It’s easy to identify heartbreak in the past year and a half. The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged our world, upending the lives of individuals, families, and entire nations. Locating hope amid loss—creativity in chaos—takes a special form of attention.
SAR Press has started a new blog series comprised of interviews with diverse scholars who have recently published or are in the midst of publishing their first book and who can offer guidance and encouragement to colleagues who are just starting to think about publishing. We hope that these interviews make a small contribution to supporting junior scholars as they begin the publishing process.
Archaeologists have been paying attention to place for many years. As they have studied vernacular architecture, among other important markers of the past, they have recognized the importance and meaning given to specific places by peoples around the world. Chaco Canyon in northwestern New Mexico has been one such place for hundreds of years.
This winter, IARC collections staff and interns, journeyed to Oklahoma to share with community members one of the most storied textiles in the IARC collection – the Chief White Antelope Blanket (CWAB). The Annual Gathering of the Sand Creek Descendants, held in Apache, Oklahoma, brought out between 200 and 300 people for dancing, food, and to pay tribute to the blanket. For some attendees, it was their first time to see this historic blanket. Learn more about this important piece and the continued collaborative collections-care approach taken by the IARC staff for this textile.
“We were honored to bring the blanket back to be a part of this important gathering,” says IARC collections manager, Lisa Barerra. “Since the mid-1990s,” she adds, “the IARC at SAR has worked closely with the Sand Creek Massacre Descendants Trust (SCMDT) regarding care and access to the blanket, including an agreement to bring the blanket for the gathering every two years. However, the last time the CWAB went back was actually in December 2014. While the CWAB is currently not on display (at the request of the SCMDT), an approved photograph of the blanket is available for viewing at IARC.” The photograph can be viewed during an IARC collections tour and requests to view the actual blanket require written permission from the SCMDT to do so. Reflecting on the trip and the collaborative efforts happening at the IARC, Harerra notes, “We look forward to continuing to work together with the SCMDT in the future!”
Free virtual event explores resilience and perseverance across pueblo communities over the last year.
The School for Advanced Research (SAR), in partnership with Thornburg, presents Showing Our Strength: Resilience and Compassion in the Indigenous Southwest (hosted online, July 8, 2021, 2:00 p.m. Mountain Daylight Time).
As we think about our relationships with environment, landscape, and place in the context of drought and urbanization, we must also think about change. The books in this list describe how environmental change affects people with deep roots in New Mexico, Guatemala, Mongolia, and elsewhere around the world.
We invite you to take a virtual tour of El Delirio. Learn about the origins of the buildings and the historical significance of the sprawling estate that is now SAR’s campus. Join your guide, SAR scholar-in-residence Nancy Owen Lewis, for a delightful online tour complete with archival and contemporary visuals from SAR’s collections.
Anthropologist, novelist, and SAR’s Katrin H. Lamon resident scholar of 2015–16, David Treuer (Ojibwe), is garnering national attention for his cover story in the May 2021 issue of the Atlantic Monthly, “Return the National Park to the Tribes.” SAR president, Michael F. Brown, reflects on the article and more.
To celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Senses of Place, SAR Press will host Steven Feld, Amahl Bishara, and Kristina Lyons for a virtual conversation about the book’s impact, as well as more recent developments in the field. This event launches a series of discussions focused on place this summer at SAR. Panelists will discuss earthen architecture at several New World archaeological sites in the US Midwest and coastal Peru, Pueblo architecture at sites across the US Southwest, and more.
SAR members Russ and Diane Kyncl share the fifty-year story of how they became friends with the Edaakie family of Zuni Pueblo, how the late potter Timothy Edaakie helped them to connect with SAR, and why they decided to include SAR in their legacy plan.