147. Anca Miruna Achim, Teaching about the Past to Speculate about the Future in Mexico City

Show Notes:

Miruna studied art history at Harvard, focusing on Renaissance art. After taking a year off to travel and visit Romania, she decided to study Latin American Studies and Spanish and Portuguese at Yale. She found the graduate experience at Yale challenging, especially the sense of isolation that can come with graduate work when it is not socially or politically involved. Miruna began traveling to Mexico for her research on colonial Latin America, focusing on the intersection of history of science, literature, and ritual.

Teaching History of Science

Miruna moved to Mexico City, where she still resides. She works at a public university, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, in the Humanities Department where she  works on narratives that have to do with the history of science. She also teaches courses on collecting and museum formation  from a material culture perspective. She works with the national archeological collection in Mexico City, focusing on how collections are formed and the role of material culture in shaping history.

Arriving in the U.S. As a Refugee

Miruna shares more about her experience as a refugee and her journey to the US. Miruna was 13 when she left Romania with her parents, staying in a refugee camp near Vienna before moving to the US. Her parents applied for asylum in Australia, Canada, and the U.S., and the U.S. was the first to grant it. Miruna describes the cultural shock of arriving in Los Angeles in March with heavy winter coats, highlighting the differences between Central Europe and Southern California.

The Cultural Importance of Understanding the Past

Miruna discusses her teaching at a public university in Mexico, where she encourages students to question and engage with the past. She explains the hierarchical nature of Mexican society and how public universities provide a space for people from different backgrounds to meet. Miruna emphasizes the importance of understanding that the past is not fixed and that there are always opportunities to intervene and shape the present. In her courses on the history of archeology and collecting, she encourages students to develop their own relationships with the past.

Archeological Collections and Community Ownership

Miruna shares a story from the 19th century about the National Museum of Mexico and how archeology became a central part of the country's national heritage. She explains how archeological collections were moved from communities to the capital, often with resistance from local people. Miruna discusses a specific incident where urns from the Pacific coast were shattered during transportation, highlighting the different ways of caring for objects. While disciplinary narratives insist that museums care for objects, this episode shows how the opposite is true as well: objects and their meanings can be destroyed, physically and conceptually in their transfer to museum. She further discusses  a more recent event, involving state violence and local resistance, when a 168-ton monolith was moved from  a village outside Mexico City to the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, in 1964.

Practices and Norms in Archeology

The conversation turns to changes in archeological practices and norms over the years. Miruna notes that younger archeologists are more likely to seek permission from local communities and give credit to local guides and people working on excavations. She mentions the increasing difficulty of accessing certain areas in Mexico due to organized crime, which has reduced the number of archeological projects in some regions. Miruna emphasizes the importance of local museums and community collections in providing more inclusive and contextualized narratives.

The Rise of Political Parties and the Zapatista Movement

Miruna shares her experience of arriving in Mexico and the political changes she witnessed, including the rise of new political parties and the Zapatista movement. She describes the vibrant and dynamic nature of Mexican society, with ongoing efforts to find new ways of relating to the past and imagining the future. Miruna discusses the challenges of prejudice and hierarchies in Mexican society, despite progress in areas like gay marriage and feminist marches.

Science Fiction as a Form of Resistance

Miruna teaches science fiction written from the Global South, which she sees as a form of resistance against dominant narratives. She explains that this genre is relatively new in Latin America and is influenced by writers from the Global North like Octavia Butler and Ursula Le Guin. Miruna highlights the work of young writers like Gabriela Damian and Fernanda Trias, who explore social and cultural realities through science fiction. She discusses the importance of imagining open networks and connected worlds, rather than closed systems and technological fantasies.

Archeological Points of Interest in Mexico

Miruna offers a few recommendations for visitors interested in archeology in Mexico. She suggests visiting the Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City, which focuses on archeology and pre-Hispanic history. She also recommends a trip to Teotihuacan, highlighting the importance of visiting the mural paintings in the residential compounds. Miruna also recommends exploring the center of Mexico City, which is a palimpsest of different centuries and cultures, with the Templo Mayor, a pre-Hispanic structure from the 16th century, which is rising out of the ground due to shifts in soil and shifts in the water table.

Harvard  Reflections

Miruna mentions Joseph Koerner, who taught Northern Renaissance art, and John Sherman, who taught Italian Renaissance art. She also recalls Oleg Grabar, who taught Islamic art and read poems such as Yeats' poem "Sailing to Byzantium" to inspire students to see art with different eyes. Miruna expresses regret for not taking classes with other influential professors like Stephen Jay Gould, which she would have loved to do now.

Timestamps:

01:35: Studying Art History and Latin American Studies

03:20: Life and Work in Mexico City

04:43: Experiences as a Refugee and Arrival in the US

08:43: Teaching and Research in Mexico

13:41: Historical Context of Archeology in Mexico

21:43: Changes in Archeological Practices

24:33: Miruna's Experience in Mexico and Political Context

29:38: Teaching Science Fiction from the Global South

Featured Non-profit

The featured non-profit of this week’s episode is recommended by Becca Braun who reports:

“ Hi. I'm Becca Braun from the class of 1992. The featured nonprofit of this episode of The 92 Report is the Lawrence School in Sagamore Hills, Ohio. The Lawrence School is a leading school in teaching students with ADHD and dyslexia, and its wonderful tagline is “Great Minds Don't Think Alike.”

Lawrence School has been transformative for our youngest child with ADHD, and he went from thinking that he was a troublemaker and problem student to completely believing in himself and loving going to school every day. Every child should have this opportunity, regardless of their financial means. We have donated and hope that you might so that more children with ADHD or dyslexia, those who are unable to thrive in large public school classrooms might have the opportunity to attend this transformative school. Thanks a lot. You can learn more about their work at Lawrence school.org, Lawrence L, A, W, R, E, N, C, E, school.org, and now here is Will Bachman with this week's episode.”

To learn more about their work, visit: www.lawrenceschool.org.