MARIO A. CUBAS 13705-G SW 84 Street MIAMI, FLORIDA 33183 Tel: 786-556-6503 E-mail: mario.a.cubas@gmail.com CURRICULUM VITAE EDUCATION: Ph.D., 2007 MA, 1993 BA, 1989 Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Double major in Anthropology and English, University of Miami
ACADEMIC AND MUSEUM EMPLOYMENT: August 2007 June 2007 – May 2008 Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Florida International University Honorary Fellow, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison Ethnographic fieldworker, Historical Museum of South Florida Miami, Florida. Project: Caribbean Percussion Traditions in Miami. Funded with a grant by the National Endowment for the Arts. Conducted interviews and other data collection methods. Research Assistant, Helen Louise Allen Textiles Collection, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Duties included management of ethnographic textile study collections. Special Collections, Memorial Library, University of WisconsinMadison. Duties including management of rare book collections. Research Assistant, Laboratory of Paleoethnobotany, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Duties included sorting and identifying ancient grains in hearth soil samples. Teaching Assistant, Department of Anthropology, University of Miami. Duties included lectures, leading discussion groups on class readings, tutoring undergraduate students in writing.
1996
1993 – 1994
1992 1991 – 1993
1987 – 1988
LANGUAGES: Fluent in Spanish Reading and conversation in French Reading and conversation in Yoruba
SPECIAL HONORS AND AWARDS: 1987 – 1988 2005 Outstanding Student in Anthropology, University of Miami Robert Wood Johnson Research Award – Transdisciplinary Studies in Health and Society, University of Wisconsin-Madison
FIELDWORK EXPERIENCE: 2009 Planned research in Dominican Republic on Afro-Caribbean religious and healing traditions, and indigenous cultural survivals. Collection of oral and life histories, as well as observation of rituals relating to healing and ritual maintenance in Palo Monte. Miami, Florida. Preliminary fieldwork with a practitioner of Palo Monte and Spiritism. Observing & documenting rituals, conducting ethnographic interviews. Miami, Florida. Continuing field research in Miami‟s Cuban community for doctoral Doctoral dissertation. The primary focus was on performance activities as sites for constructing ethnic and personal identities. Collected field notes, tape-recordings, and interviews of Santeria rituals and other activities for a project on Caribbean Drumming Traditions in Miami. Participant-observation and interviewing of drag performers at Miami Night clubs for a paper presented at the 1996 AAA meetings. Participant-observation and documentation of activities at various local Cuban restaurants. Preliminary fieldwork involving participant-observation and interViewing patrons at Cuban “theme park” restaurants in Miami Beach. Fieldwork at Cuban-American shrine in Miami, as well as documentation of political demonstrations. Interviewing and preliminary fieldwork on Santeria in Miami for doctoral dissertation. Preliminary fieldwork on Afro-Caribbean and indigenous religious traditions in Dominican Republic. Preliminary fieldwork in Miami, locating material for dissertation research; interviewing, site location, photographing sites, and establishing contacts to determine feasibility of dissertation field work project.
2008
2007
1997 – 2006
May 1996 – October 1996
September 1995 – 1996
December 1993 – January 1994
May – August 1993
May – August 1992
MANUSCRIPTS IN PREPARATION: Performing Cubanidad; Identity and Expressive Culture in Cuban Miami “Magical Medicine, Magical Death: Afro-Cuban Healing and Revenge Sorcery in South Florida” “The Abiku of Matanzas; Memory, Guilt, and African Spirits in Cuban Spiritist Healing” “Sacred Healing in 21st Century Miami: Medical & Cultural Pluralism in North America” “What Elian Meant to Us: Demonstrations, Rallies, and Religious Vigils and the Articulation of Cultural Identity in Cuban Miami” “Sacred Selves; „Play of Tropes‟ in Santeria Concepts of Personhood” PAPERS PRESENTED: November 2008 - San Francisco, CA Submitted for consideration “Magical Medicine, Magical Death; Afro-Cuban Healing and Revenge Sorcery in Suburban South Florida.” American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting. “Medicine & Magic: Afro-Cuban Healing and Revenge Sorcery in South Florida” Colloquium Presentation, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Florida International University “Medicine & Magic in Miami” Invited lecture to be presented in the Interfaith Council and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Berry College, Mt. Berry, Georgia. “Sacred Healing in 21st Century Miami: Medical & Cultural Pluralism in North America.” Transdisciplinary Studies in Health and Society Working Group (TSHS), A Matter of Facts: Problems of „Evidence‟ in Evidence-based Medicine. University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. “What Elian Meant to Us: Demonstrations, Rallies, and Religious Vigils and the Articulation of Cultural Identity in Cuban Miami.” Latin American Identities, National University of Ireland. “South Beach, Florida: Liminality and the Carnivalesque In Cuban Miami”. Annual Meeting of the American Studies Association (ASA). “Sacred Selves; „Play of Tropes‟ in Santeria Concepts of Personhood.” Annual Meetings of the Florida Anthropological Society (FAS). “Cuban Drag: Parody, Geography and Urban Identity in Miami.” Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA).
November 16, 2007 – Miami, FL
October 8, 2007 – Mt. Berry, GA
October 7, 2005 – Madison, WI
October 9, 2003 – Galway, Ireland
November 1998 – Seattle, WA
May 1997 – Miami, FL
November 1996 – San Francisco, CA
COURSES TAUGHT: Anthropology of Race and Ethnicity Anthropological Theory Cultures of the Caribbean Sociology through Film Societies in the World Anthropology of Coastal Cultures (in preparation for Fall, 2009) RESEARCH INTERESTS: Latin American and Caribbean Studies (research focus on Cuban diaspora and Dominican Republic) Gender and sexuality studies Afro-Caribbean religions Medical anthropology (research focus on medical pluralism and alternative healing traditions) Urban anthropology Folklore and mythology (research interest in Afro-Caribbean, Euro-American, and Amerindian mythic traditions) PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS: American Anthropological Association (AAA) American Studies Association (ASA) Florida Anthropological Society (FAS)