Daisy Vargas holds a Masters degree from the University of Denver in Religious Studies and is completing her doctoral studies at UC Riverside. Her expertise is in transnational immigrant communities, and the negotiation of national and cultural identity through religious practice. Ms. Vargas has researched the use of indigenous culture in Chicana spiritual practices. Her current research examines United States histories of immigration, race, and gender through the lens of religious performance in Latin@ communities. Her work considers the ways in which Latin@ religious practices shape concepts of assimilation and citizenship, as well as how they are informed by American spiritualism. By tracing the history of spiritualism into the twentieth century and the contemporary period, Daisy analyzes its impact on racialized and gendered expressions of American religious culture. Ms. Vargas serves as Graduate Student Principal Investigator for the Festivals project and has participated in the research groups for each of the major festivals. She is is co-director (with Hughes) of the Day of the Dead humanities Studio.