Candy Martínez (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in Latin American and Latina/o Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her dissertation, currently titled “Rethinking Structural Inequalities and Emotional Illnesses in Oaxacan Communities” addresses the multi-layered interpretations of Zapotec and Mixtec communities’ own words, embodiments, and processes for discussing trauma, profound sadness, susto (fright), and healing processes as it relates to social, economic, and global changes.
Candy lived in Oaxaca, Mexico for a year and a half where she re-acquainted herself with her Zapotec roots and conducted field research including interviews and participant-observation of multiple healing rituals such as temazcal (steam-baths) and limpias (spiritual cleanses) throughout Oaxaca. She is excited to look through and examine two collections at the APS: Paul Radin papers and information from Morris Swadesh’ vocabularies.
Research Project: “Rethinking Structural Inequalities and Emotional Illnesses in Oaxacan Communities”