About Lisette Varon Carvajal

Candidata a Doctora en Historia en la Universidad de Rutgers de New Jersey, Lisette estudia la historia de la medicina popular en Colombia durante los siglos XVIII y XIX. Su proyecto de tesis titulado “Mujeres cuidadoras: parteras y curanderas en la Nueva Granada, 1700-1850”, investiga la vida y las prácticas médicas de parteras y curanderas en la Nueva Granada, actual Colombia, entre 1700 y 1850. Lo que diferencia el proyecto de Lisette de narrativas históricas más tradicionales, es que entrevista a 20 trabajadores de salud contemporáneos (parteras, doulas y médicas) para examinar el resurgimiento de la partería y la medicina tradicional en Colombia. Este material le permite reflexionar sobre la construcción de memoria, la creación de narrativas históricas relacionadas con el cuidado e historias globales la medicina y cuidado. Su investigación doctoral ha recibido el apoyo de la Fundación Andrew Mellon así como de la National Science Foundation. Lisette estudió su pregrado en Ciencia Política en la Universidad de los Andes, donde además hizo opción en Historia y Derecho. Después de graduarse trabajó en la ONG Sisma Mujer y en la Secretaría de la Mujer de Bogotá, donde investigó temas de violencia de género, acceso a la información y violencia sexual en el marco del conflicto armado.

Lisette Varón-Carvajal is a PhD Candidate in history at Rutgers, studying the history of popular medicine in Colombia during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Her dissertation project titled “Caring Women: Midwives and Female Healers in New Granada, 1700-1850”, investigates midwives' and female healers' lives and medical practices in New Granada, present-day Colombia, between 1700 and 1850. What sets Lisette’s project apart from traditional historical narratives is that she interviews 20 contemporary medical practitioners (midwives, doulas, and doctors) to examine the resurgence of midwifery and traditional healing practices in Colombia's present medical landscape. This material permits her to reflect on memory-making, the creation of historical narratives related to care, and global histories of medicine and care. Lisette's research has received the support of the National Science Foundation and the Social Science Research Council. Lisette received her BA from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, and she has worked with feminist and governmental organizations on topics of sexual and domestic violence in Colombia.
Lisette Varón-Carvajal es candidata a Doctora en la Universidad de Rutgers de New Jersey. Puedes escribirle a su Twitter @LisetteVaron y sugerirle libros o autores/as Lisette Varón-Carvajal is a PhD Candidate at Rutgers University. You can tweet and suggest books at @LisetteVaron

NBN Episodes hosted by Lisette:

Laura Briggs, "Taking Children: A History of American Terror" (U California Press, 2020)

December 31, 2023

Taking Children

Laura Briggs

Laura Briggs’s Taking Children: A History of American Terror (University of California Press 2020) is a forceful and captivating book that readers won…

Christina Ramos, "Bedlam in the New World: A Mexican Madhouse in the Age of Enlightenment" (UNC Press, 2022)

July 1, 2022

Bedlam in the New World

Christina Ramos

In Bedlam in the New World: A Mexican Madhouse in the Age of Enlightenment (UNC Press, 2022), Christina Ramos tells us the story of Mexico city’s olde…

Diego Armus and Pablo Gómez, "The Gray Zones of Medicine: Healers and History in Latin America" (U Pittsburgh Press, 2021)

November 8, 2021

The Gray Zones of Medicine

Diego Armus and Pedro F. Gómez

Edited by Diego Armus and Pablo Gómez, The Gray Zones of Medicine: Healers and History in Latin America (University of Pittsburgh Press 2021) tell the…

Martha Few et al., "Baptism Through Incision: The Postmortem Cesarean Operation in the Spanish Empire" (Pennsylvania State UP, 2020)

August 16, 2021

Baptism Through Incision

Martha Few, Zeb Tortorici and Adam Warren

In 1804, King Charles IV of Spain enacted a royal order mandating the postmortem cesarean procedure in all of Spain's dominions. The Audiencia de Guat…

Erica Ball et al., "As if She Were Free" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

March 22, 2021

As If She Were Free

Erica Ball and Tatiana Seijas

Edited by Drs. Erica Ball, Tatiana Seijas, and Terri L. Snyder, As if She Were Free (Cambridge University Press, 2020) is a collective biography of A…

Camilla Townsend, "Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs" (Oxford UP, 2019)

February 5, 2021

Fifth Sun

Camilla Townsend

In her latest book Fifth Sun: A New History of the Aztecs (Oxford University Press 2020), Camilla Townsend tells the story of the Aztecs from their pe…

Sharika D. Crawford, "The Last Turtlemen of the Caribbean: Waterscapes of Labor, Conservation, and Boundary Making" (UNC Press, 2020)

January 12, 2021

The Last Turtlemen of the Caribbean

Sharika D. Crawford

In The Last Turtlemen of the Caribbean: Waterscapes of Labor, Conservation, and Boundary Makin (University of North Carolina Press 2020), Dr. Sharika …

John Soluri and Claudia Leal, "A Living Past: Environmental Histories of Modern Latin America" (Berghahn, 2018)

December 17, 2020

A Living Past

John Soluri, Pádua José Augusto, Claudia Leal

A Living Past: Environmental Histories of Modern Latin America (Berghahn Books, 2018) is a wonderful collection that seeks to provide a general overvi…

Jean Jackson, "Managing Multiculturalism: Indigeneity and the Struggle for Rights in Colombia" (Stanford UP, 2019)

September 16, 2020

Managing Multiculturalism

Jean Jackson

In Managing Multiculturalism: Indigeneity and the Struggle for Rights in Colombia (Stanford University Press) Jean Jackson narrates her remarkable jou…

M. del Pilar Blanco and J. Page, "Geopolitics, Culture, and the Scientific Imaginary in Latin America" (U Florida Press, 2020)

September 2, 2020

Geopolitics, Culture, and the Scientific Imaginary in Latin America

María del Pilar Blanco and Joanna Page

Geopolitics, Culture, and the Scientific Imaginary in Latin America (University of Florida Press 2020), a collection edited by María del Pilar Blanco …

Paulo Drinot, "The Sexual Question: A History of Prostitution in Peru, 1850s-1950s" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

July 29, 2020

The Sexual Question

Paulo Drinot

Paulo Drinot’s The Sexual Question: A History of Prostitution in Peru, 1850s-1950s (Cambridge University Press, 2020) studies the interplay of sexuali…

Luz María Hernández Sáenz, "Carving a Niche: The Medical Profession in Mexico 1800-1870" (McGill-Queen’s UP, 2018)

July 16, 2020

Carving a Niche

Luz María Hernández Sáenz

In Carving a Niche: The Medical Profession in Mexico 1800-1870 (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2018), Luz María Hernández Sáenz follows the trajecto…

Robert A. Karl, "Forgotten Peace: Reform, Violence and the Making of Contemporary Colombia" (U California Press 2017)

May 19, 2020

Forgotten Peace

Robert A. Karl

In Forgotten Peace: Reform, Violence and the Making of Contemporary Colombia (University of California Press 2017), Robert Karl explores how Colombian…

Victor Uribe-Urán, "Fatal Love: Spousal Killers, Law, and Punishment in the Late Colonial Spanish Atlantic" (Stanford UP, 2016)

May 8, 2020

Fatal Love

Victor Uribe-Urán

In his book Fatal Love: Spousal Killers, Law, and Punishment in the Late Colonial Spanish Atlantic (Stanford University Press 2016), Victor Uribe-Urán…

Lina Britto, "Marijuana Boom: The Rise and Fall of Colombia's First Drug Paradise" (U California Press, 2020)

April 15, 2020

Marijuana Boom

Lina Britto

In her recently published book Marijuana Boom: The Rise and Fall of Colombia's First Drug Paradise (University of California Press 2020), Lina Britto …

Nancy P. Appelbaum, "Mapping the Country of Regions: The Chorographic Commission of Nineteenth-Century Colombia" (UNC Press, 2016)

March 13, 2020

Mapping the Country of Regions

Nancy P. Appelbaum

In the mid-nineteenth century, the Chorographic Commission of Colombia, an ambitious geographical expedition, set out to define and map a nascent and …

Joshua Simon, "The Ideology of the Creole Revolution" (Cambridge UP, 2017)

December 11, 2019

The Ideology of the Creole Revolution

Joshua Simon

Joshua Simon’s The Ideology of the Creole Revolution: Imperialism and Independence in American and Latin American Political Thought published by Cambr…

David Wheat, "Atlantic Africa and the Spanish Caribbean, 1570-1640" (UNC Press, 2016)

November 18, 2019

Atlantic Africa and the Spanish Caribbean, 1570-1640

David Wheat

David Wheat’s fantastic book Atlantic Africa and the Spanish Caribbean, 1570-1640 (University of North Carolina Press, 2016) argues that the extensive…

Nora Jaffary, "Reproduction and its Discontents in Mexico: Childbirth and Contraception from 1750 to 1905" (UNC Press, 2016)

September 26, 2019

Reproduction and its Discontents in Mexico

Nora Jaffary

Nora Jaffary’s Reproduction and its Discontents in Mexico: Childbirth and Contraception from 1750 to 1905 (University of North Carolina Press. 2016), …

Claudia Leal, "Landscapes of Freedom: Building a Postemancipation Society in the Rainforests of Western Colombia" (U Arizona Press, 2018)

September 23, 2019

Landscapes of Freedom

Claudia Leal

Claudia Leal’s Landscapes of Freedom: Building a Postemancipation Society in the Rainforests of Western Colombia (University of Arizona Press, 2018), …

Bianca Premo, "The Enlightenment on Trial: Ordinary Litigants and Colonialism in the Spanish Empire" (Oxford UP, 2017)

September 2, 2019

The Enlightenment on Trial

Bianca Premo

Bianca Premo’s award-winning book The Enlightenment on Trial: Ordinary Litigants and Colonialism in the Spanish Empire, published by Oxford University…

Lina del Castillo, "Crafting a Republic for the World: Scientific, Geographic and Historiographic Inventions of Colombia" (U Nebraska Press, 2018)

July 9, 2019

Crafting a Republic for the World

Lina del Castillo

Lina del Castillo’s book explores scientific, geographic, and historiographic inventions in nineteenth-century Colombia. In this fascinating book, wel…