel, Department of Art History, UCLA (Winter 2021)

Teaching Assistant, Museum Studies, Prof. Saloni Mathur, Department of Art History, UCLA (Fall 2020)

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

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)

Social Media Manager, Andean Lab, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA (2019–present)

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

Andean Lab

Andean Lab on Instagram

News from the Cotsen: Instagram Posts for Andean Lab Receive International Thumbs-Up

Advisors

Dr. Stella Nair