University of Georgia Department of Anthropology / Ecological and Environmental

Ph.D. Anthropology and Forestry & Environmental Studies, Yale University 2005

• Political ecology, conservation and development
• Research methodologies
• Technology and globalization
• Ethnography, ethnohistory, especially of Latin America
• Landscapes, heterogeneity, and historical ecology
• Cultural geography, remote sensing, participatory GIS
• Food, environment, and culture
• Ethnoecology, ethnobotany
• Art and material culture

In my research I have examined alternative narratives of history, culture, resources, and landscapes of eastern Panama and the political contexts in which they are engaged. For example, I studied how indigenous Wounaan cosmology relates to landscape and resource use as well as how conservationists understand those same topics. I also am beginning two research projects that explore the impacts of changing law on indigenous art and lands. I am an advocate for the use of multiple methods--from participatory ethnography to vegetation assessments to multi-scalar mapping--for the richness of data and depth they provide to research questions. I focus my work in Latin America, having carried out research in Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama, with mestizo, black, and indigenous communities.

Currently I am working on a few research projects. First, I am working with an anthropologist colleague to examine changing land rights in Panama, which has grown increasingly dynamic and complex due to amenity migration to that country. Next, I am working with a Wounaan colleague to write up Wounaan ethnohistory in Colombia and Panama. I have submitted a funding proposal with two linguists, a cultural anthropologist, and Wounaan to archive, transcribe, and translate sixty years of recordings of Wounaan myths and legends (held by myself and three other anthropologists). In the future, I am particularly interested in looking at environmental change over time in that corpus of recordings. Finally, I have begun working on an ethnohistory of black silversmiths in Panama and Colombia.

I also have several previous research projects that I am writing up. I am finishing up work on critical cartography, comparing data of chronosequences of Wounaan forest use (swiddens, homegardens, sites of selected tree harvest, and multi-use mature forests) in vegetation plot data and remotely sensed satellite data, to explore what they do and do not tell us for planning conservation work. I also am finalizing a manuscript on issues of Wounaan art and identity.

•  Velásquez Runk, J., Gervacio Ortíz Negría, Wilio Quintero García, and Cristobalino Quiróz Ismare. 2007. “Political Economic History, Culture, and Wounaan Livelihood Diversity in Eastern Panama.” Agriculture and Human Values. 24: 93-106.
• Bletter, Nat, Kurt Reynertson, and Julie Velásquez Runk. 2007. “Artificae Plantae: Taxonomy, Ecology, and Ethnobotany of the Simulacraceae.” Ethnobotany Research and Applications. 5: 159-177.
• Velásquez Runk, J., Floriselda Peña, and Pinel Mepaquito. 2004. “Artisanal Non-Timber Forest Products in Darién Province, Panamá: The Importance of Context.” Conservation and Society, 2(2):217-234.
• Velásquez Runk, Julia and James Dalling. 2001. “La artesanía de la tagua y el cocobolo en las comunidades Wounaan y Emberá de Darién.” In Stanley Heckadon-Moreno, ed. Panamá: Puente Biológico. Panamá, Panamá, Instituto Smithsonian de Investigaciones Tropicales: 187-192.
• Velásquez Runk, J. 2001. "An Interesting Population of Phytelephas from Panamá." Palms, 45(4): 196-199.
• Velásquez Runk, J. 2001. "Wounaan and Emberá Use of the Fiber Palm Astrocaryum standleyanum (Arecaceae) for Basketry in Eastern Panamá." Economic Botany, 55(1):72-82.
• Velásquez Runk, J. 1998. “Productivity and Sustainability of a Vegetable Ivory Palm (Phytelephas aequatorialis) Under Three Management Regimes in Northwestern Ecuador.” Economic Botany, 52(2): 168-182.
• Velásquez Runk, Julie, Nadine Freeman, y Rodrigo Calero. 1995. "La Tagua: Historia y Manejo." Quito, Ecuador: CIDESA.