Claudia Garcia-Des Lauriers
Research Associate
Ph.D., University of California, Riverside, 2007
E-mail:
cgarciadeslauri@ucla.edu
Research Interests
Mesoamerican Iconography and Archaeology, Macro-regional Interaction, World-Systems, Archaeology and Identity, Teotihuacan and the Maya, Pacific Coast of Chiapas
Research Summary
The peoples of Mesoamerica are my general focus of research and teaching, in particular their history, art, and archaeology. My interests focus on the dynamics of interaction networks on the formation and maintenance of complex societies. The primary goal of my current research is to analyze the economic and ideological elements of interaction and how macro-regional interaction shapes relationships between polities and within communities. More recently, I have also integrated a greater discussion of identity and the materiality of identity in the archaeological record.
My active research project is centered at the site of Los Horcones on the Pacific Coast of Chiapas, where my field research is largely focused on the question of the nature of Teotihuacan's presence at this distant location. My goal is to document both economic and ideological aspects of interaction as seen from Los Horcones, while also further elucidating the local dynamics and history of this site. The research is situated within the larger dialogue of Teotihuacan, the great Classic Period metropolis of Central Mexico, and its relationship with different regions such as the Maya area, Oaxaca, West Mexico, and the Pacific Coast of Chiapas and Guatemala. In terms of my analytical specialties, I am primarily interested in art and symbolic systems and how these are mobilized within the social frameworks of state societies. My research has also focused on the iconography, writing and religious systems of Central Mexico, especially Teotihuacan.
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