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Methodological Appendix
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141 Methodological Appendix The methodology for this project entailed (a) library research, (b) textual analysis of Day of the Dead events and media coverage of them, and (c) multisite ethnographic fieldwork (observation and formal and informal interviews) over a period of eight years. During the autumn of the years 2000 to 2005, I attended Day of the Dead processions, vigils, exhibits, lectures, workshops, film screenings, altar-making ceremonies, poetry readings, and other related activities in California (in the San Diego, Los Angeles, and San Francisco Bay areas), as well as events in New Mexico,Arizona,Texas, and Tijuana, Mexico. Because Day of the Dead exhibits, workshops, vigils, processions, lectures, and other events are now common in California and the Southwest, I was able to attend about twenty different activities each fall, traveling by car and plane. In 2006 and 2007, having moved from California to New Jersey, I attended Day of the Dead celebrations in NewYork City, New Brunswick, NJ, and Boston, MA. Over eight years, I shot more than sixty rolls of film and hundreds of digital photos. Having traveled widely throughout Latin America since 1990, I have also observed and discussed Day of the Dead traditions and other death-related rituals (wakes, funerals, and remembrance days) with friends in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, and Ecuador, providing me with additional insights and background information for this study. Library Research My library research included readings from a wide variety of sources, starting with a review of literature on pre-Columbian, colonial, and contemporary Latin American rituals for remembering the dead, (most published work concerned Mesoamerican and Andean regions). These ranged from historical accounts of sixteenth-century Indigenous rituals to ethnographic observations of nineteenth- and twentieth-century anthropologists, folklorists, and travelers. To gain additional information on Day of the Dead customs in various areas of Latin America, I searched newspaper coverage (articles and editorials) published from 1998 to 2005 in major Latin American newspapers during the dates of October 30 to November 3, finding relevant articles and commentary in Mexican, Guatemalan, Nicaraguan, Honduran, Salvadoran, Ecuadorian, Bolivian, Panamanian, and Argentine newspapers. My investigation of U.S. celebrations began with a review of the relatively few scholarly articles written about U.S. Day of the Dead events. I also collected and analyzed museum exhibition catalogs, promotional posters, postcards , flyers, newspaper advertisements, newspaper and magazine articles, Day of the Dead Web sites, radio recordings from National Public Radio, footage of TV news coverage of festivities, documentary videos, and elementary school educational curriculum guides. Scholarly writings from the fields of communication, sociology, anthropology , cultural studies, and Chicano/Latino studies enhanced my theoretical understanding of the social and political importance of cultural practices for ethnic minorities in the United States. Readings from the fields of religion and theology provided me with theoretical and historical data on Indigenous and Mestizo Latin American spirituality and popular religiosity. Literature on the subject of death and dying in the United States, mainly from the fields of sociology and anthropology, gave me an understanding of changing U.S. attitudes, beliefs, and customs around death, from the seventeenth century until the present. Writings on consumerism and the commercialization of culture, from fields such as sociology, anthropology, history, and cultural studies, informed my reflections on the commoditization of Day of the Dead. Textual Analysis and Media Coverage I conducted an analysis of altar exhibits and media coverage of Day of the Dead events (in magazine articles, Web sites, and newspaper articles published in the United States over nearly three decades), with a strong emphasis on California events. My research involved photographing altar exhibits, Day of the Dead artwork, processions, and ceremonies; taking notes on the placement of objects and words spoken at performances, lectures, or poetry events; and documenting the visual, olfactory, and auditory details of ceremonies (for example, the types of musical instruments played, songs and dances performed, flowers used, apparel worn, or incense burned).At exhibits, I kept a record of the names of the artists or community groups making the altars and copied (by hand or with a digital camera) the written text that accompanied altar installations.When handouts were available at altar installations (as they frequently were), I gathered copies.These usually consisted of detailed descriptions of an altar’s significance, information about the artist(s), and/or information about the person or political cause being honored.When the artists or performers were present at exhibits or events (which is common during exhibit openings and one-day special...