Chicanx in the Wilderness: Tree Graffiti and Perceptions of People and Place

Summary

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

This paper examines how historic and modern tree graffiti left by Chicanx and Latinx in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico impact understanding both these peoples and the wild lands they inhabit/ed. Archaeologists have been at the forefront of countering ideas that graffiti is primarily a modern phenomena of urban decay with studies that bring forth concepts of resistance and empowerment pushed back into prehistory and across wild places worldwide. Graffiti carved into trees by different modern and historic peoples is prevalent in North America. Graffiti on aspen trees is especially common in the Western United States and is often linked to Chicanx and Latinx sheepherders, laborers, and recreationalists. That such graffiti is often found in wild lands and legally defined wilderness areas has long put it under the purview of, and generated interest among, archaeologists. But the presence of Chicanx in these wild places also challenges long held assumptions about both what wilderness means and who Chicanx are. Artifacts of Chicanx in the wilderness both expand what it means to be Chicanx and problematize the idea that wilderness is, to quote the American Wilderness Act of 1964, "...where man himself is a visitor who does not remain."

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): 25889