Alicia Re Cruz works in the area of migration since 1986. Her professional career started working with Maya peasants in the Yucatan and the cultural transformation associated to Maya migration towards Cancun. She is the author of The Two Milpas of Chan Kom (1996) and the video producer of an ethnographic documentary, The Maya Dreams of Chan Kom (2006), which analyzes the political, socio-economic and cultural effects of Maya migration to Cancun. On 1992, as an assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of North Texas, Alicia Re Cruz initiates her research focused on transnational migration, particularly in reference to the Latino immigrants. She has devoted the last two decades to the multi-dimensional cultural phenomenon of migration, either trans-local, in reference to rural-urban indigenous migration or trans-national in reference to migration across borders. Among the anthropological studies related to transnational migration, Alicia Re Cruz is the author of Migrant Women Crossing Borders (1998), Taquerías, Laundromats and Protestant Churches, the Landmarks of the Hispanic Barrios in Denton (2005), When Immigrants Root and Transnational Communities Grow (2005). On 1999, she started the Immigration Resource Council for Conflict Resolution a program aiming at dealing and solving issues and problems emerging from cultural clashes and misunderstandings. She was the director of this program until 2002. She has continued her professional career weaving anthropological theory and praxis. For instance, she has participated as a professor in a Bilingual Education program, teaching public school teachers how to utilize basic anthropological concepts and methods in their classrooms. The focus on applied work has brought her to explore the area of Legal Anthropology because of her applied work with VAWA (Violence against Women Act) and Human Trafficking programs. In addition, Alicia Re Cruz has adventured in numerous interdisciplinary arenas; the most current one focuses on a cross-Atlantic conversation on inter-cultural education and the repercussions of migration in education policies in both, Europe and the US.
Selected Consulting Projects
Project: Immigration Resource Council for Conflict Resolution
Client: North Texas community
Date: 2001-2002
Project: Dialogue Among Borders
Client: UNT (University of North Texas) and UQROO (The University of Quintana Roo)
Date: 1999-2001
Project: Introduction of new planting techniques among Yucatec Mayas in order to obtain more productive harvests.
Client: Chan Kom, a Maya Yucatec community
Date: 1989-90
Education
1996 Doctorado Ph.D. under the Spanish University System, Anthropology
1992 Ph.D. State University of New York at Albany, Department of Anthropology
1987 M.A. State University of New York at Albany, Department of Anthropology
1985 B.A. Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. School of History and Geography, Department of American Ethnology and Anthropology
Selected Publications
Under Review Re Cruz, A. “Why do they talk about Spirits”: Anthropological Interventions in Classroom Settings with Latino Immigrant Students. Anthropology in Action.
Re Cruz, A. (2013) A Conversation Across Rural, Urban and National Borders: a Comparison Between Maya Migration to Cancun and Mexican Migration to Texas. In Aboriginal/ Indigenous Peoples in Urban Centers: Tracing Mobility in a Post Nafta World. DIALOG (special issue) (Aboriginal People Research and Knowledge Network) (www.reseaudialog.ca)
Re Cruz, A. (2012) El Negro y el Café son Colores Feos. In Racismo y Educacion. De la Invisibilidad a la evidencia. Hernandez, C. (ed.) Madrid: Complutense Publisher. ISBN: 978-84-9938-114-5
Re Cruz, A. (2010) De Responsabilidades, Compromisos y otras Reflexiones que llevan a la Antropología Aplicada. In Dilemas Eticos en Antropologia. Las Entretelas del Trabajo de Campo Etnográfico. Margarita del Olmo (ed). Ed. Trotta, Madrid.
Re Cruz, A. (2009) When Immigrants Root and Transnational Communities Grow. Urban Anthropology (special issue on Transnational Mexican Migration). Pp. 121-135.
Re Cruz, A. (2009) Educación para Inmigrantes. Una Perspectiva desde Texas. In Integración Escolar a Debate. Madrid: Editorial Pearson-Prentice Hall.
Re Cruz, A. (2008) Producer, The Mayan Dreams of Chan Kom. Tourism, Migration and Changing Identities in the Yucatán. Running time, 28 minutes. In collaboration with Melinda Levin. Distributed by University of Illinois Press with double issue in Journal of Film and Video. Volume 60, No. 2 & 3.
Levin, M. and A. Re Cruz (guest editors) (2008) Behind the Scenes of An Ethnographic Documentary: Dialogue Between Anthropology and Film. Journal of Film and Video. Volume 60, No. 2 & 3.
Nuñez-Janes, M. and A. Re Cruz (2008) Digital Storytelling as a Culturally Relevant Pedagogy for Latino Students. In Journal of Spanish Language Media.Vol. 1, posted at: www.spanishmedia.unt.edu. Center for Spanish Language Media, University of North Texas.
Re Cruz, A. (2008) Chan Kom, Tourism and Migration in the Making of the New Maya Milpas. In Yucatan in the Era of Globalization. Blakanoff, E. (ed.) University of Alabama Press.
Re Cruz, A., C. Wasson, and T. Gibbs (eds.) (2007) The Whys and Hows of an On-line Program in Applied Anthropology. In Practicing Anthropology. Vol. 29 (1)
Re Cruz, A. (2006) La Ética en el Discurso Académico y de Investigación Antropológica. In IV Congreso de Investigadores del Instituto Nacional de Antropológia e Historia, Lopez-Razagado, M.I., Morales, C. and Lechuga, C. (eds.) Delegacion D II IA1. Secc. 10 del SNTE, Mexico D.F.
Re Cruz, A. (2005) Taquerías, Laundromats and Protestant Churches, the Landmarks of the Hispanic Barrios in Denton, Texas. In Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development 34(2-3):281-303
Re Cruz, A. (2003) Milpa as an Ideological Weapon: Tourism and Maya Migration to Cancún. In Ethnohistory 50(3):489-502
Re Cruz, A. (1998) Maya Women, Gender Dynamics, and Modes of Production. In Sex Roles, A Journal of Research 39 (7/8):573-587
Re Cruz, A. (1998) Migrant Women Crossing Borders. A Comparison of Internal and External Mexican Migration. In Journal of Borderland Studies XIII(2):83-97
Re Cruz, A. (1996) The Thousand and One Faces of Cancún. In Urban Anthropology and Studies of Cultural Systems and World Economic Development 25(3):283-310
Re Cruz, A. (1996) The Two Milpas of Chan Kom: Scenarios of a Maya Village Life. Albany: SUNY Press.
Selected Presentations, International Courses and Seminars
2013 “Etica y Poder en la Intervención Antropológica”, paper presented at III Congreso Internacional de Etnografía y Educación-CSIC (National Council for Scientific Research), Madrid 07-05
2013 “Antropología Aplicada y Cómo Pensar en Teoría.” MA program in Applied Anthropology. University of Quintana Roo (UQROO), Chetumal, México (January 27 – February 1).
2012 “Applied Anthropology: Beyond Cultural Understanding” Postgraduate course at the CSIC (National Council for Scientific Research), Madrid, Spain. July 23 – 27.
2012 “Faith and Consumption: Feel-good Products, the Maya and the Growth of Corporations”. Paper presented at the International Congress of Americanists, Viena, July 20.
2012 “De la Division entre Teoría y Práctica y Otros Mitos de la Atropologia Aplicada” Seminar at the CSIC (National Council for Scientific Research ), Madrid, Spain. January 27th, 2011.
2012 “Anthropological Tools to Deal with Borders and Classrooms”. Paper presented at the session titled Crossing Borders in Intercultural Education: From Theory to Practice. American Anthropological Association, San Francisco, November 13.
2011 “Teaching Innovations for Our Global Citizens” Re Cruz, Alicia Levin, M., and Arikatti, S. Paper presented at the Session: Creating New Pedagogies for a New Century. Society for Applied Anthropology Meetings. Seattle, April 2nd.
2009 “Migrant Experiences in Maya Ecotourism Community Projects”. Paper presented at the organized session “Community Based Tourism among Yucatec Maya Communities”. Society for Applied Anthropology. Santa Fe, NM. March 17-21.
2008 “Tourism Border Zones”. Paper presented as part of the Invited Session: “Engagement, Anthenticity and Tourism: Gender, Sexuality, Ethnicity/Race and Space in the Americas”. American Anthropological Association. San Francisco, November 22, 2008.
2008 “Turismo Solidario y de Comunidad”. Paper presented as part of the session: “Anthropologists, Tourism, and Development in Yucatán: Constructing New Collaborative Roles and Relationships in the Public Sphere”. Society for Applied Anthropology, Memphis, TN. March 24-29.