Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Latinx Historical Archaeologies of the American Southwest

Abstract

While archaeological research that emphasizes Latinx experiences in American history is still far less predominant than archaeologies of other ethnic groups, such as Overseas Chinese or African-American archaeology, a strong foundation of research has been laid in the last 15 years. Scholars doing identity-centered research in Latinx historical archaeologies are laying groundwork for comparative and collaborative research, disrupting traditional historiographies, and improving the visibility of Latinx contributions to the American historical narrative.

Si bien la investigación arqueológica de las experiencias latinas en la historia de los Estados Unidos sigue siendo mucho menos predominante que las arqueologías de otros grupos étnicos, como la de los chinos en ultramar o la de los afroamericanos, en los últimos 15 años se han establecido bases sólidas de investigación en ella. Los académicos que realizan investigaciones centradas en la identidad en arqueologías históricas latinas están sentando estas bases para investigaciones comparativas y colaborativas, interrumpiendo las historiografías tradicionales y mejorando la visibilidad de las contribuciones latinas a la narrativa histórica estadounidense.

KEYWORDS:

• Historical archaeology
• Southwest
• Hispanic
• Latinx
• Chicanx
• New Mexico
• Arizona
• review

Acknowledgments

I would like to thank Emily Dale for chairing the 2019 SAA session Historical Archaeologies of the Southwest 1800 to Today, which brought many of these authors together, and for her work collecting the vignettes in this issue. Some of the work by Erin Hegberg cited in this article was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant number 1550581; the University of New Mexico Graduate Professional Student Association under a New Mexico Research Grant; the University of New Mexico Feminist Research Institute under a Graduate Student Research Grant; the Frank C. Hibben Foundation; and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish under Purchase Order 51600-0000051636.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The American Southwest, like the West, has been delimited and defined in myriad ways. Meinig (1971) provides a summary of how the Southwest is constructed as a place in American cultural consciousness as well as history and geography.

Additional information

Funding

Some of the work by Erin Hegberg cited in this article was supported by the National Science Foundation [grant number 1550581]; the University of New Mexico Graduate Professional Student Association under a New Mexico Research Grant; the University of New Mexico Feminist Research Institute under a Graduate Student Research Grant; the Frank C. Hibben Foundation; and the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish under Purchase Order 51600-0000051636.