Papers by Jennifer Mathews
University Press of Colorado eBooks, Dec 28, 2022
Review of the well-crafted, 11-chapter Pre-Columbian World examining “the Americas” through the r... more Review of the well-crafted, 11-chapter Pre-Columbian World examining “the Americas” through the research of scholars working in North, Central, and South America
When the Land Meets the Sea, 2011
Page 1. 195 B. Ford (ed.), The Archaeology of Maritime Landscapes, When the Land Meets the Sea 2,... more Page 1. 195 B. Ford (ed.), The Archaeology of Maritime Landscapes, When the Land Meets the Sea 2, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-8210-0_11, © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 Introduction At the northeast tip of ...
Chungará (Arica), 2012
El Proyecto Costa Escondida iniciado en 2006 se diseñó para investigar las culturas marítimas pre... more El Proyecto Costa Escondida iniciado en 2006 se diseñó para investigar las culturas marítimas previas y posteriores al contacto español, así como para estudiar el paisaje del norte de Quintana Roo, Península de Yucatán, México. Este proyecto no promueve una agenda de desarrollo "tradicional", sino que se inserta en la crítica del desarrollo para ampliar los límites del compromiso comunitario a través del aprendizaje social. Al encontrarse lejos de los principales sitios turísticos de la costa del Caribe, el área cuenta con una industria de turismo en expansión asociada a la isla Holbox. En este artículo se discuten las experiencias de este proyecto arqueológico que integra a varios actores de la región y, más importante aún, traza una estrategia de investigación transparente que involucra activamente a estos individuos a medida que el proyecto avance. Palabras claves: arqueología maya, arqueología comunitaria, turismo, aprendizaje social. We established the Costa Escondida Project in 2006 to investigate the pre-contact and historic maritime cultures and landscape of northern Quintana Roo, mexico. While removed from the major tourist centers of the caribbean coast, this area has a burgeoning ecotourism industry associated with isla Holbox. This paper will discuss our experiences as an archaeologically focused project working with the various stakeholders in the region, and more importantly, outline a research strategy that is transparent and will actively engage these stakeholders as the project progresses.
Ancient road systems have often been used by archaeologists to reconstruct interaction and politi... more Ancient road systems have often been used by archaeologists to reconstruct interaction and political ties among prehistoric settlements. Roads built by the ancient Maya offer many insights into the political geography of the area, panicularly in the nonhern lowlands where hieroglyphic texts are rare. Ihis study examines ethnohistoric, historic, and archaeological data that suggest that a regional road, some 300 km in length, once spanned the nonhern lowlands from the modern location of Merida to the east coast facing the island of Cozumel. Ihe political implications of such a road, if it once existed, are discussed.
American Anthropologist, 2012
The academic and popular literature on black and indigenous peoples in the Americas frames blacks... more The academic and popular literature on black and indigenous peoples in the Americas frames blacks as being "new world" or "diasporic" and indigenous peoples as "native." But what if the traditional construction of blackness and indigeneity were collapsed, thus allowing blacks and indigenous peoples to be understood as complimentary verses oppositional? In other words, is it possible to speak of a black indigeneity or indigenous blackness, and if so, what does this imply? Mark Anderson's important new book, Black and Indigenous: Garifuna Activism and Consumer Culture in Honduras, raises some critical questions on the Afro-Indigenous equation. He argues that the Honduran case allows for an understanding of black indigeneity or indigenous blackness. What investments go into making and marking of these distinctions as oppositions, such that new world blacks can never be indigenous-or can they (p. 1)? Anderson calls into question binary constructions of social identity and argues that the case of Honduras calls for a more nuanced approach. Black and Indigenous explores the complex intersection of racial formation, black and indigenous identities, Afro-Garifuna social movements, and rise of neoliberal multicultural politics in modern Honduras and other part of the Americas. One of the main questions raised is whether we can interpret and explain the variety of discourses and practices of race and culture among Garifuna, who produce various meanings of blackness with variable emphasis on the indigenous (p. 7)? To them, "blackness" and "indigeneity" are not mutually exclusive categories; instead, they serve as modalities of identity formation that overlap with each other (p. 21). Garifuna are able to simultaneously assert multiple, overlapping identities. These modes of identification include black, Honduran, Afro-Honduran, and Garifuna, which are 157 relative to discourses revolving around mestizaje. The Garifuna movements of the 1950s to the 1970s were born out of the struggle against racial discrimination; however, by the 1980s, Garifuna had developed a new strategy of aligning themselves with indigenous peoples under the sign of ethnic autochthony (p. 133). Black and Indigenous: Garifuna Activism and Consumer Culture in Honduras is a significant contribution to the burgeoning literature on Afro and indigenous peoples in the Americas. First, the book helps us think more critically about blackness and indigeneity as categories that intersect and overlap, and, in doing so, it provides a more critical frame to understand these categories: racialized subjects should not therefore have to choose between black and indigenous identities (p. 234). Second, Anderson's discussion of Afro-Honduran ethnic mobilization and politics opens new space for both scholars and activists to continue to explore this underinvestigated area. Third, not only does Anderson's analysis point out the dangers of "multiculturalism" as high-level "labeling" but also it shows how some Garifuna groups produced their own forms of authentic difference by selecting from a broad range of existing discourses. This book is strongly recommended for both undergraduate and graduate students in African American and Latin American-Latino studies, anthropology, sociology, and political science.
These ancient communities tend to be relatively dispersed, with settlement densities dropping tow... more These ancient communities tend to be relatively dispersed, with settlement densities dropping toward the periphery, but lacking any clear boundary. At a limited number of sites, the Maya constructed walled enclosures or earthworks, which scholars have generally interpreted as defensive projects, often hastily built to protect the central districts of larger ad ministrative centers during times of warfare (e.g., Demarest et
Bulletin of Latin American Research, 2016
Mexico's southern state of Quintana Roo is often perceived by archaeolog... more Mexico's southern state of Quintana Roo is often perceived by archaeologists as a blank spot on the map of the Maya world, a region generally assumed to hold little of interest thanks to its relative isolation from the rest of Mexico. But salvage archaeology required by ...
Bulletin of Latin American Research, 2014
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Papers by Jennifer Mathews