Solimar Otero

Solimar Otero is a Professor in the Department of Gender Studies and Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University Bloomington's College of Arts and Sciences, where she also serves as Editor of the Journal of Folklore Research. Her academic appointments reflect deep interdisciplinary engagement across gender, folklore, and diaspora studies.

Her educational foundation includes:

• Ph.D. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania
• M.A. in Folklore and Folklife from the University of Pennsylvania
• B.A. in Anthropology (Suma Cum Laude) from the University of California, Berkeley

Otero's research interrogates Afro-Latinx spiritual traditions through the lenses of gender, performance, and necropolitics. She examines how ancestral narratives manifest in contemporary Latinx communities, particularly through Afro-Cuban religious practices and Caribbean folklore. Her work consistently centers transnational feminist frameworks and decolonial methodologies to analyze power dynamics in religious expression and material culture.

Recent publications reveal evolving scholarly trajectories toward African diasporic necropolitics and ritual assemblages, with increasing focus on Latinx performance as resistance. These works bridge religious studies, anthropology, and critical gender theory while maintaining strong connections to community-based knowledge systems.

Her distinguished recognition includes:

• 2021 Albert J. Raboteau Prize for Archives of Conjure: Stories of the Dead in Afrolatinx Cultures
• 2024 Indiana University Presidential Arts and Humanities Award for the Spanish translation of her monograph

Otero actively shapes pedagogy through courses like Gender and Fairytales, Women's Folklore, and graduate seminars in Performance Studies, while her editorial leadership advances critical folklore scholarship through intersectional approaches.