Project

Excavating Identity: Archaeology and the Making of Modern Mexico, 1877-1911

Program

ACLS Fellowship Program

Department

History

Abstract

Based on extensive research in Mexico-City archives, this study examines the ways in which Mexico's Porfirian state (1877-1911) used archaeology for the purpose of state- and nation-building. It looks at the various federal projects to control and display the Indian past, analyzing the National Museum as well as the making of the nation's first official archaeological site at Teotihuacan in 1910. It also examines how the federal government's projects impacted locals at the ruins, both those who resisted and aided the state.