Postdoctoral Researcher
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin

Email. aazua4@central.uh.edu

Anneleise Azúa joins CCS as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Comparative Cultural Studies (starting November 1, 2021). She received her Ph.D. and M.A. in American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin, and her Bachelor’s Degree in Communication and Gender Studies from the University of Southern California.  In 2021, she was a Fulbright EDUFI fellow in the Department of Cultures at the University of Helsinki (Finland).  From 2018-2020, she served as a fellow and researcher in the Division of Medicine and Science at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.

Dr. Azúa is an anthropologist and public historian.  Born and raised in the Rio Grande Valley, she takes most of her personal and academic inspiration from the region. Her research focuses largely on Texas, Mexico, and the ways humans, plants, and the land create history and culture together. Currently, her work investigates the science of plant medicine and healing in Texas and Mexico, and its complex relationship with the environment, colonialism, and transnational understandings of race.