Received Sylff fellowship in 2022
Academic supervisor : Vasiliki Kravva
Current affiliation: Democritus University of Thrace
Education
2021 – 2024: Master’s Degree in Social Anthropology, University of Oslo. Specialization in qualitative research methods and ethnographyin practice, with a focus on economic anthropology.
Thesis: “Siempre trabajamos: precarity, reciprocity and labour in Pisac, Peru” (based on fieldwork in Peru)
2020: Online Seminar: “Cultural Competence – Aboriginal Sydney”, University of Sydney
2015 – 2021: BA in History and Ethnology, Democritus University of Thrace, Specialization in Ethnology. Thesis: “Street Art and the Art of the Street: Performativity, Appropriations and Transitions” Internships & Studies Abroad
April – September 2019: Erasmus Program, Department of African Studies. Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.
March 2018: Internship at the Papanikolaou Foundation, Komotini Worked on archiving and preservation of exhibition objects
Work Experience
2025 – Present: Kindergarten Teacher, in Norway – teaching preschool children.
2025 – Present: Greek Language Tutor– private lessons May 2025: Exam Invigilator, Skedsmo videregående skole (upper secondary school)
2024 – 2025: English Teacher for volunteers from Guatemala through the organization Latin American Groups in Norway
2015 – 2020: Private tutor – teaching children in Greece. Volunteer Work
2025 – Present: Volunteer at the feminist independent bookstore Bingebok, Oslo – organizing monthly book clubs
2025 – Present: Editorial team member of the magazine Latin-American Groups in Norway (LAG)
2023 – 2025: Financial officer, Latin-American Groups in Norway (LAG Blidern)
2021 – 2022: Digitization of photographic archives at the Ski Museum, Oslo
Dec 2019 – Feb 2020: Exhibition supervisor at the 7th Biennale, MOMus – Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki
2016 – 2017: Guide at the Folklore and Historical Museum of Komotini in the educational program called "A Job from the Past (Traditional Professions)”
Languages: Greek: Native, English: C2, German: B2, Spanish: B2, Norwegian: B2, Italian: basic knowledge
Academic Achievements, Social Engagement Initiatives
Bachelor's Degree at History and Ethnology in Democritus University of Thrace, Greece
Master's Degree in Social Anthropology at University of Oslo
Brief Summary of Support Program Activities
Candidate Name: Maria Chatzouli
Title: «Siempre Trabajamos»: Precarity, Reciprocity and Labour in Pisac, Peru
AbstractThis thesis explores the working conditions and relations among
street vendors in Pisac, a village in the Peruvian Andes. For these vendors precarity is an everyday experience. How do people navigate a precarious working and living environment? What mechanisms have they developed in order to continue working and living within these parametres? The main focus of this thesis is on how these conditions are experienced by the vendors themselves. Drawing on anthropological theoretical frameworks and ethnographic methodology, the study presents the daily challenges and mechanisms of street and market vendors. I focus especially on women, mainly working mothers, and how they balance their work together with motherhood responsibilities and identities. From the perspective of Pisac, my research provides insights into the broader political and economic landascape of Peru. Predominately, the economy of Peru is characterised by informality since most businesses are not officially regulated and controlled. Over the past thirty years, numerous attempts have been made in order to regulate these activities, yet most of them have proved unsuccessful. Therefore, I also discuss how the vendors experience these formalisation initiatives and their aftereffects. My fieldwork took place in a volatile political context. At the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023, Peru was in the midst of political upheavals due to the imprisonment of President Pedro Castillo. As a consequence, the experience of precarity among vendors was reinforced, creating an even more challenging working landscape. Within this context, my research shows that reciprocity, solidarity, and commensality have a pivotal role to play inside semi-informal labour realms. The formation of unions, client networks, and other forms of favour-providing and exchanging reinforces working relations and circumstances. More precisely, food sharing and the development of intimate relationships operate as a way out of vulnerability and ambiguity.
