| Maylawi Herbas | |
 | Maylawi Herbas holds a Bachelor's and a Master’s degree in Archaeology and Egyptology from the Universities of Basel and Bern. She has worked at various museums in Switzerland as a provenance researcher and research assistant, conducting archival and qualitative research on the circulation of Latin American antiquities in Swiss collections. Additionally, she obtained a Certificate of Advanced Studies (CAS) in Provenance Research from the University of Neuchâtel. She is currently a research assistant at the Centro Latinoamericano-Suizo (CLS) at the University of St. Gallen (HSG), working with Prof. Dr. Matías Dewey. Her research lies at the intersection of sociology, heritage studies, and decolonial theory, examining how moral economies, discursive frameworks, and institutional practices have shaped legitimacy and value in contested cultural exchanges. Her PhD project, “Justifying the Past, Projecting the Future: (Il)legal Trade of Antiquities and Cultural Objects from Latin America”, investigates how actors such as collectors, curators, and institutions historically constructed antiquities markets, not merely through demand, but through justificatory narratives, archival discourse, and colonial power relations. Drawing on archival materials in museums such as letters, inventories, and receipts from Swiss institutions (18th–20th centuries), her project analyzes how legal ambiguity, future-oriented imaginaries, and regimes of justification facilitated market formation. It contributes to a decolonial sociology of (il)legality and cultural value, and aims to deepen current debates on provenance, institutional responsibility, and restitution. maylawi.herbas@unisg.ch |
| Alvaro Pastor | |
 | Alvaro Pastor holds a BA in Sociology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and a Master’s in Science in Sustainable Development from KU Leuven (Belgium). He has worked as a research assistant for the Peruvian Anti-Drug State Agency and on academic projects on the topic of coca-cocaine production and drug policy in Peru. As a result, he has participated as a co-author in academic papers in top-ranking journals, such as World Development and the Journal of Peasant Studies, as well as in international workshops. Currently, he is a research assistant and PhD student at Centro Latino-americano Suizo at the University of St. Gallen. His PhD research, “Unpacking South America’s Emerging Synthetic Drug Markets”, focuses on the factors that explain the emergence of synthetic drug markets in South America, and how they are differentially embedded in contexts that vary in institutional capacity and economic development. Based on a qualitative analysis of judicial cases, interviews and enforcement data, his project argues that the emergence of these illegal markets can only be understood by analysing the “gray zone,” that is, the interfaces between legal and illegal exchanges that sustain them. The project suggests that South American synthetic drug markets emerge in articulation with global and local industries, weak regulatory regimes, and evolving consumption cultures. By foregrounding these legal–illegal interfaces, the paper adds nuances of how the global drug trade is embedded in contexts that vary in institutional capacity and economic development, and calls for a rethinking of organised crime and drug policy in South America. |