Matthew Restall is a historian whose scholarship focuses on six areas of specialization: the Spanish Conquest era in the Americas; Aztec and Maya history; the history of colonial Mesoamerica, primarily Yucatan but including Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize; the African diaspora in the Americas; the history of Christopher Columbus; and the history of popular music. Join […]

Our monthly community breakfast will take place on Wednesday, February 4, at 9:00 a.m. Come out to Girvetz 2320 to enjoy free bagels and coffee!

Despite being Costa Rica’s most widely spoken minority language, Limonese Creole lacks constitutional recognition and continues to bear a legacy of social stigma. In response, a collaboration between the Programa de Lingüística Centroamericana (PROLINCA) at Universidad Nacional and the speaker community has pursued a strategy of direct empowerment and revitalisation. This partnership has produced an […]

Archaeology in the Northern Peruvian Andes is not only about the past—it is about how memory continues to live in bodies, territories, and everyday practices. In this talk, I draw on more than a decade of research and community-based work in Cajamarca. I examine urban and community-centered archaeological projects developed in collaboration with local governments […]

Our monthly community breakfast will take place on Wednesday, March 4, at 9:00 a.m. Come out to Girvetz 2320 to enjoy free bagels and coffee!

Our monthly community breakfast will take place on Wednesday, April 1, at 9:00 a.m. Come out to Girvetz 2320 to enjoy free bagels and coffee!

Embrace of the Serpent (El abrazo de la serpiente), dir. Ciro Guerra, 2015, 125 min. — Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela. A breathtaking ethnographic odyssey through the heart of the Colombia Amazon, Embrace of the Serpent is the epic story of the first contact, approach, betrayal and, eventually, friendship.

Mixteco Knot (Nudo Mixteco), dir. Ángeles Cruz, 2021, 91 min. — Mexico. Taking place in a rural Mixtec village in Oaxaca, southern Mexico, Nudo Mixteco follows the return of María, Esteban, and Toña, each from a different direction. Each of them has a different reason for coming back, just like each had a different reason to leave in the […]

Ixcanul, Volcano (Ixcanul, Volcán), dir. Jayro Bustamante, 2015, 91 min. — France, Guatemala. Maria, a 17 year old Maya girl, lives and works with her parents on a coffee plantation in the foothills of an active volcano in Guatemala. An arranged marriage awaits her: her parents have promised her to Ignacio, the plantation overseer. But Maria […]

Bad Influence (Mala junta), dir. Claudia Huaiquimilla, 2016, 89 min. — Chile. Rebellious Tano is sent from Santiago to Southern Chile under the custody of his father whom he has not seen in years. In his new school, he meets Cheo, a shy boy who gets bullied for his indigenous origins.