Professor Muerte

My mission is to tell captivating stories about the past, present, and future of Día de los Muertos this. I’m driven by a desire to communicate my knowledge about this cultural tradition to a wide & diverse audience. I focus on the complex and conflicting meanings that Día de los Muertos has for individuals, families, communities, institutions, nations, and global culture writ large. I tackle current debates about Day of the Dead’s origins, cultural identity, and sociocultural function, while grappling with growing concerns about the holiday’s commercialization and appropriation.

I conduct ethnographic fieldwork in the US and Mexico to study how Day of the Dead fiestas are organized and staged. I also analyze the way that Day of the Dead’s images and iconography circulate transnationally through visual culture — film, tv, folk art, fine art, photographs, magazines, fashion, and social media. My scholarship on this holiday is complimented by my cultural practice of creating ofrendas and honoring my ancestors through ceremony & storytelling. Communing with the dead — intellectually, culturally, spiritually, artistically — has manifested several interweaving projects.