Stephanie Litka

PhD candidate, advisor Dr. Michael Uzendoski; MA Anthropology (2004) University of Florida, BA Spanish and Portuguese (2001) University of Florida

I am a PhD candidate in cultural/linguistic anthropology, focusing on tourism and language usage among the Maya of southern Mexico. I'm interested in the relationship between language and identity, attitudes towards language use and the tourism industry, and the overall linguistic construction of personhood created through the interaction between Maya workers and foreign tourists. Other topics of interest include historical/comparative linguistics, gender and language, Maya history, and various aspects of cultural anthropology. I will teach Language and Culture starting in fall 2007 and have been a TA for this class and Intro. to Cultural Anthropology for the past three years. My advisor is Dr. Uzendoski, and also study under the supervision of Dr. Hellweg, Dr. Pohl, and Dr. Sunderman.