Margarita Rivera Arrivillaga

Margarita Rivera Arrivillaga — Research Fellow

Neotropical Anthropology Laboratory (NAL)

Doctoral Student in Anthropology, University of Kansas

Margarita Rivera Arrivillaga is a Research Fellow at the Neotropical Anthropology Laboratory (NAL) and a doctoral student in Sociocultural Anthropology at the University of Kansas. Born and raised in Guatemala and currently based at the University of Kansas, her work is grounded in sustained engagement with Latin American contexts and with the ethical challenges of public-facing, community-centered research.

Margarita Rivera holds a BA in Anthropology from the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) and an MA in Demography from El Colegio de México (El COLMEX). She has also completed postgraduate diplomas in Anthropology of Art through LATIR-CIESAS and Anthropology of the Cities through Universidad Rafael Landívar in collaboration with CIESAS.

Margarita is currently a Fulbright Program Fellow and second-year PhD student at KU. She brings more than nine years of experience in multidisciplinary academic and applied research projects across Guatemala, Ecuador, and Mexico, collaborating with universities, research institutes, NGOs, and independent organizations.

Her research focuses on the intersections of gender, public health, development, and human rights, with particular attention to structural inequality, displacement, and health vulnerability. A commitment to advocacy and community engagement is central to her doctoral work, which addresses health-related issues among forcibly displaced populations.

Within NAL, Margarita’s work is explicitly aligned with the laboratory’s commitments to public anthropology, health justice, and creative research practice. She contributes to NAL’s public-facing mission by integrating community-based, participatory, and art-based methodologies into her research design. These approaches use visual, narrative, and collaborative art practices as tools for ethnographic inquiry, ethical engagement, and broader dissemination beyond academic audiences.

Margarita Rivera’s research advances NAL’s emphasis on anthropology as a socially engaged practice. By leveraging art as a medium for storytelling, dialogue, and advocacy, her work supports NAL’s efforts to translate ethnographic knowledge into forms that foster public understanding, policy relevance, and community-led social change.