Alaka Wali-Nuveen Curator and Director of the Center for Cultural Understanding and Change, joined the Museum in 1994. Her research focuses on understanding the impact of global economic restructuring on the ways in which people organize themselves and constitute their social identities. As an applied anthropologist, Wali uses the results of her research to formulate more humane solutions to social problems. This research has concentrated on two different sites: Central and South American "hinterlands" and urban areas in the United States. In Central and South America, she has studied the ways in which indigenous people have confronted massive disruption to their use of land and resources as a result of national development projects. In the United States, she has researched the obstacles to resource acquisition for economically disadvantaged groups and the ways in which local social organization forms and cultural strategies can be incorporated into grass-roots empowerment programs. Other Anthropology Department Research: Africa | Asia | Archaeological Science | Caribbean |Cultural Understanding | Mesoamerica | North America | South America | Oceania