Dr. Carleen D. Sanchez
Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies (Latino/Latin American Studies program)
Ph.D. University of California - Santa Barbara (UCSB), 2003
Office: 919 Oldfather Hall
Email: csanchez2@unl.edu
Phone: (402) 472-3925
Fax: (402) 472-9642
Research Interests:
Maya and Central American archaeology; Transnational Feminism; Gender; Postcolonialism; Indigenous activism in Latin America; Politics of Representation
My primary specialization is as an archaeologist working at the site of La Union in Honduras where I am investigating the regional political and economic dynamics of Classic period Maya civilization (AD 250-900). My fieldwork at this site explores the relationship of this secondary center within the context of an expanding political economy centered at Copan (located 35 km away). Other areas of study that I have engaged with include the development of complex society in non-Maya Central America, stone tool analysis, and the intersections between nationalism, tourism, cultural heritage in contemporary Central America.
I am also engaged in Transnational Feminist research, a new yet growing area of study that seeks to problematize the category "Third World Woman." In particular, I examine and critique western derived feminism that fails to recognize that the legacy of European colonialism has complicated identity formation in Indigenous societies in Central America. A third area of research I am pursuing, the politics of representation, interrogates traditional gender and racial categories deployed in visual media. A current work in progress draws feminist and post-structuralist theory to deconstruct the narrative of evolution. I argue that visual representations of human evolution reflect androcentric and Eurocentric biases and reify western notions of cultural superiority. My analysis contrasts archaeological and paleoanthropological data against the visual representations of evolution to demonstrate the discordance between what we know and how it is made visible through various texts (both written and visual).
Subfields:
Archaeology
Latin American Studies
Current writing project:
Frida Kahlo: Artist, Legend, Emblem of an Era. Written from a feminist and Latina perspective; the merit of this approach is that it will reveal a more nuanced cultural reading of the subject placed in the context of 20th century Mexican society, contemporary US popular culture, as well as the international art scene.
Recent and Representative Publications:
2008 Pitfalls in Archaeological Fieldwork: On Gender, Ethics, and Danger. Practicing Anthropology Winter 2008 30(1): 54-58. [in press]
2007 Creando la Identidad Nacional de las Ruinas. In Estudios Culturales Centroamericanos en el nuevo milenio, ed. by Marc Zimmerman and Gabriela Baeza Ventura, by invitation. CIICLA, Unvivesity of Costa Rica.
2002 Las Ruinas como Cimiento de la Identidad Nacional. Cultura No. 87/88 (Revista del Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y el Arte, El Salvador); pp. 233-240.
2002 Creando la Identidad Nacional de las Ruinas. Istmo, No. 3 enero-junio, (a peer reviewed electronic journal, www.denison.edu/istmo/archivo.html).
Recent Conference Papers:
2008
Upcoming "Changing Demographics and Identity: Future Directions for Chican@ and Latin@ Studies." National Association for Ethnic Studies 36th Annual Conference, April 3-5, 2008, Atlanta, Georgia.
2007
"Deconstructing the Visual Narrative of Evolution." National Association for Ethnic Studies 35th Annual Conference, March 22-24, 2007, SUNY New Paltz, NY.
2006
"Stone Tool Production at La Unión, Honduras." Nebraska Academy of Sciences. Nebraska Wesleyan University April 21, 2006.
2005
"Producing Docile Bodies: Indigenous Women and Eurocentric Feminism." Paper presented at the Future of Minority Studies Caucus: Mentoring and Multiculturalism, in the panel Politicized Bodies and Spaces: Critical Feminist Interventions, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, September 30-October 1, 2005.
"Frida & Ché: Fetishized Commodities / Secular Icons." Paper presented to the National Association for Ethnic Studies Conference, March 24-26, 2005, Chicago, Illinois.
2004
"Popular and Indigenous Resistances in Central America." Paper presented at the XXV International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, October 2004.
"Globalization and Central America." Roundtable discussion organizer for the Central American Studies Section. XXV International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association, October 2004.
Courses Taught:
Introduction to Anthropology (Anth 110)
Introduction to Ethnic Studies (ES 100)
Archaeology of World Civilizations (Anth/Classics 252)
Native Peoples and Cultures of Latin America (Anth/ES 350)
Archaeological Theory and Method (Anth 432/832)
The Ancient Maya (Anth 436/836)
Proseminar in Latin American Studies (ES 478): past topics: Women in Latin America; Social and Indigenous Movements in Mesoamerica.
