Solimar Otero

Solimar Otero

Professor, Folklore and Ethnomusicology

Professor, Gender Studies

Director, Latino Studies

Editor, Journal of Folklore Research

she/her/ella

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, 2002
  • M.A., University of Pennsylvania, 1997
  • B.A., University of California, Berkeley, 1994

Research interests

  • gender
  • sexuality
  • Afro-Caribbean spirituality
  • Yoruba traditional religion in folklore, literature, and ethnography

Courses recently taught

  • Folklore and Literature (grad seminar)
  • Readings in Ethnography (grad seminar)
  • Performance Studies (grad seminar)
  • Gender and Fairytales
  • Women's Folklore
  • Folklore in Video and Film
  • Undergraduate Proseminar in Folklore and Ethnomusicology

Awards & Distinctions

  • Indiana University Presidential Arts and Humanities Award for the Spanish Translation of Archives of Conjure by Iberoamericana Editorial Vervuert, 2024.
  • Albert J. Raboteau Prize for the Best Book in Africana Religions for Archives of Conjure, 2021
  • Elected Fellow of the American Folklore Society, 2021
  • Reed Foundation Grant, ​2019
  • Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund Fellowship, Research in Cuba and at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 2013
  • Research Associate and Visiting Faculty, Women’s Studies in Religion Program, Harvard Divinity School, 2009-2010 academic year
  • Fulbright IIE Grant for Research in Nigeria (2000)