María Muñoz’s research led her to examine the events that led to the first national congress of indigenous peoples and the developments after the assembly.

The efforts of the National Council of Indigenous Peoples (CNPI) will be the topic of a lecture by María Muñoz at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 25, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library. Muñoz’s lecture, “The Politics of Struggle: The National Council of Indigenous Peoples (1970-1987),” is sponsored by Penn State’s Latin American Studies program, Department of History, and the Interinstitutional Center for Indigenous Knowledge.

Muñoz, an associate professor of history, associate director of the honors program, and a Winifred and Gustave Weber Fellow in humanities at Susquehanna University, will discuss how the leaders of CNPI struggled to bring to fruition a national organization that would safeguard the interests of a diverse national indigenous population within the Mexican state. Formed in 1975, the CNPI faced numerous challenges, but helped define the contours of the possible as well as the dreams for what might be.

The Penn State News article on this ICIK lecture includes more information on the topic and Muñoz.