Excavations

Virtual Conference | April 14 2026

Excavations in the Dance Place is a film that delves into the travel journals of Jesse Walter Fewkes, a Smithsonian archaeologist sent to Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American War to collect Indigenous objects from the new U.S. “possession.” Building on this video, we discuss the legacy of Fewkes and other foreign researchers in Puerto Rico, the colonial dynamics of collecting, and the personal and emotional implications of research when one seeks traces of one’s own history in the archive.

Rocío Zambrana

She investigates the epistemic and historical-material foundations of capitalist modernity and its sex-gender and racial order, particularly in the context of financial capitalism in the Caribbean. She is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus.

Christina De León

Associate Curator of Latino Design and Acting Deputy Director of Curatorial at Cooper Hewitt. Her work foregrounds Latinx and Latin American design within broader global design histories.

Miguel Rodríguez López

A distinguished Puerto Rican archaeologist, educator, and cultural administrator with broad academic and professional recognition in Puerto Rico and the Caribbean region. He also has extensive experience in directing and administering educational, professional, and cultural institutions.

Resources shared during the panel: