Tulane University

Cynthia Garza holds a Masters degree from the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University and is currently completing a PhD in the same department. Her experience – both in and out of academia – explores the relationship between performance, cultural identity, and the ever-shifting urban landscape. Prior to her graduate work, Cynthia worked as a social worker in southern Peru and Washington, DC and as Director of Advocacy for the DC Immigrant Coalition. She has taught Latin American Studies, Cultural Anthropology, Ethnographic Research Methods, Latin American Social Movements, Latin American Society in Film, and a seminar entitled Performing the Latin American City at both Loyola and Tulane Universities.

Cynthia conducted dissertation research in Peruvian creole peñas, performance spaces that function as archive and sanctuary for a community striving to preserve its cultural identity throughout the city of Lima. In addition to her dissertation work, she has published work on the New Orleans Garifuna community during its time in exile after Hurricane Katrina (Displaced: Voices from the Katrina Diaspora, 2012, University of Texas Press); The Afro Peruvian theater company Teatro del Milenio (emisférica 5.2, 2008), and the Lima-based theater collective Yuyachkani’s exploration of the internal violence between the Peruvian state and the Shining Path (Art from a Fractured Past, 2014, Duke University Press).