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This talk traces Bria’s archaeological reconstruction of ancient community life in Hualcayán, Peru, a place Andean people inhabited, reimagined, and transformed over nearly four thousand years (2400 BC–AD 1450). It also reflects upon how Hualcayán’s ruins, infrastructure, and other material legacies continue to impact contemporary villagers, from their agricultural practices to their social relationships. Finally, it discusses the co-created projects that Bria, her colleagues, and local people have executed in recent years in an effort to collaboratively redefine what it means to be of this place and to value its heritage.

Rebecca Bria is an anthropological archaeologist whose research in the Peruvian Andes examines how communities emerge and transform though human-environment interactions, from agricultural production to rituals of renewal. She is also deeply invested in issues of cultural heritage, and she works with Andean communities to co-create heritage events, educational programs, and museum installations that explore how people in the rural Andes perceive and value their past and landscape. Rebecca received her PhD in 2017 from Vanderbilt University and currently teaches at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

Sponsored by the major in Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latinx Studies (LACUSL).