Maribel Alvarez holds a dual appointment as Assistant Research Professor in the English Department and Research Social Scientist at the Southwest Center, University of Arizona. She teaches courses on cultural studies and serves as the University's Public Folklorist, charged with interpreting the regional culture of Northern Mexico and the US Southwest through research, exhibitions, symposia, and other public programs. She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Arizona and a Masters Degree in Political Theory from California State University. She is currently writing a book on artisans, artisanal labor, and the marginal crafts or "tourist kitsch" of the US-Mexico border. From 1996 to 2002 she served as the Executive Director of MACLA/Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana, a multidisciplinary urban arts space in San Jose that she also co-founded. Under her leadership, MACLA became nationally recognized for its sophisticated innovation in community arts. In 2001, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts recognized MACLA as one of the 25 most effective "alternative art spaces" in the country. Maribel was born in Cuba, grew up in Puerto Rico, and has worked closely in the field of Chicano arts since the 1980s.
Read about Maribel Alvarez in the Research News.