Open Educational Resources

Document Type

Lesson Plan

Publication Date

Fall 11-20-2025

Abstract

You do not need to be Mexican to celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). What you need however is a deep and thoughtful cultural understanding of the practice. This lesson plan teaches students what Dia de los Muertos is, the influence of colonialism (past and present), how mainstream media understands the celebration in the U.S., and how local communities honor the celebration. This approach is from a media studies perspective and a particular focus on art, specifically altar making or making an ofrenda. Writer, philosopher, tejana Gloria E. Anzaldúa details that altars are “‘the sanctuary of the soul,’ a ‘hope-filled activity,’ a ‘sources of inspiration and visualization,’ a ‘symbology system,’ and a method for ‘facilitating change.’ Additionally, she reminds us that altars assist us in building community-with ourselves, our ancestors, our spirit guides, local spirits, and each other.” Therefore, creating an ofrenda, is a literal offering by community and for community.

The outlined lesson plan is for three class sessions.

Day 1 is a traditional plan with a lecture (suggested readings and film to view are listed) with a homework assignment.

Day 2 is an “interactive gallery walk” with four stations of Dia de los Muertos materials, questions students should consider as they interact with diverse material, and a homework assignment.

Day 3 introduces students to the space where they will build their ofrenda and brainstorming the Queens (or Queen’s College related) theme for the altar.

This approach to Dia de los Muertos focuses more on the symbolic visual aesthetics and does not focus on a religious practice. Students will learn how colonialism (from the Spanish Empire and contemporarily by Disney) have associated Dia de los Muertos with religion and capitalism, in an attempt to remove the indigenous origins of celebrating life.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Describe mainstream and community representations of Dia de los Muertos.
  2. Identify semiotic meanings of altar making.
  3. Create alternative representations of Dia de los Muertos related to students’ communities.

Place

This class project engages place by taking students across campus to visit memorials and to the on-campus library. Students’ only guidelines when creating a theme of their ofrenda is that it must be related to Queens or to Queens College specifically.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.

CUNY OER Funding

CUNY OER Initiative

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