Cultural Anthropology
tepozmin@yahoo.com
Areas of Interest: Ethnography, Theoretical Anthropology, Art and Religion of Indigenous Cultures of Modern Mexico and Historic Mesoamerica; Religious Traditions and Social Organization, Ritual Performance, Oral Histories and the Uses of History in Cultural Identity, Mesoamerican Archaeology, Ethnohistory; Colonial and Prehispanic Art; Codices and ceramics.
I received my BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago. In, and through my art practice I confronted issues of cultural identity, artistic expression and the notion of history as a component of an evolving social identity. In 1997 this well engrained speculation into culture and my cultural heritage lead me clear into the heartland of México. With grant support from the CONACYT of México I spent the better part of five years doing research on social and religious organization in Nahua indigenous communities of the Puebla-Tlaxcala Valley. I found myself right in the heart of the Mexican "Cargo System" phenomena, the "Mayordomias". I went on to initiate research which is currently on going, related to the social organization of the modern "Calpulli" system in Santa Maria Xixítla, Cholula. In addition, I developed and produced independent research for well established anthropologists and subsequently was contracted to produced ethnographic data for a National Geographic project headed by Dr.Tim J. Knab on religious ritual related to "weather watching" traditions on the skirt of the Popocateptl volcanoe in Cholula, Puebla. Also, I was employed by Dr. Tim J. Knab, whose work also deals with religious traditions, shamanism, and dreamweaving, in the Northern Sierra of Puebla. His recent publications include contributions of mine as well as illustrations in his "Dialogue of Earth and Sky".