Education

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), University of California, Los Angeles, June 2019
World Arts & Cultures (Culture & Performance)
Dissertation: Proyecto Jardín Community Garden: Traditional Medicine and Health Among Latinxs in Boyle Heights
Chairs: Allen F. Roberts & Vickie Mays

Bio and Affiliation

Claudia J. Hernández Romero is an Associate Professor of Sustainability & Sustainability Minor Area Head at Otis College of Art & Design. She holds a Ph.D. from UCLA's Culture and Performance Program in the World Arts & Cultures Department, specializing in Folklore Studies—her dissertation Proyecto Jardín Community Garden: Traditional Medicine and Health Among Latinx in Boyle Heights, explores the intersections between place, identity, and health. Hernández Romero’s courses center on food justice, decolonizing ethnographic methodologies, and applying a critical environmental justice lens to sustainability studies in the classroom and communities. In addition to her academic pursuits, Hernández Romero dances Afro-Cuban social and folkloric dances and is a performance artist whose work emphasizes storytelling through improvisational movement and visual installations that explore belonging, indigeneity, immigration, and Latinidad. Notable publications include Applied Folklore, Account-Ability, and Social Responsibility; Salvie Mom’s Beans; and Botánicas: Sites of Healing and Community Support. Projects in the works include The Campus Garden: From Start to Build-Out and Women Healers in the City of Angels.

Claudia Hernández Romero project
Claudia Hernández Romero gardening project
Claudia Hernández Romero gardening project
Claudia Hernández Romero gardening project
Claudia Hernández Romero gardening project

 

Claudia Hernández Romero faculty portrait

Awards and Honors

  • Faculty Development Grant, Fall 2023

Professional Accomplishments and Exhibitions

  • Appointed as Full-time Associate Professor of Sustainability, Spring 2023
  • Installation of permanent California Natives Sensory Garden at Otis College of Art & Design with Otis Goes Green students, Spring 2023

Publications

  • (forthcoming) Applied Folklore, Account-Ability, and Social Responsibility
  • Salvie Mom’s Beans
  • Botánicas: Sites of Healing and Community Support
  • Latina/o Traditional Medicine in Los Angeles: Asking About, Archiving, and Advocating Cultural Resources
  • Miraculous Migrants to the City of Angels: Perceptions of El Santo Niño de Atocha
  • San Simón as a Source of Help and Healing