Graduate Profile: Rebecca Mendoza Nunziato, MDiv '23

How I've Changed  

I am beginning to find my voice even as I continue to wrestle and face the limits of my knowledge and experience. I learned how to read and (sort of) understand academic writing again after six years away from school. 

Memorable Moment 

I will never forget my first year of graduate school on Zoom. Every Thursday evening I sat in my dark apartment for "Theories and Methods" and found friends through the chat box—good friends and colleagues helped me get through the most challenging moments of entering Harvard and returning to school after taking time off. 

Message of Thanks  

I am oozing with gratitude.

I am so grateful for Professors Carrasco, Rivera, Patton, and Puett. This dream team of faculty gave me the foundation necessary for my scholarship and the support I needed in the hard times. Beyond HDS, thank you to Professors Phil Deloria, Bill Fash, Matt Liebmann, and Meredith Vasta for guiding me in Indigenous Studies and repatriation with the Peabody Museum. I am so thankful for MMARP, DRCLAS, HUNAP, and Dumbarton Oaks for all your support! 

Tlazcamati to my Nahuatl tutors and teachers, Tlamachtiquetl Abelardo de la Cruz,  Tlamachtiquetl Sabina Cruz de la Cruz and the IDIEZ network. 

Finally, thank you to my family, friends, mentors, ancestors, copalli, and my human and more-than-human community! You all make this work possible and meaningful. 

Future Plans 

I will be staying at Harvard to pursue a PhD in Religion with a focus on Indigenous and Chicanx/Latinx traditions of Latin America and the Caribbean. It is an honor to have the opportunity to continue to work towards repatriation at the Peabody Museum with the Chichén Itzá collection and beyond. I look forward to deepening my research and relational networks in the years to come.