Between Art and Artifact: Archaeological Replicas and Cultural Production in Oaxaca, Mexico

Acknowledgments

IT HAS BEEN NO EASY TASK TO CONDUCT THE REsearch for and write this book, and I am grateful to the many people and institutions who have offered their assistance in bringing this project to completion. I owe the biggest thanks to all of my friends and acquaintances in San Antonio Arrazola who generously gave of themselves and their time. I cannot possibly name everyone who contributed to this project, but the following were instrumental in teaching me about the town’s history, and specifically the development of its wood-carving and replica trades: Roberto Aguilar, Juan Castellanos, Alejandro Jiménez, Ang élico Jiménez, Isaías Jiménez, Manuel Jiménez, Aresenio Morales, Susano Morales, Alberto Ojeda, Agustín Pinos, Carmelo Pinos, Eligio Ramírez, Heriberto Santiago, Mario Santiago and family, and Sabino Santiago. I hope that I have begun to do justice to their community’s rich history and creative spirit. I am truly indebted to my compadres, Catarino Carrillo and Leticia Aragón, and their children, Misael and Max, for all the wonderful time we spent together in Oaxaca over the past nine years and for their continuing friendship and support. For not only opening up their homes to me but for treating me with incredible kindness, I give a special thank-you to Antonio Aragón and his family: Antonio Aragón, Fidencio Aragón, Saúl Aragón, Sergio Aragón, Ramiro Aragón, Alma Arreola, Beatriz Arreola, Adelina Ramírez, and Marta Santiago. Research in Oaxaca was made possible by numerous grants from the following centers at the University of Texas at Austin: the Teresa Lozano Long Institute for Latin American Studies, the Américo Paredes Acknowledgments xvi | Between Art and Artifact Center for Cultural Studies, the Graduate School, and the International Office. Additional funding from the Tinker Foundation allowed me to carry out a pilot study for this project, while a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship, sponsored by CIESAS of Oaxaca , provided generous funding for my 2002–2003 fieldwork in Mexico . Subsequent field research was funded by a Presidential Travel Fellowship from the University of Oklahoma and a Faculty Research Grant from the Latin American and Iberian Institute at the University of New Mexico. I am also grateful to the Welte Institute for Oaxacan Studies and Gudrun Dohrmann for their institutional support of this project in Oaxaca. Jayne Howell has been a wonderful mentor, colleague, and friend since I first met her in Oaxaca in the summer of 2000. She has seen me through all stages of this project and has been an invaluable sounding board for working through my ideas and approach. Discussions with scholars working in Oaxaca and in other tourist regions of Mexico have greatly shaped my research questions and theoretical orientation. I have particularly benefited from conversations over the years with Tasha Ahlquist, Shepard Barbash, Bill Beezley, Alanna Cant, Quetzil Castañeda, Michael Chibnik, Jeffrey Cohen, Jack Corbett , Margarita Dalton, Lourdes Gutiérrez Nájera, Michael Kearney, Víctor Martínez, Art Murphy, Kristin Norget, Ramona Pérez, Martha Rees, Laurel Smith, Lois Wasserspring, Joseph Whitecotten, Bill Wood, and Gloria Zafra. Other friends in Oaxaca who generously offered their assistance include Benito Hernández, Ana Montes, Víctor Ricárdez, and Clemente Rodríguez. Mary Jane Gangier de Mendoza, Víctor Vázquez, and Henry Wangeman provided valuable insight about Oaxaca’s art markets based on their own experience as retailers. Nelly Robles García and Eduardo López Calzada were kind enough to speak with me in their official capacities as director of the Monte Albán archaeological zone and director of the INAH-Oaxaca Regional Center, respectively. At the University of Texas at Austin I was blessed with an amazing group of faculty mentors, and this work has benefited tremendously from their guidance and insights: Richard Flores, Charles Hale, Steven Hoelscher, José Limón, Martha Menchaca, Henry Selby, Suzy Seriff, Joel Sherzer, Katie Stewart, and Pauline Strong. Many other colleagues and friends contributed to this project in some way, including Amy Brandzel, James Brooks, Peter Cahn, Ben Chappell, Catherine Cocks, Nick Copeland, Susie Dorle, Elyssa Faison, Jennifer Goett, Adam Gordon , Neill Hadder, Melinda Harm Benson, Anne Hyde, Christy John- son, Liz Lilliot, Troy Lovata, Mario Montaño, Ann Moore, Jennifer Nájera, Suzi Nishida, Tey Nunn, Leighton Peterson, John Schaefer, Rebecca Schreiber, Marc Scudamore, Zoe Sherinian, Angela Stuesse, Sarah Tracy, Faedah Totah, Maria Varela...