Lunch Provided | No RSVP Necessary
Counter-Mapping the History of El Tajín, Veracruz, Mexico
Sam Holley-Kline, Doctoral Candidate, Stanford Department of Anthropology
Sam Holley-Kline will discuss the results of an ethnographic “counter-mapping” project focused on trails called caminos reales in El Tajín, Mexico. He'll begin by discussing the theoretical and methodological foundations of counter-mapping, and argue that analyzing these trails offers a novel, grounded way of understanding the history of the region. In the present and recent past, local understandings of these trails are associated with commerce (particularly of agricultural products) as well as violence (as a result of the vanilla trade and feuding). In contemporary evaluations of the caminos reales, memories are marked by both nostalgia for the landscapes they traversed and relief that they are no longer necessary. He will conclude by discussing counter-mapping as a potential means of understanding the recent history of the archaeological site.
Sam Holley-Kline is a third-year doctoral student in the Department of Anthropology. His research focuses broadly on the history and development of the archaeological site of El Tajín, Veracruz, Mexico. He received his BA in Anthropology and Spanish from DePauw University in 2012, and conducted ethnographic research in El Tajín under the auspices of a Fulbright-García Robles grant in 2012-2013.