Natalya Rodriguez

Natalya Rodriguez

Specialization: Cultural Anthropology, Material Culture of Japan, Anthropology of Dress

Email:natalyarodriguez@ucsb.edu

Curriculum Vitae: Download

Research Interests

My research focuses on the ways that people use cloth and dress as tools for identity formation, political advocacy, social power and economic revitalization. I am particularly interested in the ways that heritage textiles and traditional forms of dress are used for these ends, and in the strategies and struggles of various stakeholders to capitalize on the nonmaterial values embodied in these textiles and dress forms: culture, identity, and difference.

Advisors

Academic History

M.A. East Asian Languages & Cultures, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Thesis: “Kimono Threads: Unraveling Ontologies, Epistemologies, and Ethics”
- Committee: Dr. Jeffrey T. Martin (Chair), Dr. Robert Tierney, Dr. Roderick Ike Wilson

Teaching & Research Experience

Summer & Fall 2020: Research Assistant, “Yellow Peril Redux: America’s Cultural Responses to the Economic Rise of Japan and China” (Digital Humanities Project), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (PI: Dr. SHAO Dan)
Fall 2020: TA, EALC 230 “Pop Cultures of East Asia,” University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Spring 2022: TA, AS AM 8 “Intro to Asian American Gender & Sexuality,” UCSB Department of Asian American Studies
Summer 2022: TA, EACS 4B “East Asian Traditions: Modern,” UCSB Department of East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies
Fall, Winter, Spring 2022-2023: TA, JAPAN 1, 2, 3 “First-Year Japanese,” UCSB Department of East Asian Languages & Cultural Studies

Awards

2023: Graduate Student Association Summer Research Grant, UCSB
2021-2026: Central Doctoral Scholars Fellowship, UCSB
2020: EALC Graduate Research Fellowship, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2019-2021: Graduate College Fellowship, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2019-2020: CEAPS Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
2019-2020: EALC Ralph Tyler Award for Best Japanese Language Student, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign