Recovering "Los Antepasados": Bioarchaeology of a Historic Genízaro Community in Colonial New Mexico

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of Debra L. Martin" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Nuestra Señora de Belén Archaeological Project explores a colonial mission church and plaza site dating to the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in Belén, New Mexico. The colonial village of Belén was populated by a diverse community of Spanish and mixed-heritage individuals, including a number of Native American freed servants known as Genízaros. The bioarchaeological component of this multiyear project focuses on the reconstruction of lived experiences of this community of individuals who were marginalized from both Native American and Spanish communities and whose stories have been obscured by colonial and civic narratives. This project is a multidisciplinary cooperation that engages the local community by involving them in the research process, expressly recognizing their voices and position as stakeholders in how these stories have been and will be told. My work on this project was encouraged by Dr. Martin, who challenges those she mentors to be not only competent and productive researchers but impactful, diverse, and relevant scholars. She inspires me to identify research questions that tie into broader issues relevant to contemporary populations, particularly those addressing the social meanings underlying disparities in experiences of health, disease, and violence. That ethos resonates strongly throughout all aspects of this project.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Fryxell Award Symposium: Papers in Honor of Debra L. Martin   •
• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 29866