Explore the significance of the Burbung Ceremony of Southeast Australia and the Dargan rock shelter with visiting lecturer Wayne Brennan.
Project: “The Depictions of Injustice: Tribute Records from Culhuacan in the Conway Collection”
Presenter(s): Dr. Ana Pulido Rull, Associate Professor of Latin American Art History (University of Arkansas)
This Works-in-Progress Seminar explores Indigenous tribute records created in the mid-sixteenth century by tlacuiloque (Indigenous artists) from towns in the Basin of Mexico. Painted on amatl (fig-bark paper), these long pictorial manuscripts (known as tiras) are part of the Spanish Colonial Manuscript Collection (Conway) at the Helmerich Center for American Research.
The presentation examines how these visually rich records document the labor, goods, and personal service demanded of Indigenous communities under Spanish colonial rule, while also functioning as tools of resistance. Used as legal evidence in colonial courts, the tiras enabled Indigenous towns to challenge excessive tribute demands and negotiate reductions through formal legal proceedings. Special attention is given to the distinctive features of HCAR’s collection, including rare depictions of Indigenous artists and the portrayal of books and paper as tribute, as well as differences between tributes mandated by law and those represented in the pictorial records.
A digital copy of the paper will be available closer to the seminar date. Check back soon!
Special Note: There are road closures currently affecting access to the Helmerich Center for American Research. If you are driving to the seminar, please plan to use the designated detour route. You can reach HCAR by taking Newton via Union Street.
City officials are advising drivers to follow posted detours throughout the construction period. Please plan accordingly to ensure a smooth arrival.
Questions about the event can be sent to william-smith@utulsa.edu.
Project Title: “The Klan, the White Mob, and the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre”
Presenter: Dr. Aaron Schoenfeldt (Duane H. King Postdoctoral Fellow, HCAR)
Explore how the Klan and the “culture of silence” shape what we know (and don’t know) about the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.
Join us for a Works-in-Progress seminar featuring Duane H. King Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Aaron Schoenfeldt, who will explore the histories and silences surrounding the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre. Drawing on historian Elaine Frantz Parsons’ observation that “we spend as much time contemplating what we imagine is hidden from us as we do describing the Klan based on the ample information we have,” this talk examines the possible involvement of the Ku-Klux Klan in the massacre. Rather than seeking a definitive answer, Schoenfeldt considers how the Klan, both as an organization and as a symbol, embodies the enduring “culture of silence” that continues to shape understanding of this pivotal moment in Tulsa’s past.
Works-in-progress seminars nurture a community of local and regional researchers, scholars, and learners by providing opportunities to share creative activity in a constructive environment. Each seminar focuses on a pre-circulated draft that attendees are encouraged to read, followed by a roundtable conversation about the piece.
To access a digital copy of the paper, please download here or email trm1828@utulsa.edu to request a copy.
Project: “Transformative Cultural Materiality: Archaeologies of Displacement, Persistent Lifeways, & Identity”
Presenters: Dr. Zachary Qualls (Gilcrease Museum) & Dr. Nkem Ike (University of Toronto)
Join us for a roundtable conversation about Drs. Qualls’ & Ike’s newest research paper, Transformative Cultural Materiality: Archaeologies of Displacement, Persistent Lifeways, & Identity, which examines how displaced and migrating communities use material culture (such as clothing, tools, housing, and sacred items) to preserve traditions, reassert identity, and resist colonial and racial logics. The discussion will consider how cultural memory and creativity shape new material worlds that bridge past and present while imagining future freedoms.
Please register for the event here and you will receive a digital copy of the paper after registering.
Special Parking Note: Please plan to park in the gated Brannin Parking Lot on the south side of W. Newton St. across from the Helmerich Center for American Research.
Questions about the event can be sent to trm1828@utulsa.edu.
Join the Department of Anthropology for Katie Williams’ dissertation defense in Harwell Hall room 214.
