A guide to Día de los muertos celebrations in Lexington

A guide to Día de los muertos celebrations in Lexington

Availability

Office hours for Fall 2022: Mondays and Wednesdays on campus from 9-12, Tuesdays and Thursdays on Zoom by appointment 

Education

PhD, Hispanic Studies University of Kentucky

MA, Spanish University of Kentucky

BA, Spanish Berea College

Biography

As a Senior Lecturer I teach a wide variety of courses, including Intermediate Spanish, Spanish American culture, and the service-learning course Hispanic Kentucky. I am particularly interested in finding practical and professional ways for students to engage with our local Latinx communities and use Spanish in practical, personal ways. Currently my teaching emphasis includes instructional design and service-learning curricular development, in particular in relation to inclusive and digital pedagogies

In my role as Director of Elementary Language Instruction, I provide administrative oversight and supervise the instruction of the six courses in our elementary and intermediate Spanish language sequence. This work involves managing the curriculum for these classes, providing professional development and mentoring for the Graduate Teaching Assistants who teach these classes, and conducting program evaluations.

My research applies the field of migration studies to our local context through the collection and documentation of the histories and cultures of Kentucky’s Hispanic and Latino people and communities through the in-progress Kentucky Hispanic Heritage Project (https://khhp.createuky.net/). I also enjoy studying creative narratives (films, short stories, novels, and chronicles) about Hispanic and Latinx communities in Kentucky and migration in the Spanish-speaking world, in particular Mexico and Central America.

Beyond the university, I have many years of experience working and traveling in Mexico and the US-Mexico Border region.  I worked with Lexington's Hispanic community for over seven years as a social services provider, health educator, interpreter/translator, and community organizer. During that time, I made many trips to Mexico, visiting the states from which Kentucky's migrants hail and getting to know the Mexican health care system and reasons why people choose to migrate. In 2013-14 I served as Director for Georgetown College's Inmersión en Español Spanish Immersion Program. I have also participated in activities with the Foundation for Latin American and Latin@ Culture and Arts, the Latino Leadership and College Experience Camp, and the Lexington Latino Festival Health Fair planning committee.

Selected Publications:

“Migration Chronicles: Reporting on the Paradoxes of Migrant Visibility.” Textos Híbridos: Revista de estudios sobre la crónica latinoamericana. 2.1 (2012)

“Tensiones heterogéneas: La redefinición de lo subalterno en Sab y Aves sin nido." Retomando la palabra: las pioneras del xix en diálogo con la crítica contemporánea. Claire Martin and Nelly Goswitz, eds. (forthcoming from Iberoamicano in June 2012)

“El activismo local de Maquilapolis: Armonizando la mirada femenina con una política de lugar.” Letras femeninas 36.2 (2010): 199-213.

Review of Woman and Change at the U.S.-Mexico Border: Mobility, Labor, and Activism. Journal of Cultural Geography 26.2 (2009): 248-9.

“Chronicling the Border: Chicano Advocacy in a Mexican Genre in Across the Wire.” Enkidu Magazine 2008 Summer Conference Proceedings.

Submitted by rrehle0 on Wed, 10/30/2013 - 12:42 pm

It’s a good weekend to be a hispanista in Lexington. Granted we’ve had a great fall; from the Lexington Latino Festival to the many activities surrounding the Arts and Sciences Passport ¡Viva México! program, those of us who love the Spanish language and Hispanic culture have been busy. Still, this Friday and Saturday are special. 

This weekend we celebrate Día de los muertos, or Day of the Dead, a well-known holiday that has become increasingly popular in the US. On November 1st and 2nd, families throughout Latin America (but especially in Mexico) build altars and visit cemeteries to remember loved ones who have passed away. The holiday is joyous, despite the macabre theme. Día de los muertos is a time to laugh with death, to accept the fact that we’re all headed that way eventually, and to give those we have lost a place at our table for the night. Here are some suggestions for how you can celebrate this weekend, just follow the hyperlinks to more information about and directions to the events. ¡Qué vivan los muertos!

Preparations

Start your weekend early by picking up a loaf of pan de los muertos at a local tienda, or Hispanic grocery market, such as Supermercado Aguas Calientes,on the corner of Versailles Road and Alexandria Drive, or El Rancho Tapatio, located off Nicholasville Road on Burt Drive (the grocery is next to the restaurant). Don’t wait until Friday though, by the then it’s likely that the bread will be sold out. Also, don’t forget to stop by the Student Center and pick up your tickets for the Ballet on Saturday.

Friday November 1st

3:30-6pm UK Visual Arts Association is offering a Day of the Dead printmaking workshop in the Student Center room 106. Just $5 for materials!

5-9pm Day of the Dead celebration at the Living Arts and Science Center on North Martin Luther Kind Blvd. LASC is just a mile from campus, here are directions if you’d like to walk or take the trolley.

Saturday November 2nd

2-2:45pm Day of the Dead party for families and teens at the Village Branch of the Lexington Public Library.

7pm The Lexington Youth Ballet will offer a special performance of their Day of the Dead Ballet at the Lexington Opera House. Tickets are free for students, just pick them up at the Student Center. The Opera House is only a mile from campus, here are directions if you’d like to walk or take the trolley.

Get out and enjoy the festivities, then check back here next week and let me know how it went!