About Dr. James S. Griffith
Griffith has lived in southern Arizona and studied its people, places and cultures for more than four decades. Known affectionately as “Big Jim,” he received his Ph.D. from the University of Arizona in Anthropology in 1973. He and his wife Loma, co-founded Tucson Meet Yourself, a celebration of Tucson’s multicultural population in 1974. The event takes place annually in October at El Presidio Park.
In 1979, Griffith became director of the Southwest Folklore Center at the University of Arizona Library. After his retirement a few years ago, Big Jim became a research associate at the Southwest Center on the University of Arizona campus. He is recognized as one of the foremost folklorists in the United States.
Griffith is the author of several books and articles including Southern Arizona Folk Arts (U of A Press 1988), Hecho a Mano: The Traditional Arts of Tucson’s Mexican American Community (U of A Press 2000), Saints of the Southwest (Rio Nuevo Press 2000) and Beliefs and Holy Places: A Spiritual Geography of the Pimeria Alta (U of A Press 2002). In addition, he is a frequent contributor to Arizona Illustrated television news program (channel KUAT), a PBS affiliate at the University of Arizona.
