Dr. Melissa Frost
UVA
Assistant Professor
Melissa Frost’s ongoing research focuses on the history of traditional hallucinogenic plant consumption in Mexico during the colonial period. She traces reoccurring themes across pre-Columbian codices, colonial texts, and present-day ethnographic studies to reconstruct consumption habits and ritual contexts and how they have shifted throughout the history of Mexico. She also considers how policies in the United States and Mexico affect the autonomy of present-day indigenous communities. She has taught colonial history, literature, and Spanish language courses through the Department of Spanish, Italian & Portuguese at UVA since 2010. Melissa is a descendant of the Crow Tribe from Montana and was raised in Mexico.
