Mi Querencia: A Connection Between Place and Identity

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Chicanx Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

What is the connection between place and identity? The story of human existence is one of movement and settlement. Origin stories the world over feature accounts of where a people came from as a way of telling how they came to be. Northern New Mexico cultural envoy, Juan Estevan Arellano, used the traditional northern New Mexico concept of querencia to define the relationship between place and identity. Querencia, he wrote, "is that which gives us a sense of place, that which anchors us to the land, that which makes us a unique people." Although I grew up hearing the term used, it had no special relevance for me beyond what I understood querencia to be, the place where one is born and raised. In my contemplations regarding the theme for this presentation, I speak of querencia from an experience embedded in an upbringing amongst close-knit relations and community. For me, querencia is not only personal, it is communal and deeply connected to the people and place where I was raised. It rises from the depths of archaeological remains and makes its way to the every-day platicas (conversations) the local folks have at the village general store.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Chicanx Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25040