About Us

Paul E. Little is a senior program officer for the Foundation’s Andes-Amazon Initiative.

Before joining the Foundation, Paul taught in the Anthropology Department at the University of Brasilia, and has also taught at the University of Azuay and the University of Cuenca, in Ecuador. In 2000, he occupied the Elena Amos Latin American Eminent Scholar Chair for the Center for International Education at Columbus State University, Georgia. Most recently, his research has focused on the social and environmental history of Ecuadorian and Brazilian Amazonia. Paul has also studied Indigenous and mestizo societies of the Ecuadorian Andes, and has extensive knowledge of the Lakota (Sioux) peoples of the Great Plains through residence and research on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation. He has wide-ranging experience in public policy and research to support sustainable development and environmental conservation. Paul served as a voting member of the Brazilian Federal Advisory Council on Traditional Knowledge, a member of the National Steering Committee for the World Bank/Global Environmental Facility’s Small Grants Program, and a member of the Board of Directors for the International Institute of Education of Brazil. He has written and edited numerous scholarly articles and books, and has organized several events in scientific congresses. His awards include an Honorable Mention for the Roberto Cardoso de Oliveira Prize for Social Science Research from the University of Brasilia, Brazil (2006), Scholarship for Research Projects in Ecology and Society from the Brazilian Anthropological Association/Ford Foundation (1994), and a scholarship award for Doctoral Research Design from the National Association for Graduate Research in the Social Sciences (1994). Paul is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese and has a working knowledge of German, Lakota, and Quichua.

Paul holds dual Ph.D.s in Anthropology from the University of Brasilia and in Latin American Studies from the Latin American Graduate School of Social Sciences. He has a M.S. in Education from Black Hills State College in Spearfish, South Dakota, and a B.A.in Anthropology from Kalamazoo College in Michigan.