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Anthropology and sociology
10 October 2015

Funding awarded to Research Fellow Valerio Simoni

Anthropology and Sociology of Development Research Fellow Valerio Simoni has been awarded funding for a new research project in the frame of the Exploratory Mandate for Bilateral Research Collaboration with Latin America 2013-2016 of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), managed by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne’s (EPFL) Cooperation and Development Center. The Seed Money Grant program, of the duration of one year, seeks to initiate or intensify research collaboration between Switzerland and Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

The project, Towards an anthropological approach to tourism in the Cusco region, Peru: Institutional cooperation and partnership”, aims to establish a long-term Swiss-Peruvian collaboration to foster the anthropological study of tourism in the area. The region of Cusco, in the Peruvian Andes, is an emblematic case in which issues of economic development, heritage preservation, and socio-cultural change have become increasingly linked to tourism. In spite of the growing importance of this service industry and its impacts on people’s lives and livelihoods, social science research on the subject remains scarce and dispersed. Gathering anthropologists from Swiss and Peruvian Universities, the project will provide a framework for researchers and institutions interested in understanding the effects of tourism in the region.

Anthropology and Sociology of Development Research Fellow Valerio Simoni has been awarded funding for a new research project in the frame of the Exploratory Mandate for Bilateral Research Collaboration with Latin America 2013-2016 of the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI), managed by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne’s (EPFL) Cooperation and Development Center. The Seed Money Grant program, of the duration of one year, seeks to initiate or intensify research collaboration between Switzerland and Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

The project, Towards an anthropological approach to tourism in the Cusco region, Peru: Institutional cooperation and partnership”, aims to establish a long-term Swiss-Peruvian collaboration to foster the anthropological study of tourism in the area. The region of Cusco, in the Peruvian Andes, is an emblematic case in which issues of economic development, heritage preservation, and socio-cultural change have become increasingly linked to tourism. In spite of the growing importance of this service industry and its impacts on people’s lives and livelihoods, social science research on the subject remains scarce and dispersed. Gathering anthropologists from Swiss and Peruvian Universities, the project will provide a framework for researchers and institutions interested in understanding the effects of tourism in the region.