Photos from the 10/30 Indigenous Archaeology and Community Engaged Research in the Americas panel
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Indigenous Archaeology and Community Engaged Research in the Americas panel. Sponsored by the Boston University College of Arts and Sciences and the Associate Provost for Diversity & Inclusion in collaboration with the Archaeology Program, Department of Anthropology, and the American & New England Studies Program.
Joseph “Woody” Aguilar (Department of Anthropology, (University of Pennsylvania)
Title: Indigenous Archaeology and Remaking Museums: Examples from the Pueblo Southwest
Bio: Joseph Aguilar is an enrolled member of San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Pueblo’s Tribal Historic Preservation Office. He received his Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania. His primary research focuses on the archaeology of the North American Southwest, with a specific interest in Spanish-Pueblo relations during the late 17th century, following the arrival of Spaniards into the Northern Rio Grande region. His general research interests include Indigenous Archaeology, museums, landscape archaeology, and tribal historic preservation. In partnership with his community, his dissertation research examined Indigenous Pueblo resistance to Spanish Reconquest efforts in the latter part of the Pueblo Revolt Era (1680-1696). Some of Joseph’s archaeological experience includes fieldwork on the Pajarito Plateau for Los Alamos National Laboratory and at Chaco Culture National Historic Park for the University of New Mexico Chaco Stratigraphy Project.
Iyaxel Cojti Ren (PreColumbian Studies, Dumbarton Oaks)
Title: Building Bridges between Past and Present Indigenous Peoples: The Case of Guatemala
Bio: Iyaxel Cojti recently joined the Dumbarton Oaks research library as a Postdoctoral Fellow in Pre-Columbian art and archaeology. She received a Ph.D. in anthropology from Vanderbilt University. She previously earned an MA in anthropology from the same university and a BA in archaeology from the University of the Valley of Guatemala. For her dissertation, she directed the Chi Awar Archaeological Project in Chichicastenango in 2016 and conducted ethnographic and linguistic studies to understand the inception of highland polities during the Postclassic period. Iyaxel is a member of the Sak Chuwen Group, which since 2010 has organized workshops throughout Guatemala to teach and study Maya Epigraphy and a variety of topics related to the Classic Maya. Her professional experience includes jobs with well-known institutions in Guatemala including UVG, FLACSO, ALMG, FAFG and the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (IIWF-FIMI). Iyaxel is also a member of the Sak Chuwen Group since 2010, which aims to organize workshops in indigenous communities throughout Guatemala to study the ancient Maya writing system and a variety of topics related to the Maya civilization.
Solsire Cusicanqui Marsano (Department of Anthropology, Harvard University)
Title: Deconstructing Histories in Pre-Hispanic and Modern Cajamarca, Peru: Archaeology as a Tool to Empower Local Identity
Bio: Solsiré Cusicanqui is a Peruvian archaeologist and Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University in the Anthropology Department. She has been working on the topic of ethnic identity, mobility, and trade in the central Andes, focusing on the region of Cajamarca where she has directed archaeological projects over the last 7 years. With the support of the Municipality of Cajamarca, the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development and the Ministry of Culture of Peru she and her team have carried out archaeology excavations, training local people and sharing their research in Cajamarca.
In addition, Solsiré has had a long career in cultural management projects as a former representative of Peru for the Sustainable Preservation Initiative. She has also collaborated with the French Institute for Andean Studies, Center for Materials Research in Archeology and Ethnology-MIT, and she is a fellow of the Rust Family Foundation and Graduate Student Associate (GSA) of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies at Harvard University.