Academic Papers

November 2025 Comprehensive Exam: Latin America: Tourism, Globalization, and Economic Exploitation
- _{I argue that although globalization led to tourism and great opportunities for economic revenue in Latin America, these developing countries are still culprit to economic exploitation. Additionally, Indigenous communities have been detrimentally effected through acts of erasure, disrespect, silencing, and ultimately cultural appropriation.}
March 2025: Mexican – Americans Aren’t Going Anywhere
- ^{I argue that Mexican – Americans are evergrowing in the US and that there are systems in place that are oppressing them, including the Church. I emphasize the use of Spanglish: the language of the oppressed, then I mention the idea of when the oppressed become the oppressors themselves, and end with how to fight oppression.}
March 2025: Is It a God, Devil, Demon, Witch, or None of The Above? The Analysis of Tlacatecolotl in The Florentine Codex
- ^{I did a deep dive into a particular word in the Florentine Codex: Tlacatecolotl, and connected the word to a particular image that included hallucinogenic mushrooms in order to denote how mushrooms were seen by the Spaniards during colonialism.}
November 2024: Mushroom Churches Are Systems of Colonization
- ^{I surveyed two mushroom churches in the US: The Divine Assembly and Psanctuary. I argued that they are systems of colonization themselves because of the erasure they cause to primary users of hallucinogenic mushrooms in Mexico by their neglect to recognize them.}
June 2024: What is a Human? Through The Perspective of Colonialism and Indigenous People
- ^{I explore what it means to be human and connect it to how indigenous people in Mexico were not seen as human by the Spaniards during colonialism.}
May 2024: Hallucinogenic Mushrooms in Religion and Spirituality
- ^{I explored “nones” in psychedelic churches.}
March 2024: Spain’s racialization in the Old World and the New World
- ^{I argue that Spain’s racialized mentality started back in the Old World with the Moors and it transpired to how they treated the indigneous people in the New World upon ‘discovery.’}
November 2024: Mushroom magazines As Artifacts
- ^{I explore two magazines from the 1950s that romanticize the usage of hallucinogenic mushrooms in Mexico by Valentina and Gordon Wasson.}
December 2022: Ecotourism in Mexico
- ^{I explore how tourism in Mexico has been exploited recently and how we could implement ideas for ecotourism with this influx of people.}
December 2022: Dia de Los Muertos
- ^{I explore the origin of Dia de Los Muertos in Mexico and answer whether it was brought over by the Spaniards during colonialism or if it was a practice indigenous to Mexico.}
May 2022: Exorcisms as Sacramental
- ^{I argue that exorcisms are sacramental by exploring what makes something a sacrament.}
May 2022: Violence, Church, and Martyrdom
- ^{I explore the influence of the death of Rutilio Grande in El Salvador through research on primary sources.}
December 2021: Mushrooms, Bread, and Wine: Sacraments
- ^{I do a compare and contrast on the Eucharist and hallucinogenic mushrooms as sacaraments. I look at prayers, ritual, and the effects of both.}
April 2021: Santa Muerte – Unveiling the Truth
- ^{Santa Muerte is a saint that has been popularized in Mexico. In this paper I examine her connection to narcoculture, crime, and violence. I emphasize that she is misrepresented and not seen as an authentic religious figure by the Catholic Church.}