Carleton’s Latin American Studies Program Hosts Weekend-Long Forum Exploring the “Chicimec Sea”

Carleton College will host a series of special events Friday and Saturday, April 24 and 25, 

font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";
mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:
EN-US">as part of its annual Foro Latinoamericano (Latin American Forum).  The Foro is an opportunity for students, faculty, alumni, and Northfield residents to study a specific aspect of Latin America from a number of different angles. This year the Foro centers on connections between indigenous peoples of Mexico, Central America, and the Southwest of the United States. The word “Chicimec” describes people who invaded Central Mexico from the north in the 12th and 13th centuries, an invasion that historians sometimes liken to the barbarian invasion or Rome a few centuries later. Carleton’s 2009 Foro guests include experts in history, art history, anthropology, and archeology. All events will take place in the Athenaeum of the Gould Library and are free and open to the public. 

The Foro begins with opening remarks by Associate Dean of the College Beverly Nagel at 4 p.m. on Friday, April 25. mso-bidi-font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:
ArialMT;mso-fareast-language:ES">Karl Taube mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">will than give a talk entitled “ font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial-BoldMT;mso-fareast-language:
ES;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">On the Road of Flowers: The Symbolism and Aesthetics of Abundance and Paradise in Mesoamerica and the Greater Southwest." font-family:"Times New Roman""> Taube is a professor of anthropology at the University of California-Riverside who has performed archeological fieldwork in the Yucatán and Chiapas regions of Mexico, highland Peru, and costal Ecuador. He is currently the Project Iconographer for the San Bartolo project in Guatemala – the excavation site of the oldest known Mayan murals. His most recent writing has focused on interpretation ancient writings and religious systems. 

At 8 p.m. Friday evening, 11.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-font-family:Arial-BoldMT;
mso-fareast-language:ES;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold">Carlo Bonfiglioli mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN"> will give a (Spanish language) presentation about the relationship between central Mexico and its northwestern frontier. yes"> Bonfiglioli is a professor of anthropology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. He recently returned to the Sierra Tarahumara in northern Mexico to coordinate the “The Routes of the Northwest” project, and interdisciplinary exploration of the Sierra Tarahumara’s 12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">connection with central Mexico.

mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">The Foro wraps-up with two presentations on Saturday, April 26. Beginning at 10:30 a.m., Susan Deeds will give a talk entitled “ mso-bidi-font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"">Cultural Transformations and the Evolution of Ethnic Identities in the Sierra Madre Occidental of Northern Mexico." Deeds is a professor of history at Northern Arizona University. She is known for her ethnographies of Northern Mexican peoples, which have appeared in normal"> "Times New Roman"">The Cambridge History of Native Peoples of the Americas, and Choice, Persuasion and Coercion: Social Control on New Spain’s Northern Frontiers. She is also the co-author of The Course of Mexican History, and most recently, wrote Defiance and Deference in Colonial Mexico: Indians under Spanish Rule in Nueva Vizcaya.

Carleton’s own Sociology and Anthropology Department Chair Jay Levi concludes the Foro with a presentation entitled “ mso-bidi-font-family:Arial-BoldMT;mso-fareast-language:ES;mso-bidi-font-weight:
bold">Rarámuri Connections: Bridging Mesoamerican and Southwestern Cosmologies. mso-bidi-font-family:Arial-BoldMT;mso-fareast-language:ES">” Levi has conducted ethnographic fieldwork in Central America as well as Northern Mexico. He is consultant for the World Bank on indigenous peoples and development, and leads Carleton’s study-abroad programs in Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico. font-family:"Times New Roman""> He has recently served as the editor of Mesoamerican Ethnology for the Library of Congress’ Handbook of Latin American Studies, and contributed to the Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures.  mso-bidi-font-family:Arial-BoldMT;mso-fareast-language:ES">

mso-fareast-font-family:SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN">The Carleton College 2009 Foro Latinoamericana is sponsored by the Dean of the College, the Latin American Studies Program, the mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-language:
ES">Riesman Lectureship Funds, and mso-bidi-font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family:
SimSun;mso-fareast-language:ZH-CN">the Department of Spanish. For more information including disability accommodations, please contact the Spanish Department at (507) 222-4252.