PhD Candidate
Dissertation Title: Voicing the Maya: Media Technologies & Politics of Ethnolinguistic Identity in Yucatan
The basic problems animating my work concern the role of language in the making of groups and social difference in contexts of indigenous language “revitalization.” My dissertation investigates several social and political projects as they bear on the identities and communicative practices of Yucatec Maya speakers in Yucatán, Mexico. These projects include language promotion and standardization, indigenous advocacy, community radio, and state-sponsored valorizations of Maya culture. I have conducted field research in Yucatec Maya and K’iche’ Maya communities, in the Yucatán and in highland Guatemala, respectively. My teaching experience includes lecturing in the College’s Social Sciences Core and serving as a teaching assistant.