Two ASE undergraduate majors won the 2025 Ninfa Sánchez Undergraduate Awards for their stellar senior honors theses, drawn from a class of six students who completed their theses this past academic year in AMST 492/493. Evi Alonzo’s innovative thesis, “Dance Teachers and Dance Learners: Bodies of Knowledge Unveiling LA Folklórico,” examines the scholarly study of Mexican folkloric dance through the lens of authenticity, indigeneity, and gender, including conducting interviews with current dance teachers. In “Ay Dolores: Exploring Mexican Health and Healing Beyond Western Healthcare,” Paulina Flores ’25 builds a strong case that shows how dominant healthcare systems have historically exhibited racial discrimination, while highlighting how alternative practices of massage therapy contribute to the overall improvement of care for those in East Los Angeles. Each of these two scholars received a $500 award for their thoroughly researched interdisciplinary projects.
These awards honor the memory of a woman who fought hard throughout her life for the education of her children and for access to higher education for children of all backgrounds, although she herself never attended a university. To contribute to the future Ninfa Sánchez Undergraduate and Graduate Awards, given every year since 2008 by the Department of American Studies & Ethnicity, please see the end of this newsletter.