SAR News 
Noting the Loss of Two Significant SAR supporters
We are sorry to report the passing of two longtime SAR supporters. Benjamin F. Crane, a distinguished New York attorney who served on the SAR board of directors from 2005 until 2015, died in Brooklyn on February 18 at the age of 92. Ben and his wife Sally, who...
Moments in Places in Time
Growing up in the middle of Alaska, there was a window to another world on the wall of my living room. It was like no place I’d ever seen. There was a church that seemed to be made of clay pinched together by someone’s fingers. And there was a woman with a flared skirt, shawl, and scarf over her head. No one dressed like that in Alaska. I enjoyed stepping back to where it appeared to be a photograph or passage to another land and then move slowly forward to find just that point when the optical illusion fell away and I could see the leaves, the moss, the bark.
SAR Announces 2022-2023 Native Artist Fellows
SAR Announces 2022-2023 Native American Artist Fellows: Hollis Chitto, Orlando Dugi, and Janna Avner.
Unveiling the Restored Jack Lambert Corral
If you've walked or driven past the corner of Garcia Street and Camino Corrales lately, you may have noticed something long obscured by chamisa and other hardy shrubs: a gnarly corral that is probably the oldest such feature still standing in Santa Fe. This small...
SAR Board Member Awarded 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship
Brenda Child, the Northrop Professor of American Studies at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, has been awarded a 2022 Fellowship by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Child was a Katrin Lamon Fellow at SAR in 1992-1993 and now serves on SAR's board...
In Memoriam Nancy Owen Lewis (1945–2022)
With great sadness, SAR notes the passing of Dr. Nancy Owen Lewis, our longtime Director of Scholar Programs, Scholar-in-Residence, and tireless advocate, tour guide, public speaker, and prolific author. Before coming to SAR, Nancy received her Ph.D. in cultural...
Paul Farmer (1959-2022) and SAR
Dr. Paul Farmer, humanitarian, physician, and anthropologist, died in his sleep on February 21 in Butaro, Rwanda, reportedly of a heart attack. He was 62. Eulogies are pouring in from around the world in recognition of Farmer's tireless efforts to treat patients in...
Mellon Foundation Awards $1.5 Million for Groundbreaking Digital Project Focused on Enslaved Native Americans
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has awarded a $1.5 million grant to fund Native Bound-Unbound: Archive of Indigenous Americans Enslaved, an unprecedented digital project centered on millions of Indigenous people whose lives were shaped by slavery.
Guidelines for Collaboration: Museums and Communities Seeking Equitable Change
Museums are evolving. In a cultural moment in which institutions are called toward self-reflection, inclusivity, and accountability, the question remains: what does collaboration mean for museum and community, institution and individual? How can ethical action drive our work?
SAR Remembers Ronald N. Dubin
The Board of Directors and staff of the School for Advanced Research together mourn the loss of Ronald N. Dubin, who passed away in Greenwich, Connecticut, on December 30 at the age of eighty-nine.
The Clay Always Has Something to Say: 2021 Native Artist Fellow Brandon Adriano Ortiz-Concha
When Ortiz-Concha talks about his relationship with clay, he conveys a clear sense of reverence and respect. He sees the act of gathering clay and forming vessels as a moment of intervention in millions of years of geological processes, something not to be taken lightly.
SAR Field Trips: A Wonderful Combination
New to membership in 2021 and seeking opportunities to better understand the Native American history and culture of this New Mexican land we now call home, we joined two fall SAR field trips: The Archaeology of Arroyo Hondo and Tewa Pathways from Tsankawi to Pojoaque.
Learning from Desert Dwellers: Patty Limerick and C. J. Alvarez on Life in a Desert Nation
Drought is now a way of life. As a result, argue Patty Limerick and C. J. Alvarez in their recent Washington Post article, people throughout the United States need to start listening to desert dwellers, “the Indigenous people and others who settled in deserts for generations and who view aridity, not moisture, as ‘normal.’”
How to Publish Your First Book: SAR Press Talks to Rashmi Sadana
SAR Press’s How to Publish blog series comprises interviews with diverse scholars who have recently published or are in the midst of publishing a 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.
SAR Awarded National Endowment for the Humanities Grant
The School for Advanced Research (SAR) is proud to announce that it recently received notice that the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) will award the school $167,825 through the NEH American Rescue Plan, which provides relief funding for cultural and educational institutions to help them recover from the economic impact of the pandemic.
Scholar, Mentor, Trailblazer: Linda Cordell’s Influence on Contemporary Archaeology
Women in archaeology have come a long way. They now comprise half of all archaeologists in North America and have surpassed men in the number of archaeology PhDs awarded. They work as the heads of university departments, leaders of field schools, and senior scholars in research institutions. Yet when Linda Cordell (1943–2013) emerged into the field, the landscape was very different.
Resident Scholar Profile: 2021–2022 Weatherhead Fellow Benjamin Junge
“Brazil has been a part of my life for about twenty years at this point,” says Professor Benjamin Junge, one of two 2021–2022 Weatherhead fellows now in residence at SAR. “It’s a huge country,” he adds, “incredibly diverse. There’s just so much to learn and to understand, and I’ll be doing that forever, for the rest of my life.”
IARC Collections Highlight: Diné History and Adaptation
The Diné are resilient people and know how to adapt to hardship. Before Euro-American contact, the Diné wore deerskin clothing. As Spanish, Mexican, and American settlers came to Navajo land and introduced new materials, Diné art and culture evolved.
2021 Resident Scholars Colloquium Series
SAR Announces the 2021 resident scholar colloquium series. From a presentation on race-making in Albania to an exploration of Indigenous perspectives on the WWII Manhattan Project, scholar colloquia are a unique opportunity to hear about each of the 2021 resident scholar projects from the researchers themselves.
SAR Scholar Alumni in the National Press
Our scholars use their fellowship year to hone writing skills while finishing their diverse research projects. It is no surprise, then, that after leaving SAR many of our alumni manage to publish books and articles that move past the boundaries of academic writing to catch the attention of a national readership.
“A new phase in the old struggle”: Trumpism and the Fight for Latinx Citizenship
Mexican American people have long been made to question their belonging to the American social fabric and polity, argue Phillip Gonzales, Renato Rosaldo, and Mary Louise Pratt. Citizenship, both political and cultural, provides one lens on this question of belonging, and our latest Advanced Seminar volume discusses the relationship between Latinx experience and citizenship in the United States from a variety of specific perspectives.
Bolo Tie Highlights: An IARC Collection Reflection
Over the course of her Anne Ray internship, Emily Santhanam dove deep into the collections, approaching the objects through registration, collections management, education, and curation work. Each project taught her to navigate Native American arts stewardship in a new way. Yet what she most enjoyed was creating an online exhibition about the bolo ties cared for by the IARC.
SAR Welcomes New Board Members
The School for Advanced Research in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is pleased to welcome six new board members: John Arroyo, Brenda J. Child, Estevan Rael-Gálvez, Steve Robinson, Don Siegel, and David A. Young.
Kapa-Making as a Way of Being: A Conversation with Lehuauakea
SAR’s 2021 Ronald and Susan Dubin Native artist fellow, Lehuauakea is a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) interdisciplinary artist. Originally from Pāpa’ikou on Moku O Keawe, Hawai’i, Lehuauakea creates traditional kapa (wauke bark cloth), which is painted or hand-stamped with patterns made from natural earth pigments and plant dyes.
Locating Our Hope: Resilience and Compassion in the Indigenous Southwest
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.
How to Publish Your First Book: SAR Press Talks to Robert Caldwell
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.
Archaeology and Place at Chaco Canyon
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.
The Long, Dark Journey of a Historic Textile Treasure
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!”
Showing Our Strength: Resilience and Compassion in the Indigenous Southwest
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).
SAR Press Top Reads: Place, Environment, and Change
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.