Lydia Rodriguez
Associate Professor, Linguistic Anthropology
http://www.lydiarodriguez.aibr.org/
Education
Ph.D. 2014, University of Virginia
Profile
I am a linguistic anthropologist with an interest in linguistic relativity, the anthropology of time, spontaneous gesture, and discourse analysis. My work explores the relationship between grammatical categories and cognition, and how the language that we speak may influence thought patterns and worldview.
My research focuses on the multi-modal analysis of conversation and discourse in a variety of cultural and linguistic contexts; I have conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Quito (Ecuador), Madrid (Spain), Chiapas (Mexico), and Dallas (United States). Lately, I have become interested in politicians' gestures and their relationship to political discourse. Some of my latest research examines gesture-speech mismatches in political discourse and the effects of deception in speech-accompanying gestures.
I welcome inquiries from students and colleagues interested in linguistic anthropology.
Select Publications
Rodríguez Cuevas, Lydia. 2023. "Las lenguas del parlamento." In ARIES, Anuario de Antropología Iberoamericana, October 2023. doi:10.11156/aries/2023.AR0011910.
Rodríguez, Lydia. 2023. "The Languages of the Mind." In Déjà Lu (World Council of Anthropological Associations). Issue 11, March 2023.
Rodríguez, Lydia. 2022. "Dickens in Chol." Language and Cognition. Issue: Time in language and Cognition: Understudied Venues. Heng Li and Julio Santiago, eds. 14: 2, 303-331. doi:10.1017/langcog.2022.1
Rodríguez, Lydia. 2021. "Los lenguajes del pensamiento." Revista de Antropología Iberoamericana (Journal of Iberoamerican Anthropology) 2021, 16, 1: 61-87. AIBR AWARD TO THE BEST ARTICLE IN IBEROAMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGY.
Rodríguez, Lydia. 2019a. "Time is not a line. Temporal co-speech gestures in Chol Mayan".
Journal of Pragmatics. 151 (2019): 1-17
Rodríguez, Lydia and Sergio López. 2019b. "Performing Healing: Repetition, Frequency, and Meaning Response in a Chol Maya Healing Ritual." In Anthropology of Consciousness, Vol. 30, Issue 1, pp. 42-63. TOP DOWNLOADED ARTICLE IN ANTHROPOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS DURING ITS FIRST 12 MONTHS OF PUBLICATION
Rodríguez, Lydia and Sergio López. 2019c. "The crossroads of time". In The Culture of Invention in the Americas. P. Pitarch. and J.A. Kelly, eds. 158-184. Sean Kingston.
Rodríguez, Lydia. 2016. "From Discourse to Thought: An Ethnopoetic Analysis of a Chol Mayan Folktale" Signs and Society 4 (2): 278-231. University of Chicago Press.
Rodríguez, Lydia. 2013. "Repetición y paralelismo en una ceremonia de pedida matrimonial Chol" In Entre Diversidades, 1: 121-147. Universidad Autónoma de Chiapas.
Courses at SUNY Potsdam:
ANTH 480 Anthropology Senior Seminar, ANTH 420 Linguistic Diversity, ANTH 360 Cultures of Mexico and Central America, ANTH 203 Language and Culture, LNGS 301 Language and Structure, ANTH 165 Language and Magic, WAYS 102 Mysteries of the Maya, ANTH 108 Worlds of English, INTD 491 Research Assistant Internship, ANTH 499 TA Internship in Linguistic Anthropology.