Department of Society, Culture, and Language
CURRICULUM VITAE
Ella Schmidt
Department of Society, Culture, and Language
University of South Florida, St. Petersburg
140 Seventh Ave. South DAV 258
St. Petersburg, Florida 33701-5016
ACADEMIC TRAINING
University of California, Davis, Davis, California
Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology
Université de Paris VII – Jussieu, Paris, France
Masters in Cultural Anthropology
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Lima, Perú
B.A. in Cultural Anthropology
SPECIAL TRAINING
Medical Spanish Instructor – Intensive Training Program offered by the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) Program/USF College of Medicine in collaboration with the Padovan Language Institute of Miami, Florida – June 1996.
LANGUAGES
Spanish, French, English and some German.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
I have designed and taught the following courses:
People of the Andes, with a Study Abroad component in Pisac (Cusco), Peru
Mexico and Central America (Anthropology Course)
Anthropological Linguistics
Ethnic Diversity in the U.S. (Anthropology/Exit Course
Gender in Cross Cultural Perspectives (Anthropology/Exit Course
Women and Development in Latin America (Interdisciplinary Social Studies)
Senior Seminar in the Interdisciplinary Social Sciences (Interdisciplinary Social
Studies-Capstone Research and Writing Seminar
Social Perspectives I and II – (Learning Communities) University of South
Florida,
Non-Western Perspectives – (Learning Communities) University of South
Florida,
Class and Ethnicity in the Americas (Interdisciplinary Social Studies
(Exit course)
The Social Construction of Knowledge and Reality: a Conversation
(Interdisciplinary Social Studies (Intro.course)
Language and Culture
Graduate Seminar in Linguistic Anthropology (Anthropology Dept.), University
of South Florida
OTHER TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Invited intensive Graduate Seminar on “Cultural Citizenship.” Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas (IIA). Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM), Mexico City. October 13-17th, 2008.
Secondary Social Studies High School Teachers District-Wide Training, Pinellas County. Workshop on Indigenous Mexican Migrant Students. St. Petersburg, August 14th, 2013.
Research mentor and supervisor of Mexican Masters Students form the Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo (UAEH) working with indigenous migrants in Clearwater, Florida. Fall 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.
Medical Spanish (Area Health Education Centers), University of South Florida, 1997,
2001, 2003
RECENT JOB EXPERIENCE
August 2010– to date - Associate Professor, Dept. of Society, Culture and Language, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg
August 2003 –2010 - Assistant Professor, Interdisciplinary Social Studies, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg.
February 2004 to May 2005 – Consultant, OMG Center for Collaborative Learning, Philadelphia/Marguerite Casey Foundation, Seattle: “Learning Community Clusters.”
August 2002 to May 2003 – Visiting Assistant Professor, Interdisciplinary Social Studies, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg.
July 1998 to May 2002 – Visiting Instructor, Interdisciplinary Social Studies/Learning Communities, University of South Florida, Tampa
September 1996 to June 1998 – Grant Coordinator, International Affairs Center, University of South Florida (part-time position).
- Adjunct Professor, Anthropology Dept. University of South Florida (Master Seminar in Linguistic Anthropology).
FELLOWSHIPS
W.K. Kellogg Foundation – Graduate Studies
Inter-American Foundation - “ “
GRANTS and AWARDS
USF-Hispanic Heritage Status of Latinos (SOL)– Faculty Award
USF – Saint Petersburg – Internal Research/Creative Scholarship Grant. Summer 2014.
USF– International Travel Grant. Fall 2013.
Fulbright-Garcia Robles – Associate Professor Research Grant. 2011- 2012
The Global as Local: Hñahñu Communal Ethos Revisited. One-year research
among indigenous Hñahñu of Mezquital Valley, Hidalgo, Mexico focusing on
communal citizenship and identity and deliberative democratic-consensus seeking
processes present in communal self-governing structures and procedures.
USF – Saint Petersburg – New Investigator Research Grant – Summer 2004
Straddling the Tracks: Mexican Migrants and Diverging Realities. Summer research grant to do comparative work between farmworker rural communities in Pasco Co., Florida and urban Mexican migrants in Clearwater, Florida.
USF Globalization Research Center (GRC) –2002-2003
Seed grant to fund preliminary research on the connections between economic
integration and civic participation of transnational communities and the effects
these connections have on the host communities and the communities of origin.
The project entitled BuildingTransnational Community Linkages: The
Hidalgo-Clearwater Connection focused on the communities of Mexican
immigrants in the Clearwater area and their communities of origin in Mexico.
Proposal submitted jointly with María Crummett – University of Tampa.
University of South Florida (USF) – University Community Initiative/Instructional
Grant - 2000-2001
Course Title: Rural Realities: Florida’s Farmworkers. Upper division course with
strong service component with local farmworker communities.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP/SERVICE
Society for Applied Anthropology-Fellow
Latin American Studies Association-Member
Fulbright Scholar Discipline Peer Review Committee Member – August 2013-
April 2016
Sponsor of Fulbright Research Fellow – Greek Diaspora – Florida – December
2015-March 2016.
Occasional reviewer for:
Journal Globalizations-International Editorial Board Member
Estudios de Cultura Otopame-Manuscript Reviewer
Dimensión Antropológica – Manuscript Reviewer
American Anthropologist – Manuscript Reviewer
New York University Press – Book reviewer
The Historian – Book Reviewer
Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology - Book reviewer
Routledge-Religion & Anthropology – Book Proposal Reviewer
Perspectives on Sciences: Special Issue on Populations of Cognition
Co-Convener-Dialogic Conference on Globalization and Culture.
Globalization Research Center/USF-Tampa, Spring 2006
Co-Chair Symposium-“Lugar de orígen, lugar de destino. La transnacionalidad de
los migrantes.” 53rd International Congress of Americanists, Mexico
D.F. July 19-24, 2009
Co-Chair-XI International Colloquium on Otopame, Migration, Extended
Community, and Citizenship. University of South Florida, St. Petersburg.
September 14-18, 2009.
PUBLICATIONS
Schmidt, Ella. “History as Narration: resistance and subaltern subjectivity in Micaela
Bastidas’ “Confession.”Feminist Review 113(1)2016: 34-49.
Schmidt Ella. “Ciudadanía comunal y patrimonio cultural indígena: el caso del Valle
del Mezquital, Hidalgo. Dimensión Antropológica (Instituto Nacional de
Antropología e Historia, Mexico D.F.) 20(59)2013: 147-162.
Schmidt, Ella. “Otavalo Diaspora in Historical Perspective: Different Opportunities,
Different Paths”. In Encyclopedia of Global Human Migration. Wiley
Blackwell. 2012.
Schmidt, Ella. “Citizenship from below: Hñahñu heritage in a transnational world.”
Latino Studies 10(1-2)2012: 196-219.
Baez Cubero, L., Crummett, Maria, Fierro Alonso, U. J., Garret Rios, M.G., Moreno
Alcántara, B. and Schmidt, Ella. “De mi parcela al ancho mundo.” Efectos de la
movilidad en Hidalgo, México y Clearwater, Florida, Estados Unidos. IN La
migración indígena. Causas y efectos en la cultura, en la economía y en la
población. Etnografia de los Pueblos Indígenas de México Series. Comisión
Nacional de Antropología e Historia-Instituto de Antropología e Historia. México, D.F. 2012.
Schmidt, Ella. “Marginales o Ciudadanos? El Caso de los ÑähÑus en Clearwater,
Florida. In Homenaje a Yolanda Lastra. X Coloquio Internacional de
Otopames. Ana María Salazar & Verónica Kugel, eds. Mexico D.F.: Universidad Autónoma de México and Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas. 2010.
Schmidt, Ella. The Dream Fields of Florida: Mexican Farmworkers and the Myth
of Belonging. Lanham: Lexington Books. 2009
Schmidt, Ella.Localismo, Globalismo y la Expansión de Tradiciones Culturales: el Caso
de los Hñahñu (Otomí) de Hidalgo, Mexico y Clearwater, Florida. Estudios de
Cultura Otopame. Vol. VI. UNAM: Instituto de Investigaciones
Antropológicas. 2008
Stavig, Ward & Ella Schmidt. The Tupac Amaru and Catarista Rebellions: An
Anthology of Sources. Edited and translated by Ward Stavig and Ella Schmidt
with an introduction by Charles Walker. Mass.: Hackett Publishing Co. 2008.
Archer, Kevin, M. Martin Bosman, M. Mark Amen & Ella Schmidt. Cultures of
Globalization. Coherence, Hybridity, Contestation. London and New York:
Routledge. 2008
Schmidt, Ella. “Whose Culture? Globalism, Localism, and the Expansion of Tradition;
the Case of the Hñähñu of Hidalgo, Mexico and Clearwater, Florida.” Special
Issue of Globalizations “Cultures of Globalization: Coherence, Hybridity, and
Contestation” 4(1)2007: 101-114.
Archer, K, M. Bosman, M. Amen & E. Schmidt. “Locating Globalizations and
Cultures.” Special Issue of Globalizations“Cultures of Globalization:
Coherence, Hybridity, and Contestation.” 4(1)2007: 1-14.
Archer, K., M. Bosman, M. Amen and E. Schmidt. “Hegemony-Counter-Hegemony:
Imagining a New, Post-Nation-State Cartography of Culture in an Age of
Globalization.” Special Issue of Globalizations “Cultures of Globalization:
Coherence, Hybridity, and Contestation.” 4(1)2007: 115-135.
Schmidt, Ella. “Sustainable Community for Sustainable Development: A Case Study of
the Mujeres Reunidas Cooperative in Hidalgo, Mexico.” Journal of Developing
Societies22(4)2006: 379-400.
Schmidt, Ella. “Sustainable Community for Sustainable Development: “Mujeres
Reunidas”and the Hñähñu of Hidalgo, Mexico.” In Poverty and Environmental
Sustainability: Global Perspectives. Tampa: Patel Center for Global Solutions.
Schmidt, Ella & María Crummett. “Herencias recreadas: capital social y cultural entre
los hñahñu en Florida e Hidalgo.” In Jonathan Fox & Gaspar Rivera Salgado, eds
Migrantes Indígenas Mexicanos en los Estados Unidos. América Latina y el
Nuevo Orden Mundial Series. Mexico: Miguel Angel Porrúa y Universidad
Autonónoma de Zacatecas. 2004
Schmidt, Ella & María Crummett. “Heritage Recreated: Hidalguenses in the U.S. and
Mexico,” In Jonathan Fox & Gaspar Rivera Salgado, eds. Indigenous Mexican
Migrants in the United States. Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies & Center for
Comparative Immigration Studies. San Diego: Univ. of California. 2004
Schmidt, Ella. “Schools and the Failure of the American Dream,” Punto Final. The
Hispanic Outlook for Higher Education. November 2000.
Orlove, Benjamin & Ella Schmidt. “Swallowing their pride: indigenous and industrial
beer inPeru and Bolivia,” Theory and Society 24(1995):271-298
Quiros, C.F., R. Ortega, L.van Raamsdonk, M. Herrera-Montoya, P. Cisneros, E.Schmidt
& S.Brush. “Increase of potato genetic resources in their center of diversity: the
role ofnatural outcrossing and selection by the Andean farmer,” Genetic
Resources and CropEvaluation 39(1992):107-113.
Schmidt, Ella. “Estrategias Tradicionales de Almacenamiento de Papa Autoconsumo en
el Dpto.del Cusco.” Documento de Trabajo 1989-2. Lima: Dept. de Ciencias
Sociales, CentroInternacional de la Papa.
Brush, S. M. Bellon & E. Schmidt. “Agricultural Development and Maize Diversity in
Mexico,” Human Ecology 16(1988):307-328.
Schmidt, Ella, O. Cuyubamba, R. Rhoades, & R. Booth. A case study of the generation,
transfer and adoption of the diffused light technology for storing seed potato
tubers in Peru. Part II in Developing an appropriate technology for small farmers
in Third World countries. Lima: Centro Internacional de la Papa (CIP). 1985.
Rhoades, R., R. Booth, E. Schmidt. An illustration of CIP’s approach to the generation
and transfer of post-harvest technologies. Part I in Developing an appropriate
technology for small farmers in Third World countries. Lima: Centro
Internacional de la Papa (CIP). 1985.
Bidegaray, Pedro & E. Schmidt. “Selección y adopción de variedades de papa en
Cusco,” Sur.Boletín Informativo Agrario VII(1985):17-22. Cusco, Perú.
BOOK REVIEWS
Envisioning America: New Chinese Americans and the Politics of Belonging. Tritia
Toyota. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press, 2009. American Anthropologist
112(4):686-87.
Equality in Difference: hierarchical multiculturalism and membership illusions. –
Duncan Ivinson. Ed. The Ashgate Research Companion to Multiculturalism.
Human Studies 34(4)2011: 489-494.
The Tupac Amaru Rebellion. Charles F. Walker. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard
University Press. The Historian. Forthcoming.
The Mayans among Us. Migrant Women and Meatpacking on the Great Plains. Ann L. Sittig and Martha Florinda Gonzalez. Lincoln and London: University of
Nebraska Press. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology.
Forthcoming
BOOK ENDORSEMENTS
Sarat, Leah. Fire in the Canyon. Religion, Migration, and the Mexican Dream. New
York: New York University Press. 2013.
RECENT PRESENTATIONS
"Memory, Identity and Migration." Invited Key Note Presentation. XVII
International Colloquium of Otopame.Universidad Autónoma del
Estado de Mexico, Toluca, Mexico. October 17-21st, 2016
“La recreación de la identidad en contextos diaspóricos: el caso Hñahñu.” Invited
teleconference. Anthropology and Globalization Symposium: Migration and
Identity. Universidad Autonóma del Estado de México, Toluca. April 27th, 2016.
“Communal Citizenship and indigenous cultural commons; the case of the Valle del
Mezquital, Mexico.” Society for Applied Anthropology, 2013 Annual Meeting. Denver, April 19-23, 2013
“Towards a New Geometry of migration: transnational migration and the nation-
state.” XXX International Congress of theLatin American Studies Association.
San Francisco, May 23-26,2012
“Ciudadanía comunal y patrimonio cultural indígena: el caso del Valle del
Mezquital, Hidalgo.” 1er Seminario Internacional Permanente de la Cátedra
UNESCO. Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Hidalgo. (UAEH) Pachuca,
Hidalgo, April 18th, 2012.
“Ciudadanía comunal y patrimonio cultural indígena: el caso del Valle del
Mezquital, Hidalgo.” 3er Congreso Nacional de Ciencias Sociales. Eje 11:
Patrimonio Cultura e Identidades Colectivas.Consejo Mexicano de Ciencias
Sociales. Mexico, D.F., February 26-March1st, 2012.
“Still a Dream: Membership, Inequality, and the American Dream.” Hispanic
Leadership Conference “Embracing our Changing Community. Promoting
Understanding and Collaboration.” Clearwater, FL, July 30th, 2010.
“Hñahñus de Clearwater y de Ixmiquilpan.” Key Note Paper. XI International
Otopame Colloquium. St. Petersburg, Florida. University of South Florida-St.
Petersburg, September 14-18, 2009.
“Ciudadanía desde abajo: herencias culturales en un mundo transnacional. El caso
hñähñu.” Lugar de orígen, lugar de destino. La transnacionalidad de los
migrantes. Symposium at the 53rd International Americanists Congress. Mexico
D.F., July 19-24, 2009.
“Marginales o Ciudadanos?: el caso de los Hñähñu en Clearwater, Florida.” Key
Note Paper.X Coloquio Internacional de Otopames 2008. Mexico, D.F. October
20-24, 2008
“La Historia como Narrativa: resistencia y subjetividad subalterna en las
confesiones de Micaela Bastidas.” II Coloquio Internacional de Historia y
Literatura. Universidad de Guanajuato, Mexico. October 1-4, 2008.
“From Hidalgo to Clearwater.” Providing Services to a Multicultural Community in
Healthcare Settings. An Educational Program sponsored by the Hispanic
Leadership Council. Clearwater, FL. September 26th, 2008.
“Ritos de la vida cívica. Espacio y cultura en la construcción de una ciudadanía
local.” IX Coloquio Internacional sobre Otopames 2007. Universidad de
Veracruz. Xalapa, Veracruz. November 12-16, 2007.
“Whose Culture? Globalism, Localism, and the Expansion of Tradition; the Case of
the Hñähñu of Hidalgo, Mexico and Clearwater, Florida.” Dialogic
Conference Globalization, Cities, and the Production of Culture. University of
South Florida, Tampa, April 5-7th, 2006
“Rituals of Daily Life: Space and Culture in the Construction of Local Citizenship.”
Dialogic Conference Globalization and Civic Space: Cities, Community Life and
the Public Sphere. U. of Hawaii-Globalization Research Center, Hawaii, August
15-17th, 2005.
“Transnacionalismo y Migración: el caso de los Hñähñu del Valle del Mezquital en
Clearwater, Florida.” Invited paper with María Crummett. Seminario sobre
Migración Indígena-Problemas Teórico-Metodológicos y Estudios de Caso.
Comisión Nacional para el Desarrollo de los Pueblos Indígenas/Universidad
Autónoma de México (UNAM)/Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales, México
City. April 21st-22nd, 2005.
“Sustainable Community for Sustainable Development: “Mujeres Reunidas” and
the Hñähñu ofHidalgo, México.” Invited paper. Symposia on Globalization
and Sustainable Development. USF Globalization Research Center, Tampa,
Florida. April 7th, 2005.
“Ciudadanía hñähñu: lecciones comunitarias en un mundo individualista; notas
preliminares.” Invited Key Note Paper. VI Coloquio Internacional Sobre
Otopames-Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas/Universidad Autónoma de
México (UNAM). México City, November 8-12, 2004.
“Heritage Recreated: Cultural and Social entrepreneurship among the Hñähñu in
the U.S. andMexico” with María Crummett. Latin American Studies
Association (LASA) XXVInternational Congress, Las Vegas, October 7-9, 2004.
“Herencias Recreadas: Capital Social y Cultural entre los Hñahñu en Florida e
Hidalgo,” with Maria Crummett. Seminario sobre Migración Indígena.
Coordinación Nacional deAntropología-Instituto Nacional de Antropología e
Historia. México City, August 27th, 2004.
“Heritage Recreated: the Hidalgo-Clearwater Connection,” 34th Annual Meeting of
the Urban Affairs Association, Washington D.C., March 31-April 3, 2004.
“Herencias Recreadas: Hidalguenses en los Estados Unidos y México,” with María
Crummett. First International Colloquium on Migration and Development:
“Transnationalism and New Perspectives for Integration.” Zacatecas, México,
October 23-25, 2003.
“Spheres of Influence and Area Studies: The Hidalgo-Clearwater Connection.”
With María Crummett. XXIV International Congress-LASA, Dallas, March 27-
29th, 2003
“Building Transnational Communities: The Hidalgo-Clearwater Connection.” With
MaríaCrummett. 16th Annual Research Conference: Expanding the Research
Base-USF Department of Child and Family Studies (FMHI), March 2-5, 2003.
“Global Citizens and American Spaces: the Hidalgo-Clearwater Story.”
101st Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, November 20-24, 2002.
“Appropriating the National Discourse: Mexican Farmworkers and Readings of
Citizenship.” National Association of Hispanic and Latino Studies, Houston,
February 12-17, 2001.
“Consumption Dynamics among Mexican Farmworkers in Central Florida:
Mexican Farmworkers and the Dream of Belonging,” Social Science History
AssociationConference, Pittsburgh, October 26-29, 2000.
“No me importa: Schools and the Failure of the American Dream,” Hispanic
Professional Women Association Luncheon, Tampa, May 5th, 1999.
“Domestic Violence and Latino Culture: How to Help Latino Women in a
CulturallyMeaningful Way.” Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Annual ConferenceSt. Petersburg, Florida, May 5-6, 1994.
“Cultural Perspectives on Women and Development: the Case of the Southern
Andes of Peru,”Women in Agriculture Conference, Univ. of California, Davis,
January 29th, 1990.
“Introducing Anthropology into Regional and National Programs: the Case of
Peru,” Social Sciences Planning Conference-Session V. International Potato
Center, Lima, Peru.September 1987.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Hispanic Outreach Center, Clearwater – Council Member
Intercultural Advocacy Institute, Clearwater – Board Member 2008-2014
Consejo Mexicano de la Bahia de Tampa (CMBT), Clearwater-Advisory Group
Member
Summer Program for Hispanic Young Women – CMBT-St.Pete College, Clearwater.
2002, 20013, 2014,
Mexican Consulate, Orlando - Grant Evaluator-Instituto Mexicano de Becas (IME) for
Mexican and Mexican American students. 2012, 2013, 2014
Speaker - Latin American Folk Culture in Florida. Tarpon Springs Cultural Center,
September 20th, 2013.
Moderator – St. Petersburg in the World Conference. USF St. Petersburg, March 2013.
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