Sylvia Rodríguez is Professor Emerita of Anthropology and former Director of the Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies at UNM. She has also taught at Carleton College and UCLA. Her research and publications have focused on interethnic relations in the Upper Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico, where over the past three decades she has studied the cultural impact of tourism, ritual and ethnic identity, and conflict over land and water. Her award winning publications include two books, The Matachines Dance: Ritual Symbolism and Interethnic Relations in the Upper Rio Grande Valley and Acequia: Water Sharing, Sanctity, and Place. Her current work, in collaboration with grassroots organizations on the one hand and a team of scientists on the other, deals with acequias or traditional irrigation communities and the politics of water.