A History of Genízaro Identity in the Heart of New Mexico with Dr. Gregorio Gonzales
Release Date: 05/15/2024
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Photos can obscure as much as they reveal. When we encounter historic photographs, it can feel like we’ve entered the past through a portal. But like contemporary photographs, what is left out of the frame is as interesting and puzzling as what we can observe. Still, the donation of historic photos to any archive can only help to add to our knowledge and expand the questions we need to ask. This is certainly the case for the William Thomas Mullarky photo collection at the New Mexico History Museum’s Palace of the Governors Photo Archive. The Mullarky collection has never been accessible...
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BONUS: Come Together Over New Mexico Culture This Winter
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Time Travel: From Giant Millipedes to Modern Landscapes with New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science
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A long, long time ago, the region that is now New Mexico was part of a giant land mass, and it was located on the equator. The climate was warm and tropical and much of the present-day state was covered in shallow seas. This was long before humans or even dinosaurs existed—252 to 541 million years ago. The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science has recently opened a new permanent exhibition, The Bradbury Stamm Construction Hall of Ancient Life, that covers the vast geologic history of ancient life in the state. Piecing together the story of ancient life in New Mexico can...
info_outlineWhat do we lose when we don’t know ALL of our histories? Understanding our great, great, great, great grandparents' lives and how they survived, where they settled or traveled, and what languages they spoke – all of these details reveal so much about who we are and how we landed here in this place, at this moment in time. How our ancestors interacted with other people and with the land has had ripple effects on why things are the way they are today.
Dr. Gregorio Gonzales (Comanche, Genízaro), the tribal liaison for the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, works to develop relationships with 23 tribal governments based within New Mexico. DCA divisions interact with as many as 34 American Indian tribal governments, which include tribes with ancestral ties to New Mexico and whose tribal headquarters are located in Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Texas. Gonzales is uniquely suited to this position due to his impressive knowledge of Indigenous history in the state—including Genízaro history which is still largely unknown in the context of United States history.
Even within New Mexico, groups without any connection to a Genízaro identity are not likely to know this history. And as Gonzales reveals, he didn’t understand the full history and context of his Genízaro identity until he was a young adult.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE
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Encounter Culture, a production of the New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs, is produced and edited by Andrea Klunder at The Creative Impostor Studios.
Hosted by Emily Withnall, editor at El Palacio Magazine
Executive Producer: Daniel Zillmann
Technical Director & Post-Production Audio: Edwin R. Ruiz
Recording Engineer: Kabby at Kabby Sound Studios in Santa Fe
Editor & Production Manager: Alex Riegler
Editor: Monica Braine (Assiniboine/Lakota)
Theme Music: D’Santi Nava
Instagram: @newmexicanculture and @elpalaciomagazine
For a transcript and full show notes, please visit podcast.nmculture.org