Robin Maria DeLugan
I am a professor of Anthropology at the University of California-Merced (BA, MA, PhD University of California-Berkeley). My research interrogates contemporary projects of nation-building by examining the role of new public memory sites that focus on past state and related violence. How do museums, monuments, and commemorations figure in efforts to connect past violence to racial, ethnic and other exclusions? How is the meaning and experience of national belonging transformed n the process?
Biography
In 2006 I began my faculty career at the University of California-Merced, then in its 2nd year of existence. Helping to build the 10th campus of the University of California system has been a once in a lifetime experience. From imagining a 21st century Anthropology program through Interdisciplinary Humanities graduate studies and always with an emphasis on community-engagement, I relish these past years. In my first book "Reimagining National Belonging: Post-civil war El Salvador in a Global Context" (2012) I chronicled nation-building projects in El Salvador including how they have resulted in improved dynamics between indigenous people and the nation-state. My research has evolved from my long-time focus on post-civil war El Salvador to also compare other national societies that grapple with their difficult pasts. "Remembering Violence: How Nations Grapple with their Difficult Pasts" (2020) brings the El Salvador case study in conversation with new public historical memory initiatives in Spain and the Dominican Republic and underscores a methodology that I have developed which also accounts for the role of diasporic citizens, the international community, and media alliances. My next project will focus on the United States and recent upsurge in public demand for historical memory to address the national experiences of Native Americans and Blacks.Education
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University of California-Berkeley (PhD, MA, BA)
Areas of Research / Professional Expertise
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The modern nation-state, national identity, race-ethnicity-nation, indigenous people and the nation-state, historical memory. Museums, monuments and commemorations. Transnationalism and diaspora. Community-engaged scholarship. Area studies with a degree of professional expertise: El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Spain, United States.
Personal Interests
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My personal interests involve politics and activism (from the local community level through international dynamics). Travel, good food and drink, sightseeing and meeting new people. I'm a film buff especially independent and international films.
Books
News
Tearing Down Monuments
By: Robin Maria DeLugan
Subjects: Anthropology - Soc Sci, History
My commentary "Tearing Down Monuments", published in Fresno's Community Alliance Newspaper aims to broadenin the audience and community for my research. Community-engaged scholarship is a personal priority.