Research Interests
Many things interest me in the area of traditional culture. I came upon my academic focus, Mexican culture, through a natural chain of events. I had been a K-12 teacher in Boston during the years of court-ordered desegregation from 1976-79 and was looking to expand into museum work. I went to Mexico to gain a Licentiate in the Interamerican program in Museografía at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (1981) and was blown away by Mexican culture and aesthetics. I returned, determined to deepen my understanding and ultimately got a PhD in Folklore and Folklife with a specialty in Mexican traditions (1994). My dissertation concerned the dance drama of the Santiagueros, a Moors and Christians performance in the village of Santa Ana Tlacotenco in Milpa Alta, a rural delegation of Mexico City. My advisor was Roger D. Abrahams at the University of Pennsylvania.
At the same time, I am also interested in culture and performance closer to home. My master’s work, supervised by Barbara Kirschenblatt-Gimblett, Performance Studies, New York University focused on emergent forms of expressive culture (1985). My master’s thesis, was on themed entertainment and in specific, a downtown Manhattan nightclub, Area.
My own Eastern European heritage has been a pervasive interest, especially in terms of material culture and issues of gender. My teaching at Klezkanada has contextualized many of my interests, as has my work as Project Scholar for Soul Songs: Inspiring Women of Klezmer, for the Phildelphia Folklore Project.
Teaching
Since getting my degrees I have taught at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Texas at Austin and Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Courses have included: Family Folklore, Folk Religion of Latin America and the Caribbean, Ethnography of Mexico, Folklore of Women, and the Jewish-American Experience.
I have been visiting scholar at the University of Texas at the Mexican Center, the Latin American Institute and (currently) the Schusterman Center for Jewish Studies.
