Karadamou, Charitini

Charitini is a postdoc researcher focusing on Amazonian anthropological linguistics and since January 2017 the co-founder of a Transdisciplinary (TD) Research for Development (R4D) team (Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich). Since 2012 and through her PhD and postdoc fieldwork and research endeavors in Latin America, she has acquired substantial experience in academic and stakeholder project management, as well as in development and international collaboration on the sectors of public health and infrastructure. The first one is being explored through her ongoing collaborative TD, R4D project ‘Intercultural transdisciplinarity in Guatemala and Peru: A North-South-South learning platform for culturally pertinent public health provision systems for indigenous populations’ and concerns fieldwork research in two ethnolinguistic areas, in order to document traditional medical practices and develop approaches for enabling culturally pertinent health services. By means of co-initiating and promoting the involvement of relevant experts and institutions in Guatemala, Peru and Switzerland, she has been co-creating a TD multi-stakeholder platform on institutional models for implementing intercultural health that will enable mutual learning. The second sector involves the designing and co-founding of an Amazonian museum of cultural heritage, which took place within her PhD (University of Bern, funder: SNSF) in the depths of the Peruvian Amazon. Years of fieldwork with the Amazonian people have shaped her adventurous spirit and her passion for ethnography and traditional medical practices. Last, but not least, she is an enthusiastic activist, passionate about protecting indigenous rights, as well as wildlife and its habitat in the Amazon. For her research and activist efforts, she has been chosen twice as the ambassadress of the indigenous Amazonian people of the province of Atalaya-Ucayali (URPIA, 2014 & 2017) and delegate in the European Union.