Education Specialization Courses Taught Research Grants Papers Publications

• Perspectives on Latin America
• Indigenous Peoples of Latin America – Social Movements, Rebellions and Revolutions
• The Aztecs
• The U.S.-Mexico Border
• Topics in Latin American Studies: Ethnohistorical and Archaeological Field Methods in Michoacan, Mexico.
• Colonial Documents and Indian Languages in New Spain.
• Advanced Research Methods in Latin American and Border Studies.
• Introduction to Latin American and Border Studies – The Americas.
• Political Economy of Mexico
• Anthropology of Mexico
• Continuity and Change in Latin America
• Anthropology and Public Policy: Mexico and the United States
• Metodología de Investigación en las Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Don Vasco, Uruapan, Michoacán, México.
• Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
• Introduction to Linguistics
• Qualitative Research Methods
• Studies in Colonial Spanish and Indian Language Documents

Research Grants

2005 National Geographic Committee for Research & Exploration. Principal Investigator. “Pre-Hispanic Cliff Paintings of Michoacán, México.”

2003 National Geographic Committee for Research & Exploration. Principal Investigator. “Pre-Hispanic Cliff Paintings of Michoacán, México.”

2003 The Foundation for Exploration & Research on Cultural Origins. Principal Investigator. “Iconographic Research in Michoacán, Mexico.”

2002 The Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies. Principal Investigator. “Pre-Hispanic Cliff Paintings of Michoacán.”

2002 National Endowment for the Humanities “Extending the Reach: Colonial Spanish and Purépecha Documents Media Access Project.” Principal Investigator. Authored and administered grant to train graduate students in paleographic techniques applied to Spanish colonial and Mexican national period documents.

2001 Kellogg Foundation Collaborative Learning Grant. Funding to develop and implement a class on Advanced Research Methods in Latin American and Border Studies on the U.S.-Mexico border in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico and El Paso, Texas, United States. Awarded “Outstanding Faculty” for this project.

2000 Ford Foundation Small Grant. Award for research on the ethnohistory of the Tarascan people of Michoacán, México.

 

Papers

2006 “ Being Interdisciplinary: Getting Students Beyond their Undergraduate Majors,” Co-Presenter with Elizabeth Mahan. Latin American Studies Association Meeting. San Juan , Puerto Rico .

2006 Symposium Co-Organizer and Presenter. “Archaic to Postclassic in the Shadow of Paricutin, Michoacán , Mexico : New Interdisciplinary Research Collaborating with a Purépecha Community.” Society for American Archaeology Annual Meeting. San Juan , Puerto Rico .

2002 “Paperless People: Deportation, Cultural Capital and Crisis in Ciudad Juárez,” with María Eugenia Hernández Sánchez, The Association of Borderlands Studies, Albuquerque, New Mexico .

2001 "Text and Context: Tarascan Authors in the Transition to Spanish Colonialism," American Anthropological Association (AAA) Annual Meeting, Washington , DC . Session Co-Chair "Revising Tarascan Studies: Archaeological and Ethnohistorical Challenges for Late Post-Classic and Early Colonial Research."

2001 "The Geography of the Early Colonial Tarascan Body: The Ethnohistorical Context of Terminology in the Tarascan-Spanish Lexicon (El Diccionario Grande de Mechuacan), " American Society for Ethnohistory, Annual Meeting, University of Arizona , Tucson , AZ., October, 2001.

2001 "Power and Language in Michoacán: Purépecha Writers and Resistance in the Early Colonial Period," Latin American Studies Association (LASA) 2001 Congress, September, Washington , DC . Session Chair and Presenter for "The Encounter of the Colonial World with Indigenous and African Knowledge Systems and Intellectuals."

2000 "Anthropological Approaches To Archaeological Research: The Struggle For Local Control Over Cultural Heritage In Purépecha Communities Of Michoacán, México," Paper presented with Narcizo Guerrero Murillo at the AAA Meeting, San Francisco, CA, November.

1997 "The Heart of the Oak: Tarascan Symbolism and Medical Practice during the Early Colonial Period," Paper presented at the 1997 Annual Northwest Anthropological Conference, Central Washington University , April 17, 1997.

1996 "The Geography of Purépecha Belief: The Body in 16th Century Michoacán, México," Paper presented to the Faculty of Central Washington University, Natural Science Seminar, May 17, 1996, Ellensburg, WA.

1993 "La Herencia del Pueblo: El Pindecuario del Hospital de San Juan Parangaricutiro," Paper presented at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Conference, Uruapan , Michoacán, México. February 26th.

1993 "El Carari: La Historia del Hospital de San Juan Parangaricutiro, desde la Perspectiva Purépecha," Paper presented at the Casa de la Cultura, Uruapan , Michoacán, México. February 17 th .

1992 "The Body and the Blood: Ethnic Expression in a 17th Century Purépecha Hospital ," Paper presented at the Annual American Anthropological Association National Meeting, San Francisco , CA .

1989 "Basta!: The Formation of a Political Base in a Rural Area of Michoacán, México," Paper presented at the 1989 Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

 

Publications

Manuscript in preparation Behind the Scenes in Mechuaca: Purépecha Scribes and the Transition to Colonial Rule .

Manuscript in preparation El Pindecuario de Parangaricutiro , Michoacán, Mexico – A Tarascan Chronology.

1999 Work cited in Guerrero Murillo, Narcizo
The Indian Community of the 21st Century: Sustainable Forest Management in the Tarascan Community of Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro, Michoacán, México . Master's Thesis in Natural Resource Management. Central Washington University , Ellensburg , WA.

1999 Deciphering the Symbolic Heritage of the Tarascan Empire: Interpreting the Political Economy of the Pueblo-Hospital of Parangaricutiro, Michoacán . Doctoral Dissertation.

1993 Work cited in Luhr, James F. and Simkin, Tom (editors)
Parícutin: The Volcano Born in a Mexican Cornfield . Geoscience Press, Inc.: Phoenix , AZ.

1985 "Urban Gardening, Nutrition, and Community Empowerment, " November, 1985 , World Hunger Education Service , Washington , DC .

1982 "World Food Security," February, 1982, Bread for the World Issue Paper , Washington , DC.