UCR Newsroom

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (www.ucr.edu) -- Russ Patrick Alcedo, a postdoctoral fellow in UC Riverside’s Southeast Asian Studies (SEATRiP) program, is one of 10 visiting fellows selected by the Rockefeller Foundation to participate in the 2006-2007 initiative “Theorizing Cultural Heritage” at the Smithsonian Institution.

These humanities scholars and analysts will examine the relationship between cultural heritage and the arts. Alcedo will build on his doctoral research on the relationship between festival production and notions of “cultural authenticity” in the Philippines and in transnational Philippine communities. The Ati-atihan festival is celebrated annually in the Central Philippines and the U.S. in honor of the Holy Child Jesus.

“This is richly deserved, said Linda Tomko, one of Alcedo’s Ph.D professors. “ I know he will make a valuable member of the research group.”

Alcedo earned his Ph.D in Dance History and Theory at UCR in 2003. He is currently a lecturer in the Department of Comparative Literature and Foreign Languages. He has taught courses in Philippine Literature, Religious Myths and Ritual, Accelerated Courses in Tagalog/Filipino, and Philippine Dance. In February 2007 he will co-chair with SEATRiP professors Sally Ann Ness and Hendrik M.J. Maier the conference “Religious Festival in Contemporary Southeast Asia” at UC Riverside.

Alcedo’s residency at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage begins June 15, 2007.

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