Day of the Dead in the USA: The Migration and Transformation of a Cultural Phenomenon

Acknowledgments

xi Acknowledgments The research for this book, much of which was conducted while I was a doctoral student at the University of California, San Diego, was generously supported by funding from UCSD’s Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity (2004), California Cultures in Comparative Perspective Program (2005), and Office of the President (2004–2005). Early research was funded by the Center for Media, Religion, and Culture in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado, Boulder (2003–2004). The center provided both financial support and extremely helpful feedback, particularly from Stewart Hoover and Lynn Shofield Clark. Subvention to defray publication costs was provided by the School of Communication, Information , and Library Studies at Rutgers University. This project benefited greatly from advice given to me by my dissertation committee members, Michael Schudson, Chandra Mukerji, Dan Hallin, David Avalos, and Suzanne Brenner, as well as from thoughtful comments to the manuscript made by Eric Rothenbuhler, Mark Mattern, and my editor, Beth Kressel.Anonymous reviewers also provided helpful criticism. Of course, the book would not exist without the many people who allowed me to interview them.Although there are too many to list here, I am especially indebted to Tere Romo, RenéYáñez,Yolanda Garfias Woo, Maribel Simán DeLucca, Claudio DeLucca, Carmen Lomas Garza, Amalia MesaBains , John Leaños,Tomás Benitez, Barbara Henry, Nancy Chárraga, Patricia Rodríguez, Pita Ruíz, Estela Rubalcava Klink, Louise Torio, Carlos Von Son, Terry Alderete, and Mary Ann Thiem. It is a finer piece of research because of the views and expertise available to me from these individuals; however, any errors or oversights in the text are solely my own responsibility. Last but not least, I thank my parents, Roberta and Richard Marchi, and my entire family for their encouragement (and their understanding when I couldn’t make it to family get-togethers because of working on the book).A special thanks goes to Ignacio Ochoa, with whom I’ve had years of conversations about Latin American religious and cultural practices, and to Barbara McDonough, Nancy Lee, and Kathleen Collins for their moral support. Day of the Dead in the USA i ...