This Starting Conversations series takes up the subject of community archiving. This series explores the methods and effects of public and communal archiving practices, especially in the context of the Manitos Community Memory Project, which is a community-built digital archive. Shane Flores facilitates this series with archivists, scholars, and students who have participated in the Manitos Project. Archiving the Diaspora is the first installment in this series and we’re talking to Dr. Eric Romero and Dr. Trisha Martinez who are two academic scholars working toward building a more representative archive.
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Dr. Trisha Martinez, heir to the Arroyo Hondo Arriba Land Grant, is a PhD graduate in American Studies from the University of New Mexico. Her dissertation, entitled Living the Manito Trail: Maintaining Self, Culture, and Community, is an interdisciplinary ethnographic study that relied heavily on oral histories she collected from Manito communities who migrated from northern New Mexico to Wyoming. Currently, Trisha is a post-doctoral fellow at UNM-Taos, teaching Chicana and Chicano Studies, serving as the program coordinator and working with northern New Mexico high school students and the dual credit program. She is also serving as a Visiting Assistant Professor for the University of Wyoming’s School of Culture, Gender, and Social Justice-Latina/o Studies Program. Through teaching and community outreach, she is excited to help inspire the youth and create opportunities that serve in the best interest of our community.
Shane Flores, conceptual artist and interdisciplinary culture worker, is Community Facilitator for the Manitos Community Memory Project and is the principal at studio wetFuture, developing history and culture based content for cultural institutions, including The Bradbury Science Museum, The City of Las Vegas Museum, New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs and UNM Maxwell Museum of Anthropology. He holds a BFA in Media Arts from New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico.
Dr. Eric Romero Interim Chair: Department of Languages and Culture at NM Highlands University; the Vice-Chair Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advisory Council; Senior Associate: Center for the Study and Education of Diverse Populations (CESDP); and the Interim Director: Center for the Study of Northern New Mexico and the Greater Southwest. His research interests include Chicano ethnic identity formation, southwestern sociolinguistics, heritage language revitalization, Hispanic land grant and acequia communities, immigration, US/Mexico Relations and Border, Becas Para Aztlán program history, place-making and rural land use behaviors, Native American and Mestizaje traditions.
THIS PROGRAM WAS CREATED IN PARTNERSHIP WITH MANITOS COMMUNITY MEMORY PROJECT
Focused on a region whose people have been impacted by historic trauma and the consequences of extractive practices, the Manitos Community Memory Project (MCM Project) is set in an arc that begins with loss but bends toward restorative justice.