Rausch honored by Colombian city for cultural contributions

History professor Jane Rausch was recently awarded the Order of the City of Villavicencio, Colombia (Gold Category) for her contributions to the culture of the city through historical research.

Since 1973, Rausch has been studying the history of Villavicencio and the surrounding plains, an area of tropical grasslands known as the Llanos. In that time she has published four books, including “From Frontier Town to Metropolis: A History of Villavicencio, Colombia since 1842,” published this year.

Rausch presented two lectures on her latest work at a conference at the Universidad de los Llanos in June. “It was my first trip to Villavicencio in 15 years due to the general violence that has engulfed the town, but it was an exciting and colorful place to be,” says Rausch. “I learned a tremendous amount from the local people about the history of the region.”

The award was presented at the conference by the mayor of Villavicencio. “The occasion was truly the highlight of my long career as a student of Colombian history,” says Rausch.

Rausch made her first trip to Colombia in 1964 while a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin and started researching the history of the Llanos in 1973. Additional books by Rausch include “A Tropical Plains Frontier: The Llanos of Colombia, 1531-1831” (1984), “The Llanos Frontier in Colombian History, 1830-1930” (1993) and “Colombia: Territorial Rule and the Llanos Frontier” (1999).

July 12, 2007.

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