Matt Samson is a sociocultural anthropologist and the chair of the Latin American Studies Department at Davidson College. His research addresses religious change and ethnic identity among the Maya in Guatemala and the larger Mesoamerican region. Besides core courses in the Anthropology curriculum, he teaches courses such as Human Rights in Latin America; Borderlands, Identity, and Rights; and The Anthropology of Development and Environmental Sustainability. From Louisiana, his interest in culture, social justice, and human-environment relations in the Mexico-US borderlands has led to a sustained interest in the situation of immigrants to the United States.