My experience as a Canning House & King's College Fellow

The Canning House and King’s College London Visiting Fellowship has awarded me an incredibly exciting, productive and inspiring opportunity to lay the foundation for my new research project ‘“Who Decides?:” The Impact of Habitat I on the Urban Poor in Latin America’ on the history of Lima’s pueblos jóvenes after the first UN housing conference (1976) and through an extremely delicate period in Peru – the 1980s. This project initially stemmed from my previous research on the history of low-income communities in Buenos Aires (villas). However, the striking differences between the two cases led to unexpected findings, and the Fellowship has been key in making me able to construct this counterpoint.

By consulting the treasure of books and documents that the Canning House Collection keeps at the Maughan Library I was able to simultaneously expand, support, and challenge my initial assumptions. The collection is vast, and the Maughan librarians exceptionally enthusiastic, knowledgeable and welcoming. In addition, as a Canning House and King’s College London Visiting Fellow I could consult other invaluable archives held by London institutions, such as the Latin American collection held at Senate House, the John F C Turner Archive held at the University of Westminster, and the British Library newspapers collections. I am grateful to both Canning House and King’s College London for their warm welcome and their support and generosity in making this project possible.