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Chair: Dr. Arsalan Khan

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Breanna Piercy was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee. She graduated from Vassar College in 2021 with her BA in Anthropology with a concentration in archaeology. After graduating, she received the Huayu Enrichment Scholarship, allowing her to live in Taipei, Taiwan and study Mandarin. She lived in Taiwan for three years and became fascinated with the study of tourism. She is now pursuing an MA in cultural anthropology to explore tourism and its impact on local communities, particularly in Latin America.