His principal area of research and teaching is ethnic Mexican history, culture, and performance in the southwestern United States.

His dissertation examines the role of tent shows and theatrical performance in the formation of San Antonio’s ethnic Mexican community during the first half of the twentieth century.  It draws on interviews with performers, archival documents, and sound recordings from the period.   More recently, he has begun ethnographic research on Mexican immigrant performance and media culture.  He has taught anthropology, Spanish, and Chicana/o Studies at the Colorado College, Pikes Peak Community College, Colorado State University, Pueblo, and the University of Texas at Austin.  At Colorado college he served as Mentor Director for the First-Year Experience Program. He will teach courses in various aspects of Latin American Area Studies, especially in language, popular culture, migration, and themes related to greater Mexico and Central America.

2007       “Relato, Relajo, and Recording.” Language and Communication 27: 278-290.

2006       “Hijos de la refolufia:  Performing the Pachuco in the Mexican American Carpa."  In Kenya Dworkin y Méndez and Agnes Lugo-Ortiz, eds. Recovering the U.S.
Hispanic Literary Heritage V.  Houston: Arte Público Press, pp. 121-139.

2003       “Bilingual Humor, Verbal Hygiene, and the Gendered Contradictions of Cultural Citizenship in Early Mexican American Comedy.”  Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 13(2), pp. 163-188.

2000       “Sol, sombra, y media luz:  Parody, Genre Play, and Identity Formation in the Mexican American carpa.”   Pragmatics 10(1):99-124.

1999       “Fantasía and Disobedient Daughters:  Un-distressing Genres and Re-inventing Traditions in the Mexican-American Carpa.” Journal of American Folklore 112(445): 437-449.

LAA 450: Capstone: State Formation and Everyday Life in Latin America

B.A. from Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, and Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin.