Anthropology, Beads, & Books
I am a cultural anthropologist who has worked as the Cuban Heritage Collection Librarian and Curator of Latin American Collections at the University of Miami Libraries. The Cuban Heritage Collection is considered the largest collection of books, periodicals, and archives on Cuba and its people outside the island.
My doctoral research explores Afro-Asian religious formation and material culture in Cuba. I have recently worked on issues and responses to healthcare needs among Afro-Cuban religious practitioners.
I have held a secondary teaching appointment as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Miami. I teach religion, Latin America & the Caribbean, and anthropology classes. I am an Andrew W. Mellon Society Fellow in Critical Bibliography at the Rare Book School. I am interested in print cultures and the history of the book in the circum-Atlantic (see my research interests below). I
I started my career as a librarian and curator through the incredible postdoctoral position the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) provided. CLIR is an independent, nonprofit organization that helps place and support PhDs from all disciplines in libraries, cultural institutions, and higher learning communities. CLIR Fellows help develop strategies to improve research, teaching, and learning environments. I was a CLIR Postdoctoral Fellow in History and Area Studies at the University of Miami between 2015 and 2017 and was responsible for History; Latin American Studies; Modern Languages & Literatures; and Religious Studies, including Judaic and Islamic Studies. This experience paved the way for me to apply for the librarian position for the Cuban Heritage Collection.
Since completing the postdoc, I have continued to work with CLIR in several ways. I have been invited to participate in the orientation experiences of subsequent cohorts. I have presented my experiences of being a CLIR fellow at the University of Miami and some of the projects like the Conversation Project I have led. I serve on the review panel for the CLIR Digitizing Hidden Collections Program, a grant competition that awards approximately $4 million annually. The grants support the digitization of collections in libraries, museums, community archives, and other memory institutions that are difficult to access, making these materials available online and free of charge.
To date, my research consists of three broad yet connected areas:
1) The Chinese in Cuba, specifically the lasting legacies of Afro-Chinese religiosity that grew out of shared living and working spaces from enslaved Africans and indentured Chinese laborers in the sugar plantations and how these connections are visible in material religion and construct ritual practice in religions that are more well known for having African and European/Catholic “syncretisms”. I have presented and taught extensively on Afro-Cuban religions. I have consulted on stage performances and edited scripts for movies featuring Afro-Atlantic religions such as “Santería” (Lucumí), Candomblé, and Haitian Vodou.
2) The history of writing and sharing textual materials in Afro-Cuban religions. Lucumí religion, in particular, including Ifá, has rich trajectories of writing conventions that are crucial to initiation and divination processes and reflect an ongoing religious publication style, challenging the idea that such religions lack written records or are solely based on oral narratives. I write about the content and form of “libretas,” or notebooks, which are a key part of understanding African-descended religiosity in Cuba and its diaspora.
3) As a beadworker, I have researched the history, use, and making of beadwork in Cuba, Brazil, and Nigeria, and its orisha practices. This has informed my practice and a better understanding of the place and role of beads in the larger contexts of movement, activism/identity-making, and aesthetics or symbolic meaning. Beads are highly mobile; in Afro-Cuban religious practices, they signify and convey a wealth of information. In addition to making, I have exhibited beadwork, written about it, and continue to teach and present on these themes. I like being reflexive and discussing my experiences and connections in these projects.
