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Dr. Sheedy joined USD's Department of Anthropology and Sociology in 2022. She is a cultural and linguistic anthropologist, who works in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico and in Belize with Yucatec Maya speakers.
Dr. Sheedy's current courses include:
Cultural Anthropology
Linguistic Anthropology
Socio-Cultural Theory
Shamanism, Magic, and Witchcraft
Art and Anthropology
Anthropology of Folklore
Cross-Cultural Study of Women
Anthropology of Food
World Ethnography
Ethnographic Methods
Cultural Anthropology, Linguistic Anthropology, Mesoamerican Studies, Indigenous Studies, Religious Studies, Gender Studies, Folklore, Maya Culture and Language
- Ph D, Anthropology, University at Albany-SUNY, 2019
- MA, Anthropology, Texas State University, 2011
- BA, Anthropology, SUNY Cortland, 2008
- Social and Behavioral Responsible Conduct of Research, CITI Program
- Human Research - Group 2 Social Behavioral Research Investigators and Key Personnel, CITI Program
- Maya Women's Worlds: Speech and Practice in a Maya Community, Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, (2021 - 2022)
- A&S Travel Grant Program, College of Arts and Sciences, (2024 - 2024)
- Empowering Belizean Heritage Through Bioarchaeology: An educational and capacity building workshop for current and future generations in Belize, Wenner-Gren Foundation, (2024 - Present)
- A&S Travel Grant Program, College of Arts and Sciences, (2023 - 2023)
- A&S Travel Grant Program, College of Arts and Sciences, (2022 - 2022)
Citations listed below are presented in a standardized, modified format for display purposes only. They do not necessarily reflect the preferred style and conventions of the faculty member or discipline.
- Sheedy, Crystal. Maya-British Conflict at the Edge of the Yucatecan Caste War. Christine A. Kray. Denver, CO: University Press of Colorado, 2023, 258 pp., $30.95, cloth. ISBN 9781646425648.. Albuquerque, NM: Journal of Anthropological Research, 2024.
- Sheedy, Crystal. U T’aan Nukuch Máak (Words of the Elders): Defining A Yucatec Maya ‘Speech’ Genre., Editors Marie Annereau-Fulbert & Cédric Becquey, 99-126. Vol. 63 Mexico City, DF: Estudios de Cultura Maya, 2024.
- Sheedy, Crystal. Using Commodified Representations to ‘Perform’ and ‘Fashion’ Cultural Heritage among Yucatec Maya Women (Mexico)., Editors Professor Mike Robinson and Josef Ploner, 115-130. Vol. 20, Iss. 1-2 Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 2022.
- Sheedy, Crystal. Turning Babies into Mayas., Editors Ian Mursell. Mexicolore, 2020.
- Sheedy, Crystal. Speaking in Tongues: The Importance of Speaking Indigenous Languages in Health Care. In Maternal Health, Pregnancy-Related Morbidity and Death among 2 Indigenous Women of Mexico & Central America: An Anthropological, Epidemiological and Biomedical Approach, editors David Schwartz, 51-61. Springer Nature, 2018.
- Sheedy, Crystal. Máasewáal or mestizo?: Configuring Indigeneity in the Yucatán Peninsula. Albany, NY: Mesoamerica.
- Sheedy, Crystal, ‘Home’ Is Where the Conflict Is: Examining Maya Women’s Evaluative Speech . Presented at the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Tampa, FL. (November 21, 2024)
- Sheedy, Crystal, Gendered Spaces: Speech and Practice Surrounding the K'óoben. Presented at the 2nd Coloquio Internacional Sobre Género y Sexualidad en la Historia del Área Maya, Mexico City, Mexico. (September 25, 2024)
- Sheedy, Crystal, Transitions in the Maya World: Exploring Shifts in Landscape, Ways of Knowing, and Language Ideologies throughout Mexico and Guatemala. Presented at the American Anthropological Association (AAA)/Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA), Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (November 15, 2023)
- Sheedy, Crystal, Way Yaano’one’ (We are Here): Indigenous Geographies of Valladolid, Yucatán . Presented at the American Anthropological Association (AAA)/Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA), Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (November 15, 2023)
- Sheedy, Crystal, and Vaske, Lauren , “Sharing the Dream”: Building Transnational Spaces in the Great Plains . Presented at the Plains Anthropological Society Annual Meeting, Rapid City, SD. (October 21, 2023)
- Sheedy, Crystal, U T'aan Nukuch Maak (Words of the Elders): An Example of Yucatec Maya Women's Embodied Knowledge. Presented at the Primer Coloquio Internacional Sobre Genero y Sexualidad en la Historia del Area Maya, Mexico City, Mexico (Presented Remotely). (September 19, 2023)
- Sheedy, Crystal, A Contentious Legacy: Unsettling Anthropology's Landscape to Build a Collaborative Discipline. Presented at the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Seattle, WA. (November 12, 2022)
- Sheedy, Crystal, Co-Creating Narratives about Yucatec Maya Culture. Presented at the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Seattle, WA. (November 12, 2022)
- Sheedy, Crystal, Contesting ‘Maya’-ness: Positioning Claims to ‘Maya’ and ‘Indigenous’ in the Context of Modernity. Presented at the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Baltimore, MD. (November 2021)
- Sheedy, Crystal, Máasewáal or Mestiza?: Configuring Indigeneity in the Yucatán Peninsula. Presented at the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Baltimore, MD. (November 2021)
- Sheedy, Crystal, Women’s Symbolic Space: Ancient Concepts in Maya Life Today. Presented at the Mesoamerica Meetings, Austin, TX. (January 2020)
- Sheedy, Crystal, The Fear of Reflection: Taking a Reciprocal Ethnographic Approach. Presented at the American Anthropological Association (AAA)/Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA), Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada). (November 2019)
- Sheedy, Crystal, Escucha a Ella: Indigenous Women’s Narratives in Mexico and Central America. Presented at the Latin American Studies Association (LASA), Boston, MA. (May 2019)
- Sheedy, Crystal, U T’aan Nukuch Máak (Advice of the Elders): An Entrance into Maya Women’s Symbolic World. Presented at the American Anthropological Association (AAA), San Jose, CA. (November 2018)
- Sheedy, Crystal, Turning Babies into ‘Mayas’: An Analysis of the Heets Méek’ Ceremony. Presented at the American Folklore Society (AFS), Buffalo, NY. (October 2018)
- Sheedy, Crystal, Home as a Symbolic Space: Examples from Yucatec Maya Women’s Oral Literature. Presented at the Society for Linguistic Anthropology (SLA) Bi-Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA. (March 2018)
- Sheedy, Crystal, “A Woman’s Work is Never Done!”: Maya Women’s Competing Moral Obligations in a Changing World. Presented at the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Washington, D.C.. (November 2017)
- Sheedy, Crystal, Ancestral ‘Words’ in a Changing World: Maya Women’s Oral Literature. Presented at the American Folklore Society (AFS), Minneapolis, MN. (October 2017)
- Sheedy, Crystal, ‘Lying Roads’: Maya Women’s Work and Cultural Realities in a Changing World. Presented at the Central States Anthropological Society Conference, Lincoln, NE. (April 2017)
- Sheedy, Crystal, "Chismes is the Curse of Small Villages”: Situating Two Maya Women’s Moral Identities in a Changing World,”. Presented at the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Minnesota, MN. (November 2016)
- Sheedy, Crystal, The Reappropriation of Essentialized Traits for a Global Presence in Support of the Revitalization of a Local Identity. Presented at the American Anthropological Association (AAA), Washington, D.C.. (November 2014)
- Sheedy, Crystal, “A Mexican Spirit. A Mayan Soul”: The Creation of an International Tourist Playground on the East Coast of the Yucatán Peninsula. Presented at the Society for Applied Anthropology, Albuquerque, NM. (March 2014)
- Sheedy, Crystal, Cross-Generational Change and Continuity: The Effects of a Monolithic National Culture on a Single Maya Family. Presented at the Society for Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology Bi-Annual Meeting, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. (March 2013)
- Sheedy, Crystal, Negotiating Spaces: A Maya Woman’s Experience with Migration. Presented at the Society for Applied Anthropology, Seattle, WA. (March 2011)
- Sheedy, Crystal, The Compromised Social Position of Maya Women in the Yucatán. Presented at the Society for Applied Anthropology, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico. (March 2010)