Dr. Brent E. Metz CV


Curriculum Vitae

Department of Anthropology
University of Kansas (KU)
Lawrence, KS  66045

 

 

 

 

Tel. 785-864-2631

Email: bmetz@ku.edu

Education

Ph.D.  Anthropology.  SUNY-Albany.  Dissertation Title: “Experiencing Conquest: The Political and Economic Roots and Cultural Expression of Maya-Chortí Ethos.” Co-Chairs: Robert Carmack and Gary Gossen.  Committee members: Liliana Goldin and John Watanabe, 1995.  

M.A.  Anthropology.  University of Michigan.  Advisor: Conrad Kottack, 1989.

B.A.  Magna cum laude (3.8 GPA), Spanish and Anthropology. Western Michigan University Honors College, 1986.

Academic Employment/Teaching Experience

2016-pres.  Associate Chair, Department of Anthropology, KU.

2011-pres.  Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, KU.

2015-16   Acting Director, Center of Latin American & Caribbean Studies, KU.

2005-11 Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, KU.

2001-05   Associate Director, KU Center of Latin American Studies.   Duties: Taught 3 courses/yr, graduate advising, program development, institutional grant writing, outreach coordination.

1998-00   Dean’s Appointment Professor (full-time, non-tenure track), Temple U., Department of Anthropology.

1996-98 Visiting Full-time Professor, Grinnell College, Department of Anthropology.  

1995-96 Visiting Full-time Professor, Central Connecticut State University, Dept. of Anthropology.

     1995       Full-time Lecturer, Western Michigan University, Department of Anthropology.

1989-94 Teaching Assistant, SUNY-Albany, Department of Anthropology.

1986-89   Graduate Assistant, U-Michigan, Dept. of Anthropology & English Composition Board.         

Applied Employment/Consulting/Board of Directors

Engineers Without Borders-Sunflower State Professional Chapter, founding member since 2011.

Wuqu’ Kawoq, Guatemalan Maya Medical NGO, Board of Directors, 2009-present.

Centro Hispano/Hispanic Center, Lawrence, Kansas.  Founding member 2005, Board of Directors 2007-2012.  

PROCH'ORTI' (Ch'orti' Integrated Development Project, Guatemala & Honduras), funded by the Austrian Cooperation, Oxfam, and Ford Foundation, 2000-03.

PROZACHI (Rural Development Project for Small Producers in Eastern Guatemala), funded by Netherlands and UN-IFAD, 1991-93. 

 Legal Assistant/Researcher, Michigan Migrant Legal Assistance Project.  Duties: Survey research, outreach to Latino migrant farm workers, and case negotiation, 5 summers, 1987-91.

Publications

Books

Under external review.   Where Have the Eastern Mayas Gone?  The Labyrinth of Ch’orti’ Indigeneity and Mestizaje in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.  (105,000 words) Submitted to U. Press of Colorado and U. New Mexico Press.  

2006 Ch'orti'-Maya Survival in Eastern Guatemala: Indigeneity in Transition.  Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. (346 pp.)

2002 with Julián López, Primero Dios: Etnografía y cambio social entre los mayas  ch’orti’s del oriente de Guatemala [God Willing: Ethnography and Social Change among the Ch’orti’ Maya of Eastern Guatemala].  Guatemala: FLACSO, Plumsock, Oxfam, COMACH, & Horizont 3000.  (279 pp.)

Edited Volume

2009  1st editor, Cameron L. McNeil and Kerry M. Hull co-editors.  The Ch’orti’ Maya Area, Past and Present.  University Press of Florida. (25 contributors from 6 disciplines, 20 chapters).

Peer Reviewed Articles

2017 with Jodi Gentry, “Adapting Photovoice to the Marginal Indigenous Ch’orti’ Maya.”  Human Organization76(3):251-63. 

2016  “The Challenge of Framing Migration for the Public.”  Practicing Anthropology 38(1):48-50.

2012  “El laberinto de la indigenidad: Cómo se determina quién es indígena maya ch’orti’ en Guatemala, Honduras y El Salvador.”  Reflexiones 91(1): 221-234. 

2010  “Questions of Indigeneity and the (Re)-Emergent Ch’orti’ Maya of Honduras.” Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology 15(2):289-316. 

2010 co-authored with Lorenzo Mariano and Julián López García. “The Violence after La Violencia in the Ch’orti’ Region of Eastern Guatemala.” Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology 15(1):16-41. 

2001 "Politics, Population, and Family Planning in Guatemala: Ch’orti’ Maya Experiences." Human Organization60(3):259-274.

1998  “Without Nation, Without Community: The Growth of Maya Nationalism among Ch’orti’s of Eastern Guatemala.”  Journal of Anthropological Research 54(3):325-349.

1991 with Liliana Goldin.  “An Expression of Cultural Change: Invisible Converts to Protestantism among the Highland Guatemalan Mayas.”  Ethnology 30(4):325-338. 

1990  “The Dynamics of Culture and Law: Anglo Domination of Mexican Migrants in Michigan.”  Michigan Sociological Review 4:33-45.

Book Chapters

Under Review  “Causes of Migration to and from the Ch’orti’ Maya Area of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.”  In: Human Migration: Biocultural Perspectives, edited by Dr. Maria de Lourdes Muñoz Moreno and Michael C. Crawford.  University of Oxford Press, USA.

2016  “An Ambivalent Nation: Chortís in Eastern Guatemala and Western Honduras.”  Pp.193-207 in Modern Wilderness: Mobility, Friction, and Frontiers in Asia and the Americas from 1800, edited by Jaime Moreno Tejada and Bradley Tatar.  New York: Routledge.

2015  1st author with Alfredo Francesch. “Llamas de inseguridad en el oriente de Guatemala: Megaproyectos y la quema de la municipalidad de Jocotán” [The Flames of Insecurity in Eastern Guatemala: Megaprojects and the Burning of Jocotán’s City Hall.]  Pp.247-69 in Dinosaurio reloaded: Violencias actuales en Guatemala [Dinosaur Reloaded: Contemporary Violence in Guatemala], Manuela Camus, Santiago Bastos, & Julián López, eds.  FLACSO (Facultad Latinoamericano de Ciencas Sociales) & Universidad de Córdoba.

2014 with Meghan Webb, “Historical Sediments of Competing Gender Models in Indigenous Guatemala.”  Pp.193-211 in Masculinities in a Global Era, Joseph Gelfer, ed.  Springer Press.  

2009   “Las ‘ruinas’ olvidadas en el área ch’orti’: Apuntes para una historia de la violencia en el oriente de Guatemala.” Pp.65-92 in Guatemala: Violencias Desbordadas, Julián López García, Santiago Bastos, & Manuela Camus, eds.  Córdoba, Spain: FLACSO (Facultad Latinoamericano de Ciencas Sociales) and Universidad de Córdoba.

2009  “The ‘Ch’orti’ Area’.”  Pp.1-14 in The Ch’orti’ Maya Area, Past and Present.  Brent E. Metz, Cameron L. McNeil, and Kerry M. Hull, eds.  Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

2009  “Searching for Ch’orti’ Maya Indigenousness in Contemporary Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.”  Pp.161-73 in The Ch’orti’ Maya Area, Past and Present.  Brent E. Metz, Cameron L. McNeil, and Kerry M. Hull, eds.  University Press of Florida.

2007 “De la cosmovision a la herencia: La mayanizacion y los bases cambiantes de la etnia en el area ch’orti’” [From Cosmovisión to Ancestry: Mayanization and the Changing Bases of Ethnicity in the Ch’orti’ Area].  Pp.445-467 del in Mayanización y vida cotidiana: La ideología y el discurso cultural en la sociedad guatemalteca. Volumen 2: Estudios de caso.[Mayanization and Daily Life: Ideology and Cultural Discourse in Guatemalan Society]. Santiago Bastos and Aura Cumes, eds.  Guatemala: FLACSO.

2003  “Expresion de cambio cultural: Conversos invisibles al protestantismo entre mayas del altiplano occidental” [An Expression of Cultural Change: Invisible Converts to Protestantism among Highland Mayas].  Pp. 61-85 in Procesos Globales en el Campo de Guatemala. Opciones Economicas y Transformaciones Ideologicas [Global Processes in Rural Guatemala: Economic Options and Ideological Transformations]. Liliana Goldin, ed.  Guatemala: FLACSO.

2001  “Grounding the Culture Concept, or Pulling the Rug Out from under Students.” Pp.181-185 in Strategies in Teaching Anthropology 2nd Ed.  Patricia C. Rice and David W. McCurdy, eds.  Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. 

2001  “The Politics of Guatemalan 'Overpopulation' Through the Ch'orti' Case.”  Pp. 141-154 in The Past and Present Maya: Essays in Honor of Robert M. Carmack, John M. Weeks, ed.  Lancaster, CA: Labyrinthos.

2001  “Investigación y colaboración en el movimiento maya-ch'orti'.” [Investigation and Collaboration in Ch’orti’-Maya Movement].  Pp. 311-340 in Los derechos humanos en tierras mayas: Politica, representaciones y moralidad [Human Rights in the Maya Lands: Politics, Representation, and Morality]. Pedro Pitarch and Julián López, eds.  Madrid: Sociedad Española de Estudios Mayas.  

1997 with Liliana Goldin, “Invisible Converts to Protestantism in Highland Guatemala.”  Pp. 61-80 in Crosscurrents in Indigenous Spirituality: Interface of Maya, Catholic and Protestant Worldviews. Guillermo Cook, ed.  Leiden: E.J. Brill.  

Conference Proceedings

2013 with Jodi Gentry.  “Community-Based Participatory Approaches for Addressing the Social, Environmental, and Cultural Challenges of Development.” Pp.1441-1453 in World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2013.  doi: 10.1061/9780784412947.142

2007 “¿Quiénes son los ch’orti’s?  Una exploración de los márgenes de la identidad maya.”  pp.84-104 en Memorias del III Congreso Internacional sobre el Pop Wuj.”  Quezaltenango: Liga Maya Guatemala, TIMACH, & Grupo Amanuense.

Non-refereed Articles

2008 “Postcard from Guatemala.” Anthropology Newsletter 49(1):28-29.  

2001 "Mayas of the East: Identity, Security, and Cultural Activism among the Ch´orti´s." Report on Guatemala, National Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA) 22(1):54-59.

Book Reviews

2012   Becoming Mapuche: Person and Ritual in Indigenous Chile, by Magnus Course. University of Illinois Press, Champaign, 2011.  American Ethnologist 39(4):863-4.   

2004   The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy, Arturo Arias, ed. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, 2001.  American Ethnologist 31(2):2006-7. 

2002   Mayan People within and beyond Boundaries: Social Categories and Lived Identity in Yucatán, by Peter Hervik. Harwood Academic Publications, Amsterdam, 1999.  Anthropological Forum 10(1):77+. 

Commentaries

2016  with Kirsten Austad, Anita Chary, Alejandra Colom, Rodrigo Barillas, Danessa Luna, Cecilia Menívar, Amy Petrocy, Anne Ruch, and Peter Rohloff.  “Fertility Awareness Methods Are Not Modern Contraceptives: Defining Contraception to Reflect Our Priorities.”  Global Health: Science and Practice 4(2):342-45.

2012  McAnany, Patricia A., and Shoshaunna Parks. “Casualties of Heritage Distancing: Children, Ch’orti’ Indigeneity, and the Copán Archaeoscape.” Current Anthropology 53(1):80-107. Commentary pp.96-97. 

 Photo

Ch’orti’ Mayas carrying sacks of coffee to be weighed on a plantation.  P. 8 in Michael Laslett, 2001, “A Bitter Taste: Struggling for a Just Minimum.”  NACLA Report on the Americas 34(6):8-11.

Individual Scholarships, Grants, Awards, and Honors 

KU International Studies George Woodyard International Educator Award, 2017.  $1,000.

KU International Studies Travel Grant for book research and applied anthropology for Engineers Without Borders, June 2017.  $1,660.

KU Department of Anthropology “Unbridled Award” for outstanding contribution to undergraduate teaching and advising.  

KU Center for Civic and Social Responsibility “Minigrant” Award for groundwork in organizing multidisciplinary applied field school in Guatemala for January 2015.  $500.

KU Commons Seed Grant, with Belinda Sturm (engineering), Natalie Mladenov (engineering), Jodi Gentry (engineering), Aida Ramos Viera (geography), and Hispano Durón (film).  “Combining Engineering, Public Health, Anthropological, Geographic, and Film Knowledge for Sustainable Development among the Ch’orti’ Maya of Guatemala.”  $25,000.  May 2013 – May 2014.

KU Center of Latin American Studies “Cluster Grant”, with Jodi Gentry, Belinda Sturm, and Peter Herlihy.  . $5,000, May 2012 – May 2013.

KU Hall Center for the Humanities Faculty Fellowship, for writing a book on Ch’orti’ Maya indigeneity in Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras.  January – May, 2011.  

KU Center of Latin American Studies Course Development Grants (2) Fall 2010 for “Indigenous Development in Latin America” & Spring 2011 “Applied Anthropology Field School in Copán Ruinas, Honduras”

Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars “Outstanding Faculty Award.”  April 17, 2011.

KU Office of International Programs, Internationalizing the Curriculum Grant, 2010: Developing “Indigenous Development in Latin America”, $800.

KU Center for Teaching Excellence.  Outstanding Educator Award.  May 6, 2009.  

KU General Research Fund, 2009: “An Oral History of the Guatemala Civil War in the Forgotten Oriente”, $1,144.

KU General Research Fund, 2007: “Review of Ethnographic Notes on the Ch’orti’ Maya at the Smithsonian Institution”, $2880.

KU Office of International Programs, Internationalizing the Curriculum Grant, 2007: Developing “Masculinity in Cross-Cultural Perspective”, $800.  

KU Center for Teaching Excellence Course Improvement Grant, 2007:  Developing service learning component of “Mexamerica”, $750.

KU New Faculty General Research Fund, 2006: “Reformulating Indigeneity in Latin America: The Ch’orti’ Maya Case”, $8,000.

Fulbright-Hays Faculty Research Abroad, 2003-04: “Out of the Shadows: The Death and Rebirth of the Ch'orti' Maya,” $30,610.  Six-month ethnography in Guatemala, Honduras, & El Salvador.

Fulbright Scholar Award, 2003: “Remembering Indigenous Ethnicity in Northwestern El Salvador, ” $18,000.  Included field research on indigenous identity and teaching a graduate course on ethnographic methods and a field school at Universidad de Centroamérica and Universidad Tecnológica.  Declined for Fulbright-Hays.

Grinnell College Grant Board, 1997: “The Effectiveness of Pan-Maya Cultural Development in Eastern Guatemala,” $1,400.

SUNY Benevolent Grant, 1994: “The Influence of Catholic and Protestant Religions and Pan-Maya Organizations on Maya-Chortí Political Economy,” $500.

SUNY Institute of Mesoamerican Studies Christopher Decormier Scholarship, 1991: “Political Economy and Worldview in Mesoamerica: The Maya-Chortí case,” $1,400.

SUNY Benevolent Grant, 1991: “Training in Maya-Chortí at the Proyecto Linguístico Francisco Marroquín, Guatemala,” $500.

SUNY Benevolent Grant, 1990: “Ethnographic Survey of Eastern Guatemala, Southern Belize, and Western Honduras,” $500.  

Western Michigan U. Waldo-Sangren Scholarship, 1985: “Religious Fiestas of Seville, Spain,” $1,000.

State of Michigan Competitive Scholarship, 1982-1986.

Western Michigan University Academic Scholarship, 1982-1986.

Leadership of Group Study Abroad 

July 29 – August 11, 2018   KU Multidisciplinary Field School in Partnership with the Ch’orti’ Maya of

El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras.  Ecotourism analysis, web and social media design, visited 8 development projects in Guatemala, carried out a cultural fair with prizes for traditional activities in Honduras.  5 undergraduates from 5 disciplines, 2 MA students from different disciplines, 1 GTA in cultural anthropology.

January 3-17, 2016  KU Multidisciplinary Field School in Partnership with the Ch’orti’ Maya of El Salvador and Guatemala.  Ecotourism analysis, web and social media design, carried out a cultural fair with prizes for traditional activities.  10 undergraduates representing 13 different disciplines, 1 MA student in Latin American Studies, 1 GTA in cultural anthropology.

January 6-20, 2013  KU Multidisciplinary Field School in Partnership with the Ch’orti’ Maya of Guatemala.  Community survey and water testing for E Coli.  6 undergraduates from 4 disciplines, 1 GTA in environmental engineering.

January 3-17, 2011  KU Multidisciplinary Field School in Partnership with the Ch’orti’ Maya of Honduras.  Historical research, webpage design, marketing analysis for crafts, rural water testing for E Coli contamination.  6 graduates, 9 undergraduates from 7 disciplines.

May 31 – July 10, 2006  Fulbright Group Study Abroad/KU CLAS: “Guatemala Seminar on Multiculturalism and Bilingual Education for K-12 and Community College Teachers”.  $52,000. Led 14 Kansas schoolteachers and directed 2 Maya assistants in an educational tour with 32 speakers and events in Guatemala and Honduras.

Successful Institutional Grant Writing, U-Kansas Center of Latin American Studies 

Fulbright Group Study Abroad, 2004: “Guatemala Seminar on Multiculturalism and Bilingual Education for K-12 and Community College Teachers”, $52,000.

Department of Education Title VI grant for National Resource Center/FLAS, 2003-06, $750,000.         

Fulbright Group Study Abroad, 2002:  “Argentine Seminar on Childhood for K-12 and Community College Teachers,” $53,315.  

Fulbright Group Study Abroad, 2001: “Costa Rican Seminar on Childhood for K-8 Teachers and Education Faculty,” $55,110.

Extended Fieldwork Experience
Research languages: Spanish, Ch’orti’-Maya  

Designing a Sustainable Water System for Matazano, Jocotán, Guatemala.  Methods: Survey, Photovoice, water sampling, community governance.  8x1-3 week trips from 2011-2015.  

Political economy, identity, and experience among the Ch’orti’-Maya, eastern Guatemala and western Honduras. Methods: film, 160+ taped interviews; 445 home surveys; participant-observation; archival research.  1991-present (annually), including 22 months in 1991-1993 and 6 in 2003-04.

Agrochemical use among Costa Rican farmers.  Methods: standardized interviews, June 1996.

Legal and survey research of Mexican-American farm workers for the Michigan Migrant Legal Assistance Project, Inc, Grand Rapids, summers 1987-91.  Methods: surveys, interviews.

Religious fiestas of Seville, Spain. Methods: Bibliographic research, interviews of 56 religious brotherhood (cofradía) leaders, and participant-observation, January-June 1986.

Potato production decision-making among small producers, Quezaltenango Basin, Guatemala.  Methods: market research, December-January 1984-85.

Panels – Organizer, Chair, and/or Discussant

“Resource Extraction and Economic Recovery: Structures and Methods.”  Society for Applied Anthropology, Vancouver, Canada.  Saturday April 2, 2016.  Chair.

“Sports in Mexican America: From Battlegrounds to Ballfields.”  Mid-American American Studies Association, Lawrence, KS, Saturday March 5.  Chair & Discussant.

“Navigating Cultural Identities.”  See/Saw Film Festival, Lawrence, KS, March 4.  Discussant.

Graduate Student Poster Presentations.  See/Saw Film Festival, Lawrence, KS, March 4.  Discussant.

“The Ch’orti’ Maya Area of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador? Contemporary Perspectives.”  American Anthropological Assn. (AAA), Denver, Nov. 19, 2015.  Organizer & Chair.

“Ethnic Groups in Central America.”  Latin American Studies Association, 2nd Conference on Race, Ethnicity, and Indigenous Peoples, University of California, San Diego, November 3, 2011.  Chair. 

“Mesoamerican Relationships with Nature” (12 participants), American Anthropological Assn. (AAA), Washington, DC, Nov. 28, 2007.  Organizer & Chair.

“Borderline Indigeneities” (4 participants, 2 disciplines), Latin American Studies Assn (LASA), San Juan, Puerto Rico, 3/15/2006.  Organizer & Chair.

“The Ch’orti’ Maya Area, Past and Present” (14 participants, 4 disciplines), AAA, Washington DC, 12/1/2005.  Organizer & Chair.

“Out of the Shadows: Recent Research in the Guatemalan Oriente” (7 participants, 3 nations), LASA, Dallas, 3/28/2003.  Organizer & Chair.

“Roundtable: The Problem of Indigenous Authenticity in the Maya Region” (11 participants, 5 nations), AAA, New Orleans, 11/24/2002.  Organizer & Chair.

“Who, How, and Where Are Guatemalans?  Current Issues in Guatemalan Demography” (10 presenters, 4 disciplines, 4 nations) AAA, Philadelphia, 12/4/1998.  Organizer & Chair.

 

Professional Presentations 

“Insider/outsider Indigenous Studies in Anthropology Roundtable: Where Critical Reflections

Matter.”  Roundtable Discussion for the American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C.  11/30/17  

“The Ch’orti’ Maya Diaspora.”  Second International Human Migration Conference, CINVESTAV University, Mexico City.  10/18/17  

“How We Think and Write about Migration.”  Special invited panel for the Society for Applied Anthropology, Santa Fe, New Mexico.  3/31/17.  

“Maya History and Cultures.”  Invited presentation for The American Indian Culture Day & Art Extravaganza, Johnson County Community College (Kansas), 12/10/16.

“Ch’orti’ Maya Perceptions of Environmental Change: The Erosion of a Worldview.”  Invited Marxico Visiting Scholar Presentation.  Boettcher Auditorium, Department of Geography & Environment, University of Denver. 10/27/16. 

“Intersecting with Engineers Without Borders in a Latin American Indigenous Water Project.”  Society for Applied Anthropology, Vancouver, Canada.  4/2/16. 

 “Situational Identity, Opportunism, and Self-Defense in Eastern Guatemala and Western Honduras.” American Anthropological Assn. (AAA), Denver, 11/19/2015.

“An Ambivalent Nation: Chortís in Eastern Guatemala and Western Honduras.”  Latin American Studies Association, San Juan, Puerto Rico.  In Panel “Identificación Colectiva de Naciones Indígenas Transfronterizas.” 5/28/15.  

“An Ethnographic Approach to Exploring Indigenous Heritage and Identity in the Former Ch’orti’Speaking Area.”  Society for American Archeology, Austin, TX.  In Symposium “New Definitions of Southeastern Mesoamerica: Indigenous Interaction, Resiliance, and Change.”  4/25/14.

"Chickens Coming 'Home' to Roost: U.S. Policy Spurring Mexican and Central American Migration.”  University of Kansas Human Migration Lecture Series, 4/6/14.

“Megaprojects Vs. Subsistence Agriculture in Ch’orti’ Maya Area of Guatemala.”  Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, Annual Meetings, Mérida, Mexico, 3/21/13.

 “Indigenous Development.”  KU Commons Red Hot Research Series.  2/8/13.

“Combining Engineering and Anthropology in Development: Engineers Without Borders among the Ch'orti' Maya of Guatemala.”  With Jodi Gentry.  KU Hall Center for the Humanities, Latin American Studies Seminar.  1/25/13.

“Development Challenges among the Ch’orti’ Maya.”  Engineers Without Borders – Kansas City Professional Chapter. Black & Veach Corporation.  8/20/12.

“The Ch’orti’ Maya Applied Field School: Integrating Research, Teaching, and Multidisciplinary Service Learning.”  KU Latin American Studies 50th Anniversary Conference, “Latin American Studies: Past, Present and Future.”  11/19/11.

“Indians in the Closet?  Latent Indigeneity vs. Mestizaje in Northwestern El Salvador.”  KU Center of Latin American Studies, Merienda lecture series.  11/10/11.

“Ch'orti' Mayas in Northwestern El Salvador? Misadventures and Revelations in Surveying Indigeneity and Mestizaje.”  Latin American Studies Association, 2nd Conference on Race, Ethnicity, and Indigenous Peoples, University of California, San Diego.  11/3/11.

‘Social, Cultural, and Technical Challenges to Developing the Ch’orti’ Maya of Guatemala.”  Engineers Without Borders, Sunflower Professionals branch, Bartles & West, Topeka.  7/27/11.

“Remember the Indian in a Mestizo Region of Central America.”  KU Hall Center for the Humanities Fellows lecture series.  5/3/11.

“Promoting Community with Latino Immigrants Via Service Learning.”  Society for Applied Anthropology, Mérida, Mexico, 3/26/10.

“Reverse Oz-mosis: From Ch’orti’ Homesteads to the Kansas Netherworld.” LASA, Rio de Janeiro, 6/12/09. 

“Violence after ‘the Violence’ in the Ch’orti’ Region of Eastern Guatemala.” AAA, San Francisco, 11/22/2008.

“Las ‘ruinas’ olvidadas en el área ch’orti’: Apuntes para una historia de la violencia en el oriente de Guatemala.” Seminario Internacional: Expresiones y representaciones de la violencia en Guatemala FLACSO / Universidad de Córdoba / Cooperación Española de Desarrollo. Antigua Guatemala, 10/2-3/2008. 

"Racial Ideologies in the Ch'orti' Maya Movements of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.” Latin American Studies Association, First Conference on Ethnicity, Race, and Indigenous Peoples”, University of California, San Diego.  5/22-23/2008.  

“The Abduction of a Ladina Girl: A Window into Human Trafficking in Guatemala.”  Distinguished speaker, KU Latin Americanist Graduate Research Competition, 4/7/2008.

“When Our Subjects Come Knocking at the Door: An Ethnographic Fiction.” KU Nuestra América in the U.S.? Latino Studies conference, 2/9/2008.  

“Changing Ch’orti’ Perceptions of the Natural World.” AAA, Washington, D.C., 11/29/2007. 

“Ch’orti’ Maya Indigeneity in Honduras.”  KU Hall Center for the Humanities Latin American Seminar, 9/28/2007.  

“Contesting Indigeneity: Ch’orti’ Maya Revival in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador.”  KU CLAS XII Annual Waggoner Research Colloquium, 11/3/2006.

“Ambiguous Indigeneities in the Ch'orti' Area of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.”  LASA, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 3/15/2006.

“Searching for Ch’orti’ Indigeneity in Contemporary Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.” AAA, Washington, D.C., 12/1/2005.

“Indigeneity in the Ch’orti’ Maya Region of Northern Central America.”  KU CLAS Merienda Lecture, 11/10/05. 

“The Gray Borderlines of Indigeneity in Central America.”  KU Anthropology Graduate Student Assn., 3/30/2005.

 “Los ch’orti’s de Guatemala, El Salvador y Honduras”.  Coordinación Maya Ch’orti’, International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, Jocotán, Guatemala, 8/9/2004.

“Teaching Culture and Indigeneity.” KU CLAS XII Annual Waggoner Research Colloquium, 11/7/2003.

“¿Quiénes son los ch'orti's?  Una exploración de los márgenes de la indigeneidad maya.”  III Congreso Internacional sobre el Pop Wuj Libro Sagrado Maya de Guatemala.  Quezaltenango, Guatemala, 8/6/2003.  

“Negotiating Maya-ness in Eastern Guatemala.” KU CLAS Merienda Lecture, 12/27/2002. 

“Machete Penises and Devouring Vaginas: The Ethnographer and Ch'orti' Sexuality.” KU Hall Center for the Humanities Gender Seminar, 12/19/2001.

“Derechos, deseos y demandas de campesinos y líderes mayas en Guatemala y Honduras.”  Cultura y Derechos Indígenas en Iberoamérica (Indigenous Culture and Rights in Ibero-America), Universidad de Extremadura, Spain, 7/4/2001.

 “Indigenous Political Movements in Comparative Perspective: The Pan-Maya Movement.”  KU Center of Latin American Studies, “Latin America's Indigenous Peoples: Cultural Diversity and Globalization”, 11/10/2000.  

“Local Level Collaborative Observation in the Maya Movement”, LASA, Miami, 3/16/2000.

“The Causes, Consequences and Politics of Ch'orti' ‘Overpopulation’”, AAA, Philadelphia, 12/4/1998.

“The Pan-Maya Movement among the Ch'orti's of Eastern Guatemala”, Temple University, Philadelphia, 10/7/1998.

“A Holistic View of Development Among Ch’orti’s of Eastern Guatemala,” Symposium for Global Development Studies Program, Grinnell College, 3/9/1998.

“Ladino vs. Maya Nationalism among Ch’orti’s of Eastern Guatemala,” AAA, Washington, 11/19/1997.

“The Body as Politics: Working Class Mexican-American and Ch’orti’ Male Sexual Joking,” St. Mary’s College, Moraga, CA, 2/18/1997.

“Complementing Detached with Participatory Empiricism of the Ch’orti’,” AAA, San Francisco, 12/22/1996.

“The Meaning of Poverty to the Maya-Ch’orti’,” AAA, Washington, 11/19/1995.

“Maya-Ch’orti’ Masculinity as Projected and Imagined,” AAA, Atlanta, 12/1/1994.

“Current Mesoamerican Anthropological Theory and Applications to the Maya-Ch’orti’,” Western Michigan University Department of Anthropology, 1/7/1994.

“Maya-Chortí World View and Political Economic Practice,” Institute of Mesoamerican Studies, SUNY-Albany, 5/6/1991. 

“Subordination and Resistance among Mexican Migrant Farmworkers in Michigan.”  Michigan Academy of Sciences Annual Meetings, Adrian College, 10/23/1989.

Public Presentations

Interviewed by reporter Jorge Vasconcellos on 12/17/18 for Brazilia newspaper Correio Braziliense on how to improve conditions for global refugees and migrants.  Published as “Desafios para deter as causas do êxodo”, 1/21/19, p.12.

“El peso de la historia y las tradiciones en el desarrollo de los maya ch’orti’s.”  Centro Universitario del Oriente (San Carlos), Chiquimula, Guatemala.  Organized by Médicos del Mundo (Doctors of the World) for doctors, university faculty, the general public, press and university students.  250 in attendance.  8/1/18

Radio interview, NPR-KCUR show “Central Standard.” Theme: “Kansas City's Immigrant Communities Feel The Pull Of International Crises.”  10/13/14.

“The Development Needs of the Ch’orti’ Maya of Guatemala.”  Engineers Without Borders, University of Kansas chapter.  Eaton Hall.  5/1/14.  

“Engineering Water Solutions in Guatemala.” (with Emily Robbins, President of Engineers Without Borders – Sunflower State Professional Chapter.) Kiwanis Club of Lawrence, Kansas.  Lawrence Country Club, 6/20/13.

“Needs and Challenges of Sustainable Rural Water Projects among the Ch’orti’ Maya.”  Black & Veatch Water, 8400 Ward Parkway, KCMO.  8/20/12.

“Development Challenges among the Ch’orti’ Maya of Guatemala.”  Engineers Without Borders – Sunflower State Professional chapter.  Topeka, 5/18/11.

“The Development Needs of the Ch’orti’ Maya of Guatemala.”  Engineers Without Borders, Kansas City professional chapter.  11/15/10.

“The Development Needs of the Ch’orti’ Maya of Honduras.”  Engineers Without Borders, University of Kansas chapter.  Eaton Hall.  10/7/10.

"To Be, or Not to Be Indian: The Dynamics of Ch'orti' Maya Identity in Central America.”  University of Kansas “Mini-College” for alumnae.  May 25, 2010.

Testimony against Kansas House Bill 2680 & Senate Bill 458 (bills prohibiting undocumented immigrants from state-funded services and all employment), Topeka, KS, 2/26/2008.

“Latino Immigration to the United States, Kansas, and Lawrence (KS).”  Plymouth Congregational Church, Lawrence, KS, 2/17/2008.

“Indigenous-ness: The New Counter-Culture in Latin America.” All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, 4501 Walnut, Kansas City, MO, 12/19/2004. 

“Web Resources for Area Studies Jobs.”  KU Center of Latin American Studies & Russian/East European Studies Jobs Workshop, Lawrence, 2/16/2002.

“The Importance of Latin America in the Curriculum.” Missouri Community College Symposium on Global Education, Country Club Marriot, Kansas City, MO, 11/15/2001.

“Witchcraft in Global Perspective.” Unitarian Universalist Church, Kalamazoo, MI, 3/26/1995.

Research Institutes 

Tepotzlán Institute, 1-week (July 21-28, 2010) invitation-only conference in Mexico, where 80 scholars from different disciplines discussed their current work and contemporary theory regrading Latin America.

 Special Guest Teaching

Universidad de San Carlos (Guatemala), Facultad de Antropología y Historia.  Seminar: “Nuevas teorías y metodologías de identidad,” 8/2-8/96.  Note: Six-week seminar co-taught with Drs. Julian Lopez and Pedro Pitarch of the Universidad Complutense, Spain.

Selected Workshops and Conferences Organized and Chaired

Organizer, “Careers in Latin America”, KU Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS), 2/28/2004.

Organizer, “Africa & Latin America: Histories, Connections, Identities”, KU CLAS, 2/28-3/1/2003.

Chair, K-12 teacher workshop “Using Video in the Classroom”, KU CLAS, 4/28/2001 & 2/23/2002.

Coordinator, “Latin America’s Indigenous Peoples: Cultural Diversity and Globalization”, KU CLAS; Organizer, two K-12 teacher workshops; Discussant, “Recognizing Rights, Ensuring Participation: Current Issues of Indigenous Peoples in Latin America,” 11/10/2000.

Service

Department     

2016 Associate Chair  

2016-18   Coordinator of Curriculum Committee

2009-14   Coordinator of Undergraduate Committee

2014-15   Undergraduate Committee

2005-09   Undergraduate Committee.

2014 Pre-tenure Review Committee for Dr. Carlos Nash                                    

2014-15   Tenure Committee of Kathryn Rhine

2013-14   Annual Faculty Evaluation Committee

2013-14   Undergraduate Club (UAA) Mentor

2008-09   Undergraduate Club (AAU) Mentor

2007-09   Sociocultural/Linguistic Anthropology ‘Long-term Vision’ Committee Chair

University

  2018-       Advisory Board, Global Awareness Program                                                                

2018-       Executive Committee, Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies

2017-       Selection committee, Woodyard International Educator Award 

2014-       Faculty Ambassador, Center for Civic & Social Responsibility 

2018-19   Search Committee for indigenous languages expert for the KU Department of Spanish & Portuguese

2012-18   Undergraduate Committee, Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies

2009  Academic Misconduct Committee

2009-18   Advisory Board, Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies 

2015        Evaluation committee member, Sharon & Jeffrey Vitter Award for Engaged Scholarship

2014-15   University Sabbatical Leave Committee                                                                         

2012        NEH Grant Evaluation Committee, Hall Center 

2011        Director, Hall Center "Latin American Studies Seminar"

2008-10   Faculty Senator

2010        Travel Grant Evaluation Committee, Hall Center 

2002-10   Grant Committee, Center of Latin American Studies 

2001-05, 07  Graduate Coordinator, Center of Latin American Studies 1997-98   Grinnell College Minority Student Mentor

Community

2002-      Responses to requests for expert testimonies on asylum & other immigration cases (39 in 2018,                including writing 2 legal briefs)

2012-      Co-founder & Cultural Liaison, Engineers Without Borders - Sunflower State Professionals

2010-      Wuqu Kawoq Maya Health Alliance, Board Member

2006-12  Board Member, Lawrence Centro Hispano

2006       Chair, Organizer, Presenter for KU Center of Latin American Studies, "Guatemala Workshop for Teachers”

Profession

1998-      External Reviewer for American Anthropologist, American Ethnologist, Cengage Learning

Press, Current Anthropology, Edwin Mellon Press, Ethnicity & Health, Harwood Academic

Publishers, Health Education Journal, Human Organization, Identities: Global Studies in

Culture and Power, Journal of Genocide Research, Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology, Journal of Latin American & Caribbean Ethnic Studies, Routledge, University of New Mexico Press.

  2018        External Evaluator for Tenure, Dr. Bradley Tatar, Ulsan Institute of Science & Technology (Korea)

2016       External Evaluator for Tenure, Dr. Cameron McNeil, CUNY Graduate School

Professional Memberships

      

American Anthropological Association

Guatemalan Scholars Network

Latin American Studies Association

Academia de Lenguas Mayas, honorary member

Society for Latin American Anthropology

Society for Applied Anthropology

Phi Beta Delta Honor Society for International Scholars

Engineers Without Borders