Mesoamerican Cultures and their Histories: Focus on Oaxaca

FAIN: ES-50317-09

University of Oregon (Eugene, OR 97403-5219)
Stephanie G. Wood (Project Director: March 2009 to June 2012)

Funding details:
Original grant (2009) $185,561.00
Supplement (2010) $10,000.00

A four-week school teacher summer institute for twenty-five to thirty participants highlighting recent archaeological and ethnohistorical research on the indigenous peoples of Oaxaca, Mexico.

This four-week summer institute for K-12 school teachers of history, art, and Spanish language will be held in Oaxaca, Mexico and is designed to facilitate the expanded integration of Mesoamerican cultural heritage materials, including new discoveries and the latest research, into curricular units that will appeal to a variety of learners and bring greater multicultural depth and understanding into U.S. classrooms. The aim is to explore how the histories of Mesoamerican peoples might provide useful comparisons for exploring humanities questions in the broader American and the global context. We will address questions such as how peoples move from non-sedentary to more settled societies; what leads to city formation; the emergence of writing and literacy; the development of complex societies, cultural florescence (and decline); how empires are built and what the human consequences are; and, what are the outcomes of cultural encounters and exchange.