B.A. University of Richmond; American Studies, Music Performance

M.A., Ph.D. Tulane University; Anthropology

Joyce Bennett is an anthropologist whose research and teaching focus on sociocultural and sociolinguistic issues in Central and North America. She mostly focuses on the Kaqchikel Maya-speaking population of the Western highlands of Guatemala, but she also collaborates with ethnolinguistic groups throughout Guatemala and with Indigenous and other marginalized peoples in North America. She is an advocate of community engaged learning and regularly connects her courses to local communities. Professor Bennett is an avid supporter of multi-method and cross-disciplinary approaches. She firmly believes that learning and scholarship must be connected to the people and places academics study through mutual collaboration and respect.

Her current research focuses on Maya women in Guatemala and their attempts to protect their traditional weavings through intellectual property rights. She is the recipient of a Fulbright U.S. Scholars award in 2022-2023 and an Engaged Research Grant from the Wenner-Gren Foundation, also in 2022-2023, which supports that work. She was the Central American Visiting Scholar at the David D. Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University in the 2019-2020 academic year.

Professor Bennett publishes at the intersections of language revitalization, feminism, social justice, and political economy. Her articles appear in Journal of Linguistic Anthropology, International Journal of Women’s Studies, Maya America, and more. Professor Bennett’s first book, Good Maya Women: Migration, Clothing, and Language Revitalization in Highland Guatemala (University of Alabama Press, 2022), analyzes how indigenous women’s migration contributes to women’s empowerment in their home communities in Guatemala. Analyzing the life histories of migrant women exposes how women’s migration is the result of structural violence and how women subvert that violence, returning home to revitalize their indigenous Kaqchikel language and clothing. As women engage in revitalization work on a daily basis, they seek to earn the title of “good” women in their home communities. Using affect theory to analyze moments when women earn the title of “good” women highlights how women’s experiences of their activism gives them strength, even in a context where women’s activism continues to marginalize them in the broader Guatemalan context. Her book offers an analysis of neoliberal economic forces as more complex and perhaps even hopeful than traditional analyses. The ethnography promotes an understanding of Maya women’s lives and work outside of developmentalist, Westernized notions of empowerment and allows for a more nuanced scholarly analysis and representation of Maya women.

Courses Taught:

Introduction to Cultural Anthropology

Indigenous Women’s Social Movements in Latin America

Culture and Interpretation

Language Death and Revitalization

Publications:

February 2027. Kemtzij: Weaving Reciprocal Indigenous Ontologies in Kaqchikel Maya Arts. Amherst College Press. Edited with Tiffany D. Creegan-Miller.

“Arts, Textiles, Identity, Intellectual Property in Central America.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology. Ed. Mark Aldenderfer. New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming.

2025. “Mobile Maya Women and Materiality: Connecting Modern Migration and Material Records. In Moving Maya: Circulation en Espaces Mayas de 250 APR. J-C À Nos Jours, Juliette Danfakha and Clarissa Cagnato eds. Paris, France: Presses universitaires de Paris Nanterre. 57-76.

2023. Bennett, Joyce and Kimberly Sanchez. “Antiracist Praxis in Community Engagement: A Partnership Rubric.” International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement 11 (1).

2022. Good Maya Women: Migration, Clothing, and Language Revitalization in Highland Guatemala. University of Alabama Press.

2020. “Mothering through Language: Gender, Class, and Education in Language Revitalization among Kaqchikel Maya Women in Guatemala.” Journal of Linguistic Anthropology 30(2) 196-212. ��

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2020. Bennett, Joyce and Ambrocia Cuma. “Maya-americanos en casa: Los efectos de la migración de Guatemala a los EEUU en la región Kaqchikel.” Maya America. 2:1, Article 20.

2020. Bennett, Joyce, Mike Doyle, and Margie Giacalone (CC ’18). “Community-Engaged Learning for Immigration Justice: Building Solidarity through Praxis.” Teaching and Learning Anthropology Journal 3 (2) 28-46. https://doi.org/10.5070/T33246957

2019. “Comadre Work: Grassroots Feminism in a Kaqchikel Maya Town.” Journal of International Women’s Studies, 20 (6) 60-74.

2017. “I became more Maya”: International Kaqchikel Maya migration in Central America. Universitas Psycológica 16 (5): 1-13.

2015. “Xujal runa’öj: The Cultural and Linguistic Consequences of Kaqchikel Maya migration to the US.”Ni sombras ni proscritos: Indigenous Presence in the Latina/o Community, Label Me Latino.

2015. “Traje’s future: gendered paths in Guatemala.” Native American and Indigenous Studies Journal 2(1): 67-89.

2014. ““Puro Kaqchikel:” The discourse surrounding language standardization in highland Guatemala.” Fleur de Ling: Tulane University Working Papers. 1: 95-106.

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Recent Presentations:

2026������ Soft bellies: using qualia to understand aging versus ethnic marker change among Kaqchikel Maya women in Guatemala. Association for Anthropology, Gerontology, and the Life Course. UMass Amherst, May 9, 2026.

2025������ Writing in the Shadows of Ghosts: A Case for Changing Tenure and Promotion Standards to Support Writing with and for Anthropological Collaborators. American Anthropological Association, New Orleans, LA. November 17.

2025������ Migración maya Kaqchikel a Estados Unidos…..y de vuelta: Cuentos de migración como supervivencia. Ethnicidades mayas multisituadas entre estadounidos y mexico. PUIC-Universidad Auntónoma de Mexico. October 9, 2025. México City, Mexico.

2025������ Feminist Futures in the Maya World. World Anthropology Union; Antigua, Guatemala. November 8, 2025. Chair and Moderator.

2024������ Collaboration through Curriculum: How an Anthropology of Tourism Class is Supporting Grassroots Indigenous Women’s Activism in Guatemala. With Alex Coughlin; Jonathan Dayan; Dennis DeLaney; Kristen Hummer; Hope Johnston; Svet Kasem-Beg; Alexander Kowal; Andrew Kupovich; Julieta Moreira Reyes; Bridget O’Keefe; and Sarah Smith. Northeastern Anthropological Association Meetings; Providence, RI. April 13.

2024������ From Weaving to Wellbeing: Maya Women’s Quest for a Dignified Life. Institute of

Mesoamerican Studies, University of Albany. March 8, 2024.

2024������ Competencia Multicultural en la Investigación. Teóricas de la terapia familiar, Programa Maestría en Psicología, Universidad del Valle de Guatemala. Guatemala City, Guatemala. January 31, 2024.

Professor Ellasante is also a poet. In their ongoing “Diana” series, Diana (i.e., one of many names for a goddess of the moon, of womanhood, of the hunt) serves as an ambiguous proxy, representing both the narrator’s cherished womanhood and their changing relationship to their womanhood as a trans/nonbinary person. In these poems, Diana also represents a woman who, bearing witness to these social and physical transitions, is changing in her relationship to the narrator. These poems integrate creative production with an intervention in the field of transgender studies by expanding notions of what trans* is and what trans* can do; what gender and identity can be, in ways that are not just possible, but that are actual.

Pronouns: they/them

Website: iankharaellasante.com

Courses

• FYS 523: Poetry and Resistance Beyond the Gender Binary
• AF/GS 201: Race, Ethnicity, and Feminist Thought
• GSS 205: Queer Indigenous Studies
• GSS 206: Gender Traditions and Transformations in the Americas
• GSS 208: Transgender Studies
• GSSS15: Queer and Trans Reproductive Justice
• INDS 250: Interdisciplinary Studies: Methods and Modes of Inquiry
• GSS 312: Transgender Narratives
• GSS 313: Gender in American Indian Literature

Selected Publications

• 2022: When language fails and I exist. Pipe Wrench Magazine 7.
• 2021: Radical sovereignty, rhetorical borders, and the everyday decolonial praxis of Indigenous peoplehood and Two-Spirit Reclamation. ��Journal of Ethnic and Racial Studies 44. Published Open Access, available .
• 2020: Dear Trans Studies, Can you do love?��Transgender Studies Quarterly 7(3), 421-426.
• 2017: Pathways into and out of homelessness for LGBTQ2S youth. In A. Abramovich & J. Shelton (Eds.) Where Am I Going to Go? Intersectional Approaches to Ending LGBTQ2S Youth Homelessness in Canada & the U.S. (49-61). Toronto: Canadian Observatory on Homelessness. (with Wheeler, C. & Price, C.)
• 2016: iTEAM: Outcomes of an affirming system of care serving LGBTQ youth experiencing homelessness. Journal of Contemporary Social Services Families in Society 97(3), 181-190. (with Powell, C., Korchmaros, J.D., Haverly, K., & Stevens, S.)

Selected Poetry Publications

• “pale stones: a triptych,” in Writing the Land: Maine from NatureCulture, September 2022.
• “turn to sugar Diana” and “on forgetting Diana when i cannot see the moon,” in Nat. Brut Literary Magazine, Fall 2021.
• “let me tell you: Diana” and “are you kidding me Diana,” in We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics from Nightboat Books, November 2020.��Lambda Literary Awards Finalist
• “grandfather: a dialect of water,” New Millennium Writings, July 2020. Winner of the 49th New Millennium Award for Poetry
• “Diana: impending,” The Feminist Wire, February 2016
• “a dialect of water,” “earth, water, and what is built,” and “pale grandfathers,” Hinchas de Poesia��12, April 2014
• “Three Poems by Ian Ellasante,” The Feminist Wire, June 2013
• “hinge: tongue | poems and poetics,” The Volta: Evening Will Come, December 2012

Selected Invited Talks and Presentations

• “Toward the Empty Center: Journeys of Cultural Liminality and Elusive Authenticity,” Colby College, Boundaries and Margins Lecture Series, November 2020
• “Authentic and Affirming Support for LGBTQ+ Students of Color,” Moberly Area Community College Workshop, October 2020
• “Love and liberation,” Keynote Address, LGBTQ+ Rainbow Graduation, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, May 2019
• “Intersectionality: Identity and advocacy at the crossroads,” Keynote Addresss, Washington & Jefferson College, Washington, PA, November 2018
• “Sovereignty and story: Shaping LGBTQ, Two Spirit, and African Native American identities,” Indigenous People’s Day Conference, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, October 2017
• “Intentional space: Creating safe and affirming environments for LGBTQ young people,” National Conference on Ending Homelessness, Washington, DC, July 2017
• “System-level innovations to more effectively address the youth homelessness crisis,” National Symposium on Solutions to End Youth Homelessness, New York, NY, June 2017
• “Racial equity and homelessness” (with M. Dones), SPARC: Supporting Partnerships for Anti-Racist Communities, an initiative of Center for Social Innovation, March 2017
• “The value of advocacy for LGBTQ youth of color,” Black Life Matters Conference, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, January 2015

Selected Conference Presentations

• “Strengths-based collaboration with LGBTQ+ young people of color,” PFLAG National Convention, Kansas City, MO, October 2019
• “Black and Indigenous peoplehood, solidarity, and queer persistence,” Association for Jotería Arts, Activism and Scholarship (AJAAS) Conference, Portland State University, Portland, OR, October 2019
• “Settler-colonial biopolitics meets Indigenous peoplehood and persistence: Sexualities and genders,” Sexuality and Borders Symposium, New York University, New York, NY, April 2019
• “Re-Storying and re-naming: Two Spirit healing and resistance in the enduring face of settler colonialism,” American Indian Studies Association Conference, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, February 2018
• “In whose image: Trans and genderqueer writers on magic, spirituality, and (the bodies of) G—d” (with TC Tolbert, R. Aoki, CA Conrad, & J. Ladin), Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference, Los Angeles, CA, April 2016
• “Transitional age LGBTQ young adults: Creating a system of care to support resilience and empowerment,” Annual Conference on Integrated Healthcare, Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ, March 2016
• “All genders celebrated: Programming strategies to affirm and empower transgender and genderqueer youth,” Transgender Spectrum Conference, University of Missouri, St. Louis, MO, November 2015

Pridgeon’s second book, , was published in 2025 by University of Toronto Press. Absorption Narratives was the subject of a recent podcast interview with New Books Network. Click to listen.

Her third book, analyzing the role of visual imagery of the Mexican Revolution (photography and muralism) in 20th- and 21st-century Latin American literature, is under contract with University of Toronto Press.

Refereed Articles and Book Chapters:

“Aging as Rewriting: Liliana Heker’s��Noticias sobre el iceberg (2024)” Forthcoming in Hispanic Review.

“Donde todo ocurre simultáneamente: imaginería muralista en Paula de Isabel Allende.” . Eds. Inela Selimović and Marta Pérez-Carbonell. Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2026. 53-74.

“Writing Settler Relations: Jewish Literary Engagement With Indigenous Themes in Argentina and Canada.” (Co-authored with David Koffman). Eds. David S. Koffman and David M.K. Sheinin. Brill, 2024. pp. 177-192.

“Encuentros desafectados en Los perros de Marcela Said. Eds. Inela Selimović and Jorge González del Pozo. Iberoamericana, 2023. pp. 189-210.

“Jewish Guatemalan Fiction in a Global Context.”��. Eds. Gloria Chacón and Mónica Albizúrez. MLA Options for Teaching. 2022

“.” MELUS: Multiethnic Literatures of the United States. 2022

“”��Latin American Jewish Studies 1.1 (2022): 35-48.

“”��Armed Jews in the Americas. Eds. Raanan Rein and David Sheinin. Brill. 2021. pp. 222-46.

“”��Studies in Documentary Film�� 16.1 (2022): 68-82.

“.” Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies��29.2 (2020): 291-309.

“‘” (Co-authored with Katherine Ostrom, Emory University) Bulletin of Contemporary Hispanic Studies��2.1 (2020): 69-84.

“” Latin American Perspectives��46.3 (May 2019)

“” Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos 42.1 (2017): 99-121.

“” Hispanic Studies Review 2.2 (2017): 208-233.

“�Ę” Revista de Estudios Hispánicos 51.1 (2017): 101-125. DOI: 10.1353/rvs.2017.0005

“.” alter/nativas: latin american cultural studies journal 6 (Spring 2016).

“”��Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies 25.1 (2016): 83-103 DOI: 10.1080/13569325.2015.1091298

Public scholarship
“” The Forward Opinion. 6 June 2024.

Book Reviews, Review Essays, Encyclopedia Entries

The Poetry-Film Nexus in Latin America: Exploring Intermediality on Screen and Page. Eds. Ben Bollig and David M.J. Wood. Hispanic Research Journal (Forthcoming)

“” Oxford Bibliographies in Latino Studies. 2023

Caribbean Jewish Crossings: Literary History and Creative Practice. Eds. Sarah Phillips Casteel and Heidi Kaufman. Latin American Jewish Studies 1.2 (Fall 2022)

. Mirna Vohnsen. Rev. Revista de Estudios Hispánicos 54.3, 881-82.

. Ed. Marcela Crespo Buiturón. Rev. Revista de Estudios Hispánicos��54.2, 616-18

. Liz Harvey-Kattou. Rev. Bulletin of Spanish Studies, Vol. 97

��Chasqui��48.2 (2019), R15-R24. (Review Essay)

“.”����Latin American Research Review��53.3 (2018): 627-631. (Review essay)

. Antonio Gómez. Rev. Revista de Estudios Hispánicos. 51.1 (2017) 199-201. DOI: 10.1353/rvs.2017.0014

“” Encyclopedia of Latin American Religions. Ed. Henri Gooren, Springer (2017)
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-08956-0_269-1