Claudia Hernández Romero

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

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.