Brenda S. Banks Travel Award: Adriana Guandinango

Adriana Guandinango, archivist and librarian at the Intercultural University of Indigenous Nationalities and Peoples Amawtay Wasi (UINPIAW) in Quito, Ecuador, is the 2025 recipient of the Brenda S. Banks Travel Award given by the Society of American Archivists (SAA). Created in 2017, the award honors SAA Fellow and Past President Brenda S. Banks, who co-founded the SAA Archivists and Archives of Color Section. The award, which recognizes individuals of color who are employed in archives and show interest in becoming active members of SAA, provides attendance to the SAA Annual Meeting, as well as a complimentary one-year membership in SAA.

A graduate of universities in Ecuador, Argentina, and Mexico, Guandinango holds a diploma and degree in library science and a master's degree in document management and archives. At Amawtay Wasi University, she created the library, documentation center, and archives, a unique space that preserves and integrates ancestral Indigenous knowledge in the academic and community spheres. Her duties there include acquisitions, outreach, reference, arrangement, description, and coordinating national standards initiatives. She is currently leading a project to catalog and digitize materials related to the oral history of Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities in Ecuador, ensuring that their stories are accessible and represented with dignity.

In 2024, Guandinango was selected as Ecuador's representative in the IBEREX Spain program, in recognition of her leadership in implementing international best practices. She has also represented her institution at the Centre for the Study of the Economy (CES), the Presidency of the Republic, and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) World Library and Information Congress conference in Ohio, Mexico, and Panama. She is a member of the Association of University Archives and the Association of Archives of Ecuador.

In her essay, Guandinango wrote: “As a mestiza committed to the integration of the Indigenous worldview and ancestral knowledge, I have dedicated eighteen years to archiving in Ecuador, leading innovative projects that preserve ancestral knowledge in the academic environment. The Brenda S. Banks Travel Award represents an invaluable opportunity to advance my career as an archivist committed to documenting and preserving the histories of Indigenous, Afro-descendant, Montubio, and Amazonian communities in my country, and to amplify my impact in promoting diversity, inclusion, and social justice in archives.”