Filmmakers

Olga Nájera-Ramírez, Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz, received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Texas in Austin and a MA in Latin American Studies. As an anthropologist specializing in folklore, her work concentrates on documenting and critically examining expressive cultural forms such as festivals, dance, rodeo and music as practiced by Mexicans living in the United States and Mexico. Author of La Fiesta de los Tastoanes: Critical Perspectives in a Mexican Festival Performance (1997), she has also co-edited Chicana Traditions: Continuity and Change, with Norma E. Cantú (2002), and Chicana Feminisms: A Critical Reader (2003) with Gabriela Arredondo, Aida Hurtado, Norma Klahn, and Pat Zavella. Her most recent publication is Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanos, co-edited with Norma Cantú and Brenda Romero (2009). She is currently completing a new video project tentatively titled Zamarripa: A Master of Folklórico Dance.