Autumn Quarter 2009
Fridays, 3:30-5:00 pm (unless otherwise specified)
Denny Hall 401
November 13, 2009
Jason De León
"The Ethnoarchaeology and Ethnography of Undocumented Migration in Southern Arizona and Northern Mexico: Results from Season One of the Migrant Material Culture Project"
Since the mid-1990’s, millions of undocumented migrants from Mexico, Central America, and beyond have been entering the southern United States through Arizona on foot. Migrants typically carry backpacks loaded with food, clothing, and other provisions and will often walk for days across the harsh Sonora Desert to reach places such as Tucson and Phoenix. Along the way people will rest, eat, sleep, and often discard artifacts at temporary campsites known as “lay-up” sites. Thousands of lay-up sites have been identified in southern Arizona alone. Here I present data from the first season (2009) of the Migrant Material Culture Project (MMCP), a multi-year anthropological study of modern undocumented migration in Mexico and the United States. Data from season one of the MMCP includes a preliminary archaeological analysis of materials from lay-up sites in southern Arizona, as well as ethnographic data documenting the experiences of recently deported people in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. In this presentation I describe the complex and dangerous nature of undocumented border crossing, discuss the complementary roles of archaeology and ethnography in this study, and briefly outline the long-term goals of the MMCP.
Novmeber 20, 2009
Stephanie Jolivette
"The Benefits of Public Archaeology to Scientific Research: A View from Washington State"
December 11, 2009
Kayla Wopschall
Cypriot Archaeology: The implications of Ais Yiorkis and Akrotiri
Aetokremnos on the island's early prehistory
January 15, 2010
Ben Fitzhugh
TBD
February 5, 2010
Rasmi Shoocongdej
TBD
April 30, 2010
Marcos Llobera
TBD