Lecturer in Social Anthropology, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology
Camilla’s research explores the lives of indigenous children and youth growing up amidst radical socioeconomic change in Amazonia. She considers the future of indigenous peoples in times of enhanced globalised exchanges and rapid expansion of neoliberal markets in Latin America. She has carried out extensive fieldwork with Matses people in Peru, and shown the crucial role played by children and youth in defining current and future developments of Amerindian societies.
Her current research project—‘Animating the Future’, funded by the British Academy—examines the challenges faced by indigenous migrant youth in Amazonia from their own perspectives. In collaboration with professional animators, indigenous artists and young migrants from four indigenous groups across Amazonian Peru, she will apply co-production of animated films as a way to enable marginalised and displaced youth to tell their own stories, and then feed these to policymakers and the public to amplify their voices both nationally and internationally.
Recent publications:
- Morelli, C, 2017, ‘The river echoes with laughter: a child-centred analysis of social change in Amazonia’. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, vol 23., pp. 137-154.
- Morelli, C, 2015, ‘Do forest children dream of electric light? An exploration of Matses children’s imaginings in Peruvian Amazonia’. In: Mark Harris, Nigel Rapport (eds) Reflections on Imagination: Human Capacity and Ethnographic Method. Ashgate Publishing Ltd., Farnham, pp. 215.
Recent films:
- Morelli, C, 2019, ‘Acate (Frog Poison)’. The British Academy
- Morelli, C, 2019, ‘The Right to Change’. The British Academy
- Morelli, C, 2019, ‘Eater, taker, food!’. The British Academy