Research output per year
Research output per year
United Kingdom
Accepting PhD Students
PhD projects
Projects that relate broadly to my areas of expertise, as detailed on this webpage.
My research and teaching focus on literature produced in Spanish and four indigenous languages of Latin America: Yucatec Maya, Nahuatl and both Central and Southern Quechua, spoken in Mexico, Peru and Bolivia, respectively. I combine Literary Studies, Linguistics, Anthropology and Philosophy to explore how indigenous literatures engage with questions of cultural memory and biocultural heritage. I use methods and theories from the Environmental Humanities (particularly ecocriticism) to forge links between the Humanities and Sciences.
I am Lecturer in Hispanic Studies at University of Strathclyde, Quondam Fellow of Hughes Hall (University of Cambridge) and Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.
Before joining University of Strathclyde, I was Associate Professor of Literature and Humanities at Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP) in Mexico, where I founded a new series of bilingual indigenous literature published by UDLAP. I now co-edit the series with Martín Tonalmeyotl and Martín Sánchez Camargo: http://blog.udlap.mx/blog/2020/09/udlap-presento-los-primeros-libros-de-la-serie-bilingue-literatura-en-lenguas-originarias/
Previously, I held a three-year Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at Centre of Latin American Studies, University of Cambridge, and a Research Fellowship at Hughes Hall, during which time I spoke with over thirty Maya authors in Mexico as part of the research for my monograph, Writing the Land, Writing Humanity: The Maya Literary Renaissance https://www.routledge.com/Writing-the-Land-Writing-Humanity-The-Maya-Literary-Renaissance/Pigott/p/book/9780367473525#. During the Fellowship, I spent two months learning the Southern Quechua language in Cuzco, Peru, and another two months learning Nahuatl in Puebla, Mexico. These were the official languages of the Incan and Aztec Empires, and are spoken by millions today.
Prior to my position in Cambridge, I spent a year learning Yucatec Maya at the Autonomous University of Yucatán, funded by a Mexican Government Postdoctoral Fellowship, and held a concurrent Research Associateship at the Zoology Department, University of Oxford. My PhD (University of London, 2013), funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council (UK), involved spending a year in the Peruvian Andes, during which time I learned the Central Quechua language and documented bilingual folksongs composed in Spanish and Quechua. My thesis engaged the folksongs in dialogue with the philosophical perspectives of Derrida, Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty, to explore the extent to which the concept of “identity” is applicable in the Andean cultural context.
Indigenous Studies (particularly in Mexico, Peru and Bolivia)
Cultural memory (especially biocultural heritage)
Environmental Humanities (particularly ecocriticism)
Intercultural Philosophy
Interface between Literary Studies, Linguistics and Anthropology
Indigenous languages and literatures of Mexico, Peru and Bolivia
Cultural memory and biocultural heritage in indigenous cultures of Mexico, Peru and Bolivia
Indigenous philosophies of Latin America
Languages: Spanish; French; German; Portuguese; Yucatec Maya; Nahuatl; Central Quechua; Southern Quechua; some Catalan and Italian
I am the class coordinator for the Honours classes "Shaping Spain: Ideas, Belief and Identity" (R4449), "Political and Social Crisis in Contemporary Hispanic Cinema" (R4402), and the second-year course "Independence and Isolation in Spain and Latin America" (R4200). I have also introduced a new undergraduate course, "Latin America through Indigenous Eyes".
I am delighted to accept PhD students in any of my areas of expertise.
Fellow of Higher Education Academy
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
Doctor of Philosophy, Voices of the Mountains: Language and Identity in Andean Songs, SOAS - University of London
1 Oct 2009 → 30 Sept 2013
Award Date: 30 Sept 2013
Master of Arts, Language Documentation and Description, SOAS - University of London
1 Oct 2008 → 30 Sept 2009
Award Date: 1 Dec 2009
Bachelor of Arts, Anthropology and Hispanic Studies, University of Glasgow
31 Oct 2002 → 28 Jun 2007
Award Date: 28 Jun 2007
Research Associate, University of Cambridge, Centre of Latin American Studies
12 Nov 2020 → …
Quondam Fellow, Hughes Hall (University of Cambridge)
27 Jun 2018 → …
Pigott, C. (Principal Investigator) & Richardson, E. (Principal Investigator)
Project: Research
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
Pigott, C. (Recipient), 2022
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
Reina-Gil, V. (Contributor) & Pigott, C. (Invited speaker)
Activity: Talk or presentation types › Oral presentation
Pigott, C. (Participant)
Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in workshop, seminar, course