Rebecca Mendoza Nunziato

Rebecca Mendoza Nunziato (she/ella/ya) is a Xicana MDiv candidate at Harvard Divinity School and an organizer of the Harvard Nahautl Notequixpoyohuan Language Study Group. She is a graduate of the University of Oregon with professional experience working in community organizing, advocacy, education, and storytelling. Broadly, Rebecca's scholarship centers Indigenous philosophy, material religion, and ritual survivance pertaining to kinship among humans, plants, animals, ancestors, and land in the Abya Yala (the Americas). Her interdisciplinary approach bridges ancient Mesoamerican materials and cosmovision with contemporary Indigenous, Mexican, and Chicanx communities. She was a Summer Pre-Columbian Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks and is currently completing her thesis on the topic of copalli (copal), an aromatic tree resin and incense central to rituals and relationships across Mesoamerica.