Linda Light

Linda Light is a Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). She specializes in Linguistic Anthropology and Cultural Anthropology, with a focus on language preservation, Maya communities, and pedagogical approaches to teaching anthropology. Her work has contributed to Emmy-recognized educational telecourses in Physical and Cultural Anthropology.

Education:

• B.A. in French and Secondary Education, University of Colorado, Boulder (1962)
• M.A. in Linguistics, CSULB (1982)
• Single-Subject Teaching Credential, CSULB (1984)
• M.A. in Anthropology, CSULB (1995)

Research & Teaching Contributions: Light served as Academic Advisor for three Emmy-recognized telecourses, including the 2008 Emmy-winning Physical Anthropology series. She co-authored a student workbook for Cultural Anthropology and pioneered methods integrating linguistics into cultural anthropology education. Her research explores language survival among Guatemalan Maya diasporic communities and the application of linguistic theory to public discourse analysis.

Awards:

• Emmy Award for Physical Anthropology Telecourse (2008)
• Emmy Nomination for Cultural Anthropology Telecourse (2009)

Advising & Grants: Led advisory roles on seven Cultural Anthropology telecourse videos and contributed to curriculum design at CSULB. Her grants and projects have supported interdisciplinary research linking language, culture, and ecology.