LACIS Lunchtime Lecture Series

Victorian Mexican Indigenous mezzo soprano Julia Pastrana (1834-1860) was billed as ¨The Ugliest Woman in the World¨, a title given to her by her manager-husband Theodore Lent. She also suffered from hypertrichosis terminalis on record and severe gingival hyperplasia: her face and body were covered with thick hair and her jaw was disproportionately large. In this talk, Laura Anderson Barbata will share her 10 years of work to have Pastrana’s body repatriated to Mexico for burial.