The pueblo revolt of 1680 is recognized as the most successful indigenous rebellion in the New World. The revolt demonstrates a powerful counter narrative to the official histories of colonial America. In this course, we discuss and interrogate the four pillars of settler colonial "terminal narratives"- disease and demographic collapse, military conquest, missionization and acculturation. We will explore the philosophical and legal justifications for Spanish colonization, the use of and impact of colonial violence against Native Peoples and the ways in which the collective experience of colonial violence helped motivate a powerful social movement among Native Peoples. We discuss the historiography of the southwest, the role of anthropology and archaeology in perpetuating the mythology of conquest and the formation of collective identity and community in New Mexico using primary historical texts and archaeological evidence
4-5 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit
The pueblo revolt of 1680 is recognized as the most successful indigenous rebellion in the New World. The revolt demonstrates a powerful counter narrative to the official histories of colonial America. In this course, we discuss and interrogate the four pillars of settler colonial "terminal narratives"- disease and demographic collapse, military conquest, missionization and acculturation. We will explore the philosophical and legal justifications for Spanish colonization, the use of and impact of colonial violence against Native Peoples and the ways in which the collective experience of colonial violence helped motivate a powerful social movement among Native Peoples. We discuss the historiography of the southwest, the role of anthropology and archaeology in perpetuating the mythology of conquest and the formation of collective identity and community in New Mexico using primary historical texts and archaeological evidence
Offered in Winter 2027 at Stanford University.