Ever wonder why you or someone you know just didn’t speak up when it seemed vitally important? That is the everyday issue that drives Amira de la Garza to study communication while spending time immersed in groups and settings where this is happening. She first started by asking why patients would not ask their doctors’ name in a clinic, as well as learning how doctors responded to their first patient who died. After spending a year in Mexico as a Fulbright Scholar, her experiences with the everyday talk and life around her led her to develop methods to integrate the arts, spirituality, and personal reflection into the study of culture. She works with many border-related projects, and has had students from around the world travel with her to many places to learn the methods she teaches.

Professor de la Garza reports her research using creative writing, poetry, fiction, and has often shared her research through staged performances. She’s currently working on a novel and several collections of poetry, as well as leading a faculty research group on the topic of “mindful heresy,” which is something her interests have led her to write about.