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cabreraarchive · 3 years

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The State of Nuevo León is located in the northeast of México and touches the United States of America to the north along 14 kilometers of the Texas border. Nuevo Leon is surrounded by the states of Coahuila, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, and Zacatecas. Nuevo Leon is made up of 64,156 square kilometers, which is equal to 3.3% of the national territory and makes the state the 13th largest state of Mexico. Politically, the state is divided into fifty-one municipals.

With a 2010 population of 5,119,504 people, Nuevo Leon has the eighth largest population in the Mexican Republic. The capital of Nuevo Leon is Monterrey, which had a population of 1,135,512 in 2010, representing over one-fifth (22.5%) of the state’s total population. Monterrey is internationally renowned as the business capital of México for its infinite range of industrial, commercial, and service companies that are located in the city.

The Physical Description of Nuevo León

The relief of the State of Nuevo León is shaped to the north by an immense plain interrupted by hills. Through the center of the state, the Sierra Madre Oriental forms a large arc south of Monterrey; and to the south is a high plateau. While hills cover 42.84% of the surface of the state, mountain ranges encompass 25.13% of the state and plains make up another 17.36% of the territory. The state is part of the following three physiographic provinces, which are described below and illustrated in the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI) map on the following page:

The Sierra Madre Oriental (Eastern) Mountains cover 50.9% of the state territory and contains both mountains and plains in the western half of the state.

Grandes Llanuras de Norteamérica (The Great Plains of North America) cover 34.6% of the state territory, primarily in the northeast of the state and made up of low hills, alluvial plains and valleys.

Llanura Costera del Golfo Norte (The Coastal Plain of the North Gulf) encompasses 14.5% of the state territory, mainly in the east central part of the state.

Indigenous Nuevo León

The original inhabitants of the State of Nuevo León before the arrival of the Spaniards were nomadic hunters and gatherers. In general, the Spaniards at first called all inhabitants in the north frontier of Mexico by the generic term, Chichimecas. But these indigenous people actually consisted of several indigenous linguistic groups. In Nuevo León, they included the Alazapas in the north, the Guachichiles in the south, the Borrados and Tamaulipec groups in the east, and Coahuiltecans in the west.

Some historians have estimated that there were roughly 250 tribes with different denominations in the Nuevo León region, and some tribes were known by multiple names. Early observers noted that these small tribal groups appeared to be at war with each other a great deal and had minimal contact with native groups outside of their immediate areas. Most of their languages have been lost to history. The primary sources of information available about the Nuevo León, Coahuila and Tamaulipas indigenous groups are:

Gabriel Saldivar, “Los Indios de Tamaulipas” (Mexico City: Pan American Institute of Geography and History, 1943).

J. R. Swanton, “Linguistic Material from the Tribes of Southern Texas and Northeastern Mexico” (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1940).

Rudolph C. Troike, “Notes on Coahuiltecan Ethnography,” Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 32 (1962).

Thomas N. Campbell, “Coahuiltecans and Their Neighbors,” in Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 10 (Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1983).

Martin Salinas, “Indians of the Rio Grande Delta: Their Role in the History of Southern Texas and Northeastern Mexico.” Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990.

Frederick Henry Ruecking, The Coahuiltecan Indians of Southern Texas and Northeastern Mexico. Master’s Thesis: The University of Texas, August 1955.

The Coahuiltecan Tribes

The Coahuiltecan tribes were made up of hundreds of autonomous bands of hunter-gatherers who ranged over the eastern part of Coahuila, northern Tamaulipas, western Nuevo León and southern Texas south and west of San Antonio River and Cibolo Creek. It was the practice of the Coahuiltecans to move from one traditional campsite to another, following the seasons and herds of migrating animals.

According to Frederick Henry Ruecking’s Master’s thesis for the University of Texas in 1955, certain Coahuiltecan bands were “clustered around a central, dominant band.” Referred to as “band-clusters,” these groups were “bound together by (1) geographic proximity, (2) historic association, (3) cultural or linguistic affinity, and/or (4) a similarity in band names. In his thesis, Ruecking recognized eight band-clusters, suggested three more and indicated four others as possibilities.

Coahuiltecan Population Figures

According to the “Handbook of Texas Online,” estimates of the total Coahuiltecan population in 1690 vary widely. One scholar estimates the total nonagricultural Indian population of northeastern Mexico, which included desert lands west to the Río Conchos in Chihuahua, at 100,000.

The American anthropologist John R. Swanton listed 212 Coahuiltecan bands, and this was considered to be an incomplete list. General Fernando Sanchez Zamora listed 161 bands in northern Nuevo Leon, and 71 of these bands were located within ten to twelve leagues of Cerralvo.

In 1953, Ruecking compiled a list of 614 group names (Coahuiltecan) for northeastern Mexico and southern Texas and estimated the average population per group as 140 and therefore reckoned the total population at 86,000. He estimated that the entire Coahuiltecan area encompassed approximately 198,000 square miles.

Classification of the Coahuiltecans

Initially, the Spaniards had little interest in describing the natives or classifying the Coahuiltecans into ethnic units. There was no obvious basis for classification, and major cultural contrasts and tribal organizations went unnoticed, as did similarities and differences in the native languages and dialects. The Spanish padres referred to each Indian group as a nación, and described them according to their association with major terrain features or with Spanish jurisdictional units. Only in Nuevo León did observers link Indian populations by cultural peculiarities, such as hairstyle and body decoration. Thus, modern scholars have found it difficult to identify these hunting and gathering groups by language and culture.

Eventually, many of the ethnohistorians and anthropologists came to believe that the entire region was occupied by numerous small Indian groups who spoke related languages and shared the same basic culture, the Coahuiltecan culture. By the mid-nineteenth century, Mexican linguists had constructed what is now known as “Coahuiltecan culture” by assembling bits of specific and generalized information recorded by Spaniards for widely scattered and limited parts of the region.

During the Spanish colonial period, most of the Coahuilatecan natives were displaced from their traditional territories by Spaniards advancing from the south and Apaches advancing from the north. A large number of the small tribal groups or bands belonging to the Coahuiltecan stock remain unknown to this day and even their locations – in some cases – are not clear.

Tamaulipecan Groups

The Tamaulipas groups included some sedentary peoples who were dedicated to agriculture, with well-structured religious practices. The Tamaulipec groups were mainly small tribes that occupied the central and southeastern parts of the present-day state. Today, it is believed that the so-called Tamaulipecan family was related to and perhaps a subset of the Coahuiltecans. Through their Coahuiltecan ties, it is believed that the Tamaulipecos were part of the Hokan language group, but very few fragments of their languages survive today.

Guachichiles (Huachichiles)

The Guachichiles, of all the Chichimeca Indians, occupied the most extensive territory, extending some 100,000 square kilometers from Lake Chapala (Jalisco) in the south to Saltillo (Coahuila) in the north. Considered both warlike and brave, the Guachichiles roamed through a large section of the present-day state of Zacatecas and as far north as Coahuila and Nuevo León. The Aztecs used the term “Guachichile” as a reference to “heads painted of red,” a reference to the red dye that they used to paint their bodies, faces and hair. The Guachichil group of tribes is regarded as connected with the present-day Huichol language group (of Jalisco and Nayarit) and has been classified as part of the Aztecoidan division of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family.

The Guachichiles and their “Chichimeca” cousins, the Zacatecos, waged the 40-year war (1550-1590) known as the “Chichimeca War” against Spanish forces, primarily in the vast region south of Coahuila (Zacatecas, Northern Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Western San Luis Potosí and Guanajuato). They were never decisively defeated in battle, but were pacified through gifts that included many of the materials used by Spaniards and “civilized” Indians to live and thrive in their Spanish settlements.

Alazapas

The Alazapas are a Coahuiltecan group that lived in several present-day municipios of Nuevo León, including San Nicolas de los Garza, which is just five miles from Monterrey. Between 1637 and 1647, the Alazapas attacked the Spaniards in several areas near Monterrey, including the mines at Cerralvo and several small settlements. Although the Alazapas contained the Spanish expansion into the area for ninety years, eventually they were forced to move north to the area around Lampazos.Lampazos is close to the present-day boundary between Nuevo León with Coahuila.

Borrados

The Spaniards applied the name Borrados to several, widely distributed groups over a period of two centuries. In the sixteenth century, one of the Borrado tribes lived in the Monterrey-Cadereyta-Cerralvo area of Nuevo Leon, as well as adjacent areas of Tamaulipas. The Borrados were also known as Rayados (“Stripped Ones”). The name derived from the almost universal habit among these Indians of covering their faces with tattoos which the aborigines produced by opening a trace-work of cuts on the skin with a sharpened stone, then rubbing into charcoal. The resulting design distinguished members of one tribe from members of other tribes.

Catujanes

The Catujanes Indians lived in the Mesa of the Catujanes and in the area of Lampazos de Naranjo, which is a present-day city and municipio located in northwestern Nuevo León, 97 miles (156 km) north of Monterrey.

Gualeguas

The Gualeguas Indians lived in the region of Agualeguas, a city and a municipio located in the northeastern Nuevo León, 80 miles (128 km) northeast of Monterrey. The name “Agualeguas” honors the first known inhabitants of the region, the Gualegua tribe.

Cacalote Indians

Cacalote (“crow” or “raven”) is the name of an Indian groups that lived south of the Rio Grande in Nuevo León and Tamaulipas in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Cacalotes were believed to have been a Coahuiltecan group.

Pajarito Indians

Pajarito, which is Spanish for “little bird,” was the name of a Coahuiltecan band that originally inhabited northeastern Nuevo León, but later migrated northwestward to the north bank of the Rio Grande above the site of present-day Laredo. Eventually most of the Pajarito Indians ended up along the lower Rio Grande near the coast, principally in northern Tamaulipas.

Tortugas

The Tortugas (“Tortoises”) are believed to have lived on the upper tributaries of the Rio San Juan in eastern Nuevo Leon. However, the Tortugas may also have been referred to as Pelón or Pelones (“bald” or “hairless”) because the males removed their head hair in a number of ways, but several unrelated Indian groups of Nuevo Leon were also known by the Spaniards as Pelones. The Tortugas were first recorded in eastern Nuevo Leon in 1716-1717 as one of several rebellious groups that settled at Mission Purificación in the Pilón Valley near Montemorelos. The Spaniards considered the Tortugas to be very troublesome because of their far-reaching raids, as far south as Montemorelos, as far west as Cadereyta and as far north as Cerralvo. From the 1740s to the 1760s they were recorded at various missions in eastern Nuevo Leon, but their ethnic identity was lost in the nineteenth century.

Carrizos

Carrizos (Spanish for “canes” or “reeds”) is a descriptive name that was applied after 1700 to several widely distributed Indian groups of both northeastern Mexico and Texas. Apparently, Indians of this name lived in houses whose frames were covered by canes or reeds. The western Carrizos were reported in various locations, including Mission Nuestra de los Dolores de la Punta de Lampazos (near modern Lampazos). It is believed that they may also have inhabited Starr and Zapata counties of present-day Texas. And in 1735, it was reported that they were one of several Indian groups who had attacked the Spanish settlement at Cerralvo during the preceding 20 years.

Although they continued to conduct raids in Nuevo Leon over a period of decades, the Carrizos appear to have allied themselves with the Spaniards from 1790 to 1792 against the Mescalero and Lipan Apaches. During the early 18th Century, the Carrizos were known to be in the region of Laredo, Texas and east of Lampazos, Nuevo Leon.

Zalayas

In 1688, Zalayas were mentioned in connection with the Convent of San Francisco of Cerralvo, and it’s likely that they lived in the Cerralvo area. In 1735, Zalayas reportedly were among the Indian groups that had been causing trouble at the Spanish village of Agualeguas, about 17 miles north of Cerralvo in northeastern Nuevo Leon.

Zacatiles

The Zacatiles lived near Cadereyta in west central Nuevo Leon. The word Zacatil appears to be related to zacate, a word of Náhuatl origin that the early Spaniards applied to several groups, including the Zacatecos Indians of Zacatecas. During the 1730s, there was considerable unrest among the surviving Indian groups of eastern Nuevo Leon, and some documents refer to the Zacatiles as being one of the indigenous groups that raided Spanish settlements as far north as Cerralvo and as far south as Montemorelos.

Native Groups Continuously at War

According to Omar Santiago Valerio-Jiménez, the various tribes of this area “were almost continuously at war with one another. Inter-tribal strife made it relatively easy, during the early stages of the conquest, for the Spaniards to master many of these small, mutually antagonistic tribes.” However, the natives who sought refuge in the Sierra Madre were harder to locate in their mountain refuges. The mountain strongholds served as a base of operations for raids on Spanish settlements and as refuge for natives who fled the mission settlements.

The natives of colonial Nuevo León were almost constantly on the move in their search for food. Although the region had a distinct dry season, many streams still flowed from the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre, and this led to the lush growth of vegetation in the foothills and coastal areas. In normal times, many of the tribes engaged in hunting and food gathering. They moved about in small groups and their rancherias usually consisted of one or two families, which rarely numbered more than eight or ten persons altogether. In times of war, these small nomadic communities would coalesce to form aggressive raiding parties.

The Establishment of Monterrey (1577)

In 1577, Alberto del Canto, a Portuguese immigrant, founded a settlement named Ojos de Santa Lucía, which was renamed San Luis in 1583 by Luis Carvajal y de la Cueva. However, it was abandoned and then re-founded as the City of Monterrey on September 20, 1596 along the Santa Catarina River. However, the hostility of the local natives, was so intense that Monterrey became an isolated stronghold standing in hostile territory.

Establishment of the Kingdom (1579)

On May 31, 1579, Luis Carvajal signed an agreement with King Felipe II of Spain to pacify the region and to establish the Kingdom of Nuevo León, which extended from the Pánuco River on the south and the Gulf of Mexico on the east, while its western sector extended well into the Sierra Madre Oriental. The northern border of the province ran roughly along the lower Río Grande.

Carvajal was both the first governor and encomendero of the area, but, according to historian Sean F. McEnroe, his “brief and unsuccessful conquests” were “motivated by the profits of slave raiding and mining” and “provoked fierce resistance from local populations.” This hostility, followed by his subsequent arrest leading to a power vacuum led Spain to abandon the area for some time.

Slavery in Nuevo León

As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, some of the Spaniards turned to Indian slavery for profits. In establishing the towns of Monterrey and Cerralvo, Spaniards captured Indians to sell as slaves for labor in the mines of Zacatecas. This cruelty provoked several results. In 1624, as an example, the local tribes assaulted the Monterrey and slaughtered the Franciscan missionaries living in the area. However, in his Ph.D. dissertation, Professor Rodolfo Fernández discussed the complexities of the local system, noting that some indigenous people also became slave owners.

The Encomienda System in Nuevo León

According to Professor Rodolfo Fernández, the encomienda system gave some Spaniards “the legal right to negotiate tribute in the form of labor from specific indigenous groups. The encomienda was the most widespread labor relation between Indians and Spaniards in northeastern New Spain.” In this system, the tribute-receiving soldier, known as an encomendero received a grant in the form of land, municipios or Indian labor. He was also obliged to provide military protection and a Christian education for the Indians under his command. The Indian laborers under his command were called encomendados.

Fernández notes that in the northern frontier area, “the structure of Indian communities was completely different since the native Chichimecas did not own a particular piece of land permanently, and they did not have the type of political elites that existed in Mesoamerican societies.”

In his Ph.D. Dissertation, Professor Fernández noted that Indians of the north “were not bound by ownership of land or coercive political systems. Encomendados could literally pick up their belongings and move beyond the encomendero’s reach, yet many of them chose to live and work in an encomendero’s commercial property. One reason why many Indians chose to stay with the Spanish was not because of coercion or control from imperial structures of power, but because they saw joining them as a way to find relief in times of scarcity, or protection in times of war.” Fernández also notes that many of the northern indigenous groups “viewed the encomienda as a temporary alliance to counter emerging threats. When Indian groups felt conditions under Spanish rule to be intolerable, they often escaped, joined other groups and in many extreme cases rebelled.”

The Decline of the Coahuiltecans

When the Spaniards arrived in Coahuila and Nuevo Leon, they settled into “choice locations” which led to strains on local food supplies and eventually led to displacement of many Coahuiltecan bands. Ruecking believed that this was “one of the fundamental reasons for the rapid missionization of the Coahuiltecans.” The Coahuiltecans in the missions had provided unskilled labor and engaged in intermarriage with other ethnic groups. As the missions closed in the 19th century, Indian families were given small parcels of mission land. Eventually, the survivors passed into the lower economic levels of Mexican society.

Missions as a Place of Refuge

Although the missions were established as a means of Christianizing the native people, they also became a vehicle for educating Indians in the ways of Spanish colonial living. But, with a more hostile environment on the outside, the missions also became a place of refuge. The former hunter-gatherers were willing to become part of the mission system for a number of reasons noted here:

The irrigation system promised a more stable supply of food than they normally enjoyed.

The presidio – frequently located close to a mission — offered much greater protection from the Apaches.

The missionaries and their lay helpers instructed the natives in the Catholic faith and in the elements of Spanish peasant society. The Indians learned various trades, including carpentry, masonry, blacksmithing, and weaving; they also did a great deal of agricultural work.

Mission Indian villages usually consisted of about 100 Indians of mixed groups who generally came from a wide area surrounding a mission. Although survivors of a group often entered a single mission, individuals and families of one ethnic group might scatter to five or six missions. The number of Indian bands (or groups) at each mission varied from fewer than twenty groups to as many as 100.

However, with so many people concentrated in a single area, the natives around the missions became more vulnerable to the diseases brought by Europeans. Because the missions had an agricultural base, the economic output of the mission declined when the Indian labor force dwindled. Missions were distributed unevenly. Some were in remote areas, while others were clustered, often two to five in number, in small areas.

Displacement and Loss of Ethnic Identity

In Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas and Texas, the displacement of Coahuiltecans and other nomadic groups by the Spaniards and Apaches created an unusual ethnic mix. Inevitably, the numerous Spanish missions in the region would provide a refuge for the displaced and declining Indian populations.

As they lived in close contact with the Spanish colonial culture and learned agricultural techniques, most of the Coahuiltecan Indians lost their identity. Their names disappeared from the written record as epidemics, warfare, migration, dispersion by Spaniards to work at distant plantations and mines, high infant mortality, and general demoralization took their toll. Small remnants merged with larger remnants or were absorbed into the Apaches. By 1800 the names of few ethnic units appear in documents, and by 1900 the names of groups native to the region had disappeared. A large number of the small tribal groups or bands belonging to the Coahuiltecan stock remain unknown to this day and even their locations – in some cases – are not clear.

Political Chronology:

In 1582, Nuevo León was known as Nuevo Reino de León. From 1777 to 1793, Nuevo León was made part of the Provincias Internas. With the independence of Mexico in 1821, Nuevo León became a free and sovereign state by a decree of May 7, 1824. When the Constitution of 1857 took effect on February 5, 1847, Nuevo León was incorporated into Coahuila. On February 26, 1864, the state of Nuevo León was split from Coahuila.

The 1921 Census

In the unusual 1921 Mexican census, residents of each state were asked to classify themselves in several categories, including “indígena pura” (pure indigenous), “indígena mezclada con blanca” (indigenous mixed with white) and “blanca” (white). Out of a total state population of 336,412, only 17,276 persons (or 5.1%) claimed to be of pure indigenous background.

With only 5.1% of its people being recognized as of pure indigenous origin, Nuevo León boasted a large population of assimilated individuals, with 253,878 individuals – or 75.5% – being classified as mezclada (or mixed). However, nearly one-in-five of Nuevo León’s inhabitants – 64,697 (19.2%) – claimed to be white.

But Nuevo León’s long-term assimilation into the Spanish world was evident in the fact that only four people in the state spoke an indigenous language: two Huastecos, one Kikapoo and one Maya.

Migration from Other States

Over the next few decades, the number of persons who spoke indigenous languages in Nuevo León increased significantly in a unique reconfiguration of indigenous identity in Northern Mexico. From 787 individuals five years of age and older in 1970, Nuevo León witnessed an unprecedented increase to 15,446 speakers in 2000 and 40,237 in 2010. In fact, according to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística y Geografía (INEGI), Nuevo León was the Mexican entity with the highest rate of growth of indigenous population (12.5% per year) throughout the country as of 2005.

Indigenous Languages Spoken in Nuevo Leon in 2010 In 2010, a total of 40,258 indigenous speakers 3 years and older in Nuevo Leon lived in Nuevo León, of which more than half (53.6%) spoke the Náhuatl language, and 17% did not even specify which indigenous language they spoke.

While the speakers of the Otomí, Totonac and Huasteco languages most likely came from nearby states like Veracruz and San Luis Potosí, the Zapotec and Mixtec speakers probably came from the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero.

The 2010 census also reported the languages spoken within each municipio of each state. As indicated in the following table, Náhuatl — the most common language spoken in Mexico and the leading language in several states — is, by far, the most spoken indigenous language in Nuevo León. But, it is noteworthy that Náhuatl — and any other languages spoken in the state — are transplants from other states, due to Nuevo León’s position as a magnet for migration from a multitude of other states.

Huasteco is the second most spoken language for both the state and most of the municipios. This is not surprising as the States of Veracruz and San Luis Potosí are states that are not far removed from Nuevo León.

As noted in studies by both Séverine Durin (2011) and Juan Luis Sariego Rodriguez (2016), in the twenty years between 1990 and 2010, the indigenous speaking population in Nuevo León was multiplied by eight. It is somewhat ironic that a state — whose indigenous population disappeared long ago (as a result of epidemics, warfare and assimilation) — has become an area of significant migration for indigenous people from many other Mexican states.

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christarango · 3 years

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I Interviewed the Guy Who Went Into a Museum & "Vandalized" a Picasso.

In 2012, a man in a suit entered the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas. That man was Uriel Landeros, a self proclaimed artist and a student at the University of Houston. A cell phone video captured his visit to the prestigious musuem and was posted on YouTube the same day. The video quickly went viral and set the "Art World" on fire. That's because Mr. Landeros brazenly walked up to Pablo Picasso's 1929 painting, "Woman in a Red Armchair" and spray painted directly onto the priceless piece of art. In just a few seconds, the Picasso was altered, hanging there with a mysterious image of a bull and the word "Conquista" spray painted across the surface. "Conquista" is a Spanish word that means "conquest" or "to conquer". But why? What did it mean? The incident pissed off plenty of people worldwide and started heated debates about the true value of "art". I had the opportunity to catch up with the artist.. vandal.. visionary.. terrorist. or whatever it is you choose to call him.

CT: Who are you, where are you from?

UL: I am CONQUISTA, the kid who conquered Picasso, but the name my father gave me is Uriel Landeros. I was born in South Texas in the city of Edinburg, located in the Rio Grande Valley, but I consider Houston my second home because I went to art school there. I am a Native/Mexican American.

CT: As an artist, can you describe the work that you create?

UL: The Majority of my work comes from my dreams and the subconscious, that other spiritual realm that most people don’t pay attention to. I try to write down all of my dreams and create images from them. I also use all forms of meditation to influence my work, from fasting, sun gazing, prayer and psychedelic rituals. This is the spiritual side of my work but I also spend a lot of time watching news and current events, not only on TV & newspapers but also the Internet. I compare articles from different countries, independent and mainstream newspapers and bring about a conclusion of closer truth, and then I create political art from this. I try to create a voice that is a little rawer with truth trough my images; I stopped making art years ago though all I make now is art history. But both my spiritual and political work is intertwined. The world is one, everything is connected.

CT: How did the concept to "destroy" a Picasso piece come about? Was it carefully planned or was it spontaneous?

UL: The year 2012 was very chaotic for America and for the world, Like I said my work is influenced from all this mayhem, I meditated for so long trying to come up with an image of power and symbology. The image of the Conquista in particular came directly from a lucid dream. Once I obtained the image of the bullfighter slaying the golden bull with the all Seeing Eye, I began to plan the heist. It took about 2 months to completely plan everything; I drew blueprints, counted guards, created exit strategies, etc. It was like a hacker stealing classified information. My plan was never to destroy the Picasso painting, if I wanted to destroy it I would have slashed it with a knife or poured acid on it. The whole point was to leave a message to create a voice and spark another fire against this NEW WORLD ORDER. Believe me I know about paint, I am a professional; I knew that the painting would be easily restored.

CT: Obviously you pissed off a lot of people. At the same time you suddenly had lots of attention on you & your work. Was that the idea from the beginning or did it accidentally happen that way?

UL: Not everyone was pissed off, some people were very happy with what I did, many strangers clapped @ my actions & and continue to do so. Most of the people who were hating on me where so called “artists” who have never been able to break the veil of success. I did not know the future, I did not know that galleries would take interest in my art, especially not the world renown museum “The Palace of Fine Arts, MACG” in Mexico city. When those things began to happen, I was skeptical because I thought that the museum and galleries were working with the F.B.I. and U.S. Marshalls. But after some research I found out those opportunities were legit, so I welcomed them. This helped me spread the message further. CT: What's the deal with your solo art show in Houston following the incident? Apparently you were on a live video feed from Mexico. Can you tell me about that? Also, I heard some of your own artwork was destroyed.

UL: James Art Gallery gave me a solo show in Houston; James Perez has been a friend of mine for several years. Ironically the title of the show was “ Houston, we have a problem”. We promoted the event saying that I was going to show up at the event, I had been a fugitive for several months & already there was a $15,000 reward for me, so I knew that the cops were going to show up, but we tricked those pigs. As you know I was there but through live video feed “Skype”. I was logged in from an ice cream shop in Monterrey, Mexico. I gave several interviews and said hello to all the people that attended the show. My work was not destroyed, James and me invited all the local graffiti writers we could find and let them tag whatever they wanted on several of my paintings. The whole point of this was to show the art community that art is not about paintings but rather the message. Fuck the paintings, this is what Picasso would say “Art is a lie that enables us to see truth” For example The Guernica was not about making a pretty painting but rather transmitting the message of the horrors of genocide and war. Art is a weapon, painting and drawing is secondary to the true purpose of the art tool. So I don’t care if people tag or graffiti my work, what matters is the message I convey.

CT: I definitely feel like you have a message that you're trying to convey. What are you all about, what's all this about?

UL: First of all fuck the NEW WORLD ORDER, once more; I did this for the people who are tired of being treated like slaves. The Conquista was an artistic metaphor with much symbology. A lot of the art community successfully digested the message although the reactions were diverse. I stenciled a bullfighter killing a bull with the word Conquista below it with spray paint in color gold on a 1929 Picasso painting. It was a lot of work to pull the heist but all the details are another story. This graffiti was a form of protest/activism against the government and the corrupt church, who continue to abuse their power of imperial rape. A way to tell the people conquer your fear and stand up for injustice. There was much civil unrest all around the globe in the year 2012, the year of the conquista. Remember the Occupy movement? The anonymous organization, the immigrant protests in Arizona, and Wikileaks? And even after I turned myself in to the authorities, it continued with Edward Snowden and the unraveling of the N.S.A. surveillance, abusing their power to infringe in our privacy. The word Conquista is my artist name, it is also the Spanish word for conquer, in reference to the conquistadores and the Spanish inquisition, the biggest unrecognized genocide in the world, because of gold and greed, “Capitalism in its cradle”. Those who converted the natives into Christianity through murder and rape, those same characters who are now looked upon like heroes such as Christopher Columbus. The word Conquista is also in reference to so many innocent kids who got raped by priest who went unpunished because pope Benedict XVI protected them by sending them to the Vatican and granting them political asylum. This was so controversial that the pope had to resign. Conquista is also in reference to the immigration reform and the dream act that president Obama promised and never fulfilled. My people my culture and my family is bullied around society because of the color of our skin because of racism and discrimination. Just look at the laws in Arizona, its as if its still the 1960s in that state. Discriminating against immigrants when in fact the only non-immigrants are the natives/Hispanics, my people. Nobody ever asked any conquistador for a passport or green card, how was this fucking hypocrisy born? What the fuck is going on? All this seems like a big joke, nobody in power cares to make a positive difference; they are worried about policing the world and selling guns. This is the history that I have begun to convert into my story. The majority of native culture/archeology is now displayed in museums throughout Europe as trophies of genocide, and thus disables the Hispanic community to truly understand their history & culture, because that art is not in its native land. I cannot bring back all the art that was stolen by the conquistadors but I can create new history. New art, so that is what I did for my people. The golden bull represents the stock market, wall street, gold, money being idolized, The federal reserve, the biggest deceiving ponzi scheme that enslaves us all, and the president & government working for wall street banksters instead of the people. The golden bull also represents Picasso “ the Art Beast”, he who understood that art is not a painting or a drawing but rather a political tool to educate and influence the form of thinking of the masses. I am the bullfighter inspired by Picasso to use the art tool, doing the daring move to kill the golden beast. Conquering Picasso in his own game. Fighting against this whole corrupt system. The bullfighting culture and Picasso are both originally from Spain and this is the irony of a Native Mexican American conquering a Spaniard.

CT: Whoa, thats heavy. You were just released from jail for what you did, that's fucking crazy. How long were you locked up?

UL: I was in prison for 21 months, almost 2 years.

CT: What were you thinking about while in prison? Any new concepts or artwork created during that time?

UL: I was a prisoner before I went to prison, but it was in that dark cold place, in that cage, when I was hungry, when I meditated, that I understood what freedom was. If your mind is free they can never imprison you. The power of the third eye is limitless, the universe is born from it. I created over 100 paintings and thousands of drawings. I will soon publish all these works online and I will exhibit them in a prison series for my next Art show. My force of creation has only gotten stronger.

CT: What's next for you?

UL: I am organizing my next event. I will soon publish the date and details. I am also in the process of publishing a book about the entire story, all the things I could not say because of lawful repercussions, how I pulled the heist (it was some oceans 11 shit) and also my life as a fugitive.

CT: How can we follow you and see how this evolves?

UL: I’m always accessible through Facebook that is the social media of my choice, but I also have twitter, instagram, pinterest, photobucket, vine, we heart it and email of course. Or just watch the news or Google me.

CT: Best of luck to you! Anything else you want to add?

UL: Yea I just want to give a shout out to everyone out there trying to provoke and stimulate a positive change in the world, all those free hugs people, all the honest police and every activist who has put their life in danger for the benefit of the community, especially Edward Snowden, thank you.

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romancandlemagazine · 4 years

Text

An Interview with John Lurie

Whilst most humanoids struggle to master even one useful skill in life, John Lurie is one of those adept rapscallions who can seemingly turn their hand to pretty much anything — from acting to angling.

This knack has led to a fairly stacked C.V. which involves such notable achievements as forming a rule-flouting jazz band called The Lounge Lizards, appearing in films like Down by Law, Paris, Texas and Wild at Heart and showing his paintings in exhibitions all over the planet.

And if all that wasn’t enough, he’s also hosted his own fishing show, and, with the help of Dennis Hopper, once came particularly close to snagging the elusive giant squid.

Here’s what he had to say about fishing, New York in the '70s and the importance of humour in the world...

First question… your television programme Fishing with John is mint. How did that come about?

I was threatening to do it for a long time, but wasn’t really serious. I would go fishing with Willem and we would video tape it. I flew out one New Year’s Eve to play with Tom Waits and the next day we went and fished with Stephen Torton video taping it.

This woman, Debra Brown, saw the tapes, home movies actually, and brought them to a Japanese company that was looking to get involved in things in New York.

She came back to me and said they wanted to make a pilot. I believe my response was, "Are you kidding?"

When you watch a film or television program, you only see the end result. What was it like filming that thing? Were there any mad struggles?

If you see something good, you can just assume there were mad struggles. If you see something bad, you can assume that people were too lazy to take on the mad struggles.

If I am flicking through the channels looking for a movie, I can tell you in five seconds if a movie is going to be any good by the sound of the door closing or the light or the music or whatever.

Why do you think people love fishing so much?

First off, so we can go to these beautiful places and pretend to be doing something. We wouldn’t go if there were nothing to do. And there is that visceral thing. A big fish on the line is like that exhilarating sports thing, like hitting a baseball perfectly or shooting a basket and the net just goes swish.

And then there is that thing of the world of mystery, right next to the world we are living in. What is in there? We are only going to be aware of what is there with a hook and a nylon string.

So of course we have to drag this amazing creature out of the water and kill it because human beings are pretty much ridiculous. The last bit is not why we love fishing, it’s just an observation.

I’d say it’s a pretty sharp observation. Did you ever face anger from the fishing community due to the lack of more conventional fishing?

Yes.

Why isn’t more television like Fishing with John? I hear we’re supposedly in the age of ‘peak TV’ or whatever, but why is there so much boring stuff out there?

The great thing about this, and a big shout out to Kenji Okabe from Telecom Japan, was they left me alone. I am fairly certain that the reason Breaking Bad was so great was because they left Vince Gilligan alone.

With most projects there are all these people meddling with what you do, to ruin it. The Gatekeepers. It is almost like there is a conspiracy to maintain mediocrity.

Going back a bit now, am I right in saying you’re from Minneapolis originally. What were you into as a child?

At first, dinosaurs and archeology. Then reptiles, particularly snakes after we moved to New Orleans. I was going to open my own snake farm. Then I was pretty sure one day, I would play center field for the Yankees.

An attainable dream. You moved to New York in the late 70s, and not long after, you started The Lounge Lizards. It seems like New York at that time is glamourized a bit now, but what was it like for you? What food did you eat? Where did you go at night? What streets were good to walk down? What did it smell like?

I was trying to remember the food I ate back then and couldn’t remember. I was pretty broke most of the time. They used to serve hors d’oevres at gallery openings and cheese became a large part of my regular diet.

Almost every night, or maybe not even “almost” — more like every night — we went to the Mudd Club. More than what streets were “good” to walk down, I can tell you which streets were bad to go down. I lived on East Third St across from the Men’s Shelter, so my block smelled of rotting garbage and urine.

What are some bits that people don’t talk about from that time? What sucked about back then?

It went fairly quickly from people having more relentless fun than any period in human history to a fairly grim time, a year or two later. There was the beginning of AIDs. I had many friends who were dying or horrifyingly sick. People were getting strung out. There were many deaths. Car accidents. People fell out of windows.

Also, with the artistic promise that was there, the output is disappointing. I suppose the wildness led to a lack of discipline and the work wasn’t nearly as good as it should have been.

I might be wrong, but it seems like at that time people just did what they felt like doing… people made films, music or anything else, with no regard for budget. I suppose for example, you made a film called Men in Orbit in your apartment for $500. Where did this freedom come from?

The freedom came from a ferocious demand to have that freedom at any cost. But it is odd or sad, because the more talented of those people seem to have gone unknown and the people who are now household names are, mostly, the ones who played the game by the rules from the beginning.

Do you think people nowadays get too hung up on money? Or perhaps too hung up on success?

I think people nowadays for the most part are quite lost and afraid. So they do whatever they think they must do to have a successful career, even if it means that they are making shit — and it usually does mean they are making shit.

The Lounge Lizard’s album, Voice of Chunk is an amazing record. What sort of stuff were you listening to when you made that? And who is Bob the Bob?

The listening came from earlier in my life. Evan and I would devour everything. From Stravinsky to Monk to Little Walter to Coltrane to Tibetan music to Ellington to Dolphy to Pigmy music (you get the idea).

Later, when working on my own stuff, I stopped listening to pretty much everything. Though when I was in Morocco doing Last Temptation, I played a lot with Gnawa musicians that shifted me a bit. And around that time Evan discovered Piazzolla.

Bob the Bob is Kazu from Blonde Redhead. That is her mouth on the cover of the record. I still call her Bob.

You’re a prolific painter. Are there certain things that you notice recurring in your paintings?

I live on a small Caribbean island. There are flowers everywhere. I don’t like to think that they influence what I paint but they do. Fucking flowers.

A lot of people paint when they’re young, then stop. Why do you think that is? How come you didn’t stop?

The best paintings I have seen in the last 30 years or so are the ones taped to refrigerators. I don’t know why people stop painting or when they don't stop, why the painting gets so stiff.

I am sure my mother, who painted herself and taught art in Liverpool where the Beatles went, but not at the same time, had something to do with me keeping a freedom in my work. To not be afraid of that childlike dream thing.

Though it has been suggested that it may be time for me to get in touch with my “inner adult.”

How do you know when a painting is finished?

I ask Nesrin. If she says it is finished, I know it isn’t.

You seem like a pretty funny guy. Do you think humour is sometimes underrated? Do people take stuff too seriously sometime?

I think humor is immensely important. I think humor can shift society’s consciousness in a better way than almost anything else. So from Shakespeare to Mark Twain to Lenny Bruce to Richard Pryor and many more - these people shifted things for the better.

Do you know who was president when Mark Twain was at his peak? Benjamin Harrison. Who the fuck was Benjamin Harrison?

What are your thoughts on the internet? It seems like it’s a big thing these days.

I get so disappointed with people because I feel like social media could be an enormously positive thing for the world. And I certainly don’t mean to exclude humor, just I have heard enough fart jokes for one lifetime…

Something that bothers me quite a bit, is a star athlete gets hurt and then the response on places like twitter is close to joy. What kind of bitterness about your own life would make you behave like that?

You’ve just recently released a new Marvin Pontiac album after 17 years. This one is called The Asylum Tapes, and was reportedly made on a four track recorder in a mental institution. Back story aside, what made you want to make an album again?

I have Advanced Lyme, so I was unable to play anything for a long time. Actually because of what was happening to me neurologically, I couldn’t even hear music for the first few years — it was more like fingernails on a blackboard.

As I slowly got better, I was able to play guitar and harmonica again, though playing saxophone would seem to be done for me in this life.

But I am very proud of this album and hope people get a chance to hear it. I made it to cheer people up.

Are people still confused about who Marvin Pontiac is?

I suppose so. He is a character I created to make this music. I suppose that is bad marketing, but fuck it.

Would the album be different if it was a John Lurie album? Do you feel like you can get away with more stuff as Marvin Pontiac? Or maybe what I mean is, is it easier to say some things as Marvin Pontiac?

Yes, absolutely. Marvin gives me a certain freedom. I doubt I would put out a record where I sing about a bear saying, “Smell my sandwich.” But I’m happy that I get a chance to do that.

The lyrics are pretty straight up and direct. Do you sit and stew on songs and ideas for long, or do you just get it out?

Often they just come straight up. Like 'My Bear To Cross' I pretty much just came up with it live in the studio. Some took quite a while. And there are a couple where I never found the right lyrics to finish off a song and put them aside.

Okay, last question… do you think a lot of stuff is too over-thought and over-prepared? Does thinking sometimes get in the way?

Let me think about that.

#John Lurie #Lounge Lizards #New York #Jazz #Interviews

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resourcesofcolor · 4 years

Text

HISTORY OF THE BLACK NATIVE AMERICANS

Black Indians are Native American people — defined as Native American due to being affiliated with Native American communities and being culturally Native American – who also have significant African American heritage.[3] Many Indigenous peoples of the Eastern Woodlands, such as the Narragansett, Pequot, Wampanoag, and Shinnecock, as well as people from the nations historically from the Southeast, such as Choctaw, Creek and Cherokee, have a significant degree of African and often European ancestry as well.

THE OLMEC HEADS OF MESO-AMERICA. IS THERE ANY DOUBT THAT THESE COLOSSAL HEADS ARE AFRICAN IN ORIGIN?

Jose Maria Y Serrano, upon excavating one of the monolith heads in this region of San Andres Tuxtla, published a short passage in the bulletin of the Mexican Geographical Statistical Society: "As a work of art, it is, without exaggeration, a magnificent sculpture... but what most amazed me was that the type that it represent is Ethiopian (African). I concluded that there had doubtless been blacks (Negroid) in this region, and from the very earliest ages of the world."

In 1939, Dr. Matthew Sterling led a joint team from the National Geographic Society into the Gulf of Mexico to spearhead a major digging operation in Vera Cruz to unearth the monolith heads. Sterling concluded: "The features are bold and amazingly Negroid in character." The archeological and cultural data overwhelmingly confirms the depiction of Negroid faces. Further archeological evidence of the Negroid in ancient America is found in the Monte' Alban culture which seems to have begun at the end of the Olmec culture. In Monte' Alban, 140 Negroid type figures have been discovered. Upon archeological research, there is no logical denying of the 'negroidness' found in the art of ancient America. Although there has been denial amongst historians, archeologist have indeed confirmed at least four major facts:

1. The Olmecs date back to the archaic period 2. The Olmec civilization parallels the dynastic periods of Egypt 3. The Olmecs were not Paleo-Siberians or evolving Neanderthal 4. Evidence points to the Olmecs being of African ancestry

Skeletons have also been unearthed in pre-Columbian layers in the valley of the Pecos River that flows through Texas and New Mexico and empties into the Rio Grande in the Gulf of Mexico. Professor Hooton, a physical anthropologist concluded: "The Pecos skull resemble most closely the crania of Negro groups coming from Africa where Negroes commonly have some perceptible infusion of Hamatic blood." Professor Hooton refers to 'Hamatic' blood. Hamatic blood is the blood of the Negroid, since Ham (Shemites) were of the dark seed which were forbidden to interbreed with the Canaanites. The word "Ham" translates as "black" in biblical Aramaic. Finds like these in addition to the Negroid style heads forces us to consider the parallels between ancient America and Africa. However, historians dismissed these similarities as mere coincidence. Archeologist on the other hand, concluded that the Olmecs who sculpted these monoliths have been shown to be absolute masters of realistic portraiture and did not arrive at the distinctive Negroid features by accident. It is also noted that there could not possibly be a coincidence of stylization of a distinct people with facial features and characteristics, which separates them from the features and characteristics of all other races on the planet.

Where Did the Olmecs come from?

The Olmecs came from Nuwba in Central Africa and they migrated to America in which they named in their Cushite language, 'Utla', which means, "vacate." When the Olmecs discovered that there was actually a North Utla and a South Utla, the word 'Utla' became plural which became 'Atlan', which is where the word 'Atlantis' came from. The Olmecs were of a tribe in Africa called 'Dogon' in Mali. When the Dogons migrated to America they also imported the rubber tree which is only indigenous to Africa.

The Dogons used the sap from the tree to make shoes, coats, capes, and they were the first to introduce the soles on shoes to the New World. The name 'Olmec' means "Rubber People." The rubber was also used to make large balls for Olmeccan ball game ceremonies, which was played in large stone arenas. When Christopher Columbus arrived in the west he states that he saw the natives kicking around a large ball that was made from a type of Acacia. Columbus took some of these trees and balls back to Spain with him. Today, soccer is the favorite national sport in Spain! These Olmecs set up empires and cities that predates even the Inca, Aztec, and Mayans. The Olmecs were not Siberians. The Olmecs were dark skinned, big-lipped and wide nosed Africans just as they are portrayed in the stone heads.

Read more on Black Native Americans, Black Islanders, Black Chinese and more at The Lost Feather.

#history.#africa.#black history month #blm #bhm #latin america.

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earthstory · 7 years

Video

The March For Science April 22, 2017

Today, in cities across the United States and around the world (http://bit.ly/2pz4zCt), many tens of thousands of scientists, teachers, students, and informed citizens, appalled at the denial of climate change by government officials, as well as attempts to stifle scientific research and the discussion and dissemination of science information, rallied in support of evidence based science. Many of the gatherings included “teach-ins”; not only about climate change, but about wildlife conservation, clean air and water, decision making, communicating science, plant biology, biotechnology, engineering, archeology, geoscience, the physics of superheroes, science literacy, ways to contribute to science, and more.

The mainstream science organizations (such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Chemical Society, and the American Geophysical Union) that organized the initial event in Washington D.C. recognized that although the wave of scientific activism could not help but be political, participants should refrain from personal and partisan attacks. Of course, not everyone took the high road and some protest slogans were not appropriate to repeat here.

Although I was not able to personally march here in Austin, Texas, due to a (hopefully temporary) physical limitation, I put on my orthopedic boot and planted myself on a bench near the front of the Texas Capitol building. My husband became my roving cameraman, snapping pictures of participants and reporting back to me things that were out of my range of view. Across the front lawn of the Capitol, various volunteers held interactive, kid friendly science experiences, including a very popular one about square bubbles. Austin is very pet friendly and many four-footed supporters (and at least one duck) were there, on leashes. Families with kids were abundant. The proximity of the University of Texas (UT) campus brought out a number of student science organizations (and a rock band). Also, a significant number of the attendees were middle-aged and up (including some who by the tone of their sign slogans, obviously had previous experience in political activism). People drove for hours from Houston, Dallas, and around the state in order to participate.

On the whole, our local gathering was diverse in age, sex, and ethnicity, and was both well attended and well behaved (I won’t belabor my irritation with the couple who, when I stood up to snap a picture, insinuated their children directly behind me on the bench, with their youngest accidentally kicking my bad leg as she scrambled up into my place…). Friendly admiration regarding sign and t-shirt slogans was exchanged between many. Notable slogans included, “What do we want? Evidence based science! When do we want it? After peer review!” as well as, “Resist Like a Bacterium”! The speakers were relevant and (mostly) brief. I was impressed in particular by a U.T. Psychology professor who spoke about the values of science (Find a transcript of his speech here: http://bit.ly/2poGcvk).

Only 15-20 minutes behind the advertised schedule and led by a rousing drum squad, an estimated ten thousand people (along with kids, dogs and a duck) streamed out of the gates of the Capitol and through downtown Austin, heading towards Earth Day celebrations and hot dogs. One can only hope that such outpourings of support across the world will shake things up in a positive way.

Video of rally in Austin, TX by the author’s husband

Sources

http://wapo.st/2q2iWjh

http://www.earthday.org/teach-in-agenda/

http://n.pr/2oOuiI1

https://www.marchforscienceboston.com/k…

#March for science #Austin #texas #video #geology #Geologist #granite #The earth story

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vasilinaorlova · 7 years

Text

letter to scientific adviser

Hi, C.!

I think every my conversation with you brings new insights. Today it was illuminating, even though brief.

I will tell you what I have now, regarding my exams:

I do have a draft of a syllabus for a grad course structured around ruins. I did it as an exercise in the M. F.'s course Supervised Teaching in Anthropology. This has to be reviewed, definitely, because it has been a while ago and my understanding of the theme advanced, but it will serve as a starting point of my work with J.

I do have a ten-pages bibliography of books centered around ruins, ruination, nostalgia, and empire. 126 positions in total, with a grand chunk of which I am familiar quite well. However, I did not read every single book or article in the list, nor does this list contain my newest read material, so I would have to add, to work through it, and to familiarize myself with things I am not yet familiar.

I have an annotated bibliography as well, which contains 5 pages in total, and was prepared by me for the course of C. S. on (...) writing--this annotated bibliography also could be updated and re-adjusted. It is a shortened version of the bibliography mentioned above, only with an explanation for each position why this particular piece is included (that is to say, the main argument of each work is recapitulated).

I want to remind you that I did an annotated bibliography on dams’ construction, which I composed by your request during the summer of 2014. Every day throughout that summer I went through one article or book, and reviewed them--I think this document serves as an additional bibliography, and I would like to review or at least to reread it at some point to refresh it in my memory in order to prepare better for the fieldwork and for the exams.

I have the project with which we are working with you, on Bratsk dam and Russian literature, and, although it is tangentially related to ruins, as you noted today, on the other hand it might end up being most pertinent to my future work in the region. As K. said to me two days ago, "your field might surprise you," and I can see the center of the research drifting towards not just ruins in the broader sense, but to ruins infrastructural, which would demand some more reading on infrastructure (Brian Larkin, Caroline Humphrey, and AbdouMaliq Simone will be the first to look at--again, I am familiar with their work, but I might benefit from revising).

I have the "Debris of Utopia" project, to which you referred as "the piece on ruins," but if my goal is mastering the current discourse on ruins, I don't want to focus on this insurmountable project of 200 pages just now. I might, as I told you, write a sort of introduction to it which would have a theoretical character.

I have an article which I revised twice and did not present yet, that I initially wrote for C. H.'s class, which is titled "Pervasive Affect: Circulation of Nostalgia in the Siberian Zones of Abandonment," where in the first part I summarize the current debate on what affect is, and it is reflected in the bibliography. I then analyze what nostalgia might mean in the Siberian places dispossessed of the state care. A big part of this writing is a linguistic analysis of an oral history recorded in Anosovo in 2013--essentially, a story of relocation told by an elderly person.

As you know I have my field notes from Moscow and Siberia, but I do not think it is the time to be working with them--not until my second round of fieldwork, whether it'll be another preliminary summer fieldwork, or a year-round fieldwork if I end up getting a grant.

I do have a piece about ruins and photography, which might be greatly enriched with theory. In fact I am planning to present this piece at the New Directions in Anthropology this year, because it has been my desire to return to it and to re-work it.

I am also going to present on the incoming Linguistic conference at UT, the piece on two words--poshlost' and byt'. This piece is about "untranslatable words and incompatible worlds," and traces the circulation of these words. I use Svetlana Boym's work there in particular on both these words.

And the full disclosure, I also have a 500-page file, the content of which I once printed and brought to you, perhaps you remember. This file consists of fragments that I wrote, quotations, observations of I think anthropological character, but also it contains my disorderly writing on Nabokov (out of which I carved an article for the Linguistic conference at UT last year); reflections on my own change of language, reflections on the nature of writing itself, on American malls and how they suffer from decrepitude; on selfies and digital identities (Derrida thinks self-portrait is a ruin), etc., etc. Again I extracted out of it the piece on robots for the AAA conference which I am very happy you attended.

I continue thinking about visual essay on Siberia and the handwritten album that you advised and inspired me to do and that I showed you this winter. It still contains the same 6 pages. (I found it is a slow project, and one page takes me a full day.) I have the handwriting that I have already done typed, including the captions, and it might eventually serve as the beginning of the visual essay. But as much as I like this project, I suspect I might particularly enjoy finishing it over the course of the summer in Siberia.

This is not counting all other projects I've been doing in the last two and a half years ever since I got accepted to the program. The account of these projects is below.

(The list below does not include my Russian publications, although I wonder, why? Oushakine does include his Russian publications--I might certainly do the same. Mine are few (three or four), but they went out in good peer-review journals. My publications in Russian are not anthropological in the Western sense but they are ethnographic. I quote Katie Stewart in one of them. They have a strong literary bent, but they are not fiction).

So the list is below.

To conclude, in this email you have the fullest account up to date of what I have been doing as of late.

Best, V.

P.S. I do not mention my creative projects here, both in Russian and in English, mainly poetry, but also prose--I think it is best if I am more or less reserved about them in academia. But I still want to share with you that I am thrilled that my new book of poetry in English has just came out, it is titled "Holy Robots." I, of course, noticed the "like" that you awarded me with on Instagram in connection to this miraculous event. XX copies of it are sold on Amazon in two days; this modest number, as funny as it is, is actually a great number for a poetry book.

Writings, Presentations, and Talks

2016 “Ryzyka: A Curated Conversation” Visual Essay. Cultural Anthropology. In co-authorship with Irina Oktiabrskaya, Valery Klamm, and Craig Campbell

2016 “Archeology of the Robotics: Remnants of Soviet Robots.“ Talk. November 19th. 115th Annual Meeting of the American Anthropological Association. Minneapolis, Minnesota

2016 “Robot as a Subject (Object) of Ethnographic Study.“ Invited lecture. October 14. Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. University of Texas at Austin [Video]

2016 “Russian Literature on Bratsk Dam: the Human in People-Altered Landscapes of Soviet Industrialization.” Presentation. September 25. “The Extra-Human” 13th Annual Graduate Conference in Comparative Literature. University of Texas at Austin [Audio]

2016 “Russia, USA, and the Islamic World: Multiplicity of Feminisms.” Talk. Feminist Society ONA (“She”). Moscow, August 14

2016 “Austin Old-Timer and Newcomer.” The End of Austin, 24th of May.

2016 “Writer’s Change of Language: Nabokov and Others.” Symposium on Language and Society. University of Texas at Austin, April 15

2016 “ISIS: Use of Atrocity in State Formation.” Invited Lecture, Expressive Culture. University of Texas at Austin, April, 6

2016 “ISIS: Active Ruination and Performativity of Public Execution.” New Directions in Anthropology Conference, University of Texas at Austin, April 1

2016 “Late Soviet Childhood.” Futures and Ruins Workshop at Duke University, March 25

2016 “Pussy Riot: The Contest of Performances and Political Affect.” Utopia and Reality: Latin America Confronting Globalization. Gender and Feminisms. University of Texas at Austin, March 3

2015 “On Methods in Socio-cultural Anthropology: Production of Ethnography Through Observation, Recollection, and, Occasionally, Forgetting.” Invited Talk. Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at University of Texas at Austin, October 21

2015 “Debris of Utopia: Reflection on Ruination in the USSR and Post-Soviet Spaces.” Presentation. New Directions in Anthropology Conference, the University of Texas at Austin, March 27-28

2014 “Grackles and Old Cars,” The End of Austin, 22nd of May.

2014 Russian Language in the New World. Talk. Society of Social and Religious Studies, Moscow, Russia

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