Dr. Ana Navas Mendez
Assistant Professor
Sociology and Anthropology
Office
SCH Schroeder Hall 332
Office Hours
Friday 10:00 am – 12:00 pm and by appointment.
Office Phone
Email
- About
- Education
- Awards & Honors
- Research
Biography
I am a historical archaeologist interested in studying colonization processes in Latin America founded on theories about materiality and agency from a postcolonial perspective. My research addresses questions about the differential impact of European commodities on local communities, and the political, economic, social, and symbolic repercussions triggered by the adoption of foreign materials and technologies.
Current Courses
486.001Advanced Archaeological Theory
386.001Archaeology Theory
197.001Lost Continents and Alien Pyramids
392.001Archaeological Analysis Of Historical Materials
401.001Archaeology Laboratory
352.001Colonial Latin America
452.001Colonial Latin America
Research Interests & Areas
Historical archaeology, material culture, technology, colonialism and postcolonialism, communities of practice, cultural heritage, indigeneity, metals and ceramics; Venezuela and Panama.
Post-Doc
New College of Florida
Sarasota, FL
PhD
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX
MS
Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC)
Caracas, Venezuela
BA
Universidad Central de Venezuela
Caracas, Venezuela.
Consortium for Faculty Diversity Postdoctoral Fellowship
Consortium for Faculty Diversity
2021
University Graduate Continuing Fellowship
University of Texas at Austin
2020
Doctoral Dissertation Research Grant (Number 1811858)
National Science Foundation NSF
2018
Global Research Fellowship
The University of Texas at Austin
2017
NSF-Subsidy Program for Geoarchaeological Analysis (Grant # 1912776)
Archaeometry Laboratory, University of Missouri Research Reactor
2017
Tinker Field Research Grant
Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
2017
Graduate Recruitment Fellowship
The University of Texas at Austin
2014
First Place in Subarea of Archaeology and Paleontology
XV Venezuelan Conference of Microscopy and Microanalysis (CONVEMI)
2012
R.F. Tylecote Memorial Fund for research and travel
The Historical Metallurgy Society (HMS)
2011
Book, Chapter
Navas Mendez, A., Scaramelli, F., Di Prinzio, A., & Scaramelli, K. Metallurgy and Colonization in the Eighteenth-Century Jesuit Missions of the Middle Orinoco Basin, Venezuela. Venezuelan Historical Archaeology: Current Perspectives on Contact, Colonialism, and Independence. Peer-reviewed volume edited by Konrad A. Antczak. Sidestone Press. (2024)
Rodríguez-Alegría, E., Scaramelli, F., & Navas Mendez, A. Technological Transformations: Adaptationist, Relativist, and Economic Models in Mexico and Venezuela.. Pedro Paulo A. Funari and Maria Ximena Senatore (EDs), Archaeology of Culture Contact and Colonialism in Spanish and Portuguese America (2015): 53-77.
Journal Article
Navas Mendez, A., Ownby, M., Pierce, D., MacDonald, B., & Glascock, M. Crafting ceramics in the Panamanian chiefdoms: Communities of practice during the Late Pre-Columbian period (AD 700-1500). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 46.103644 (2022)
Torrealba, G., Navas Mendez, A., Scaramelli, F., & Scaramelli, K. Ethnography In‐Sight: Nation‐Making Objects.. The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology (2022)
Torrealba, G., & Navas Mendez, A. Bolivar’s Sword: The Mapoyo and the Politics of Heritage-Making in Venezuela.. Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology (2021)
Navas Mendez, A., Scaramelli, F., Di Prinzio, A., & Scaramelli, K. Tecnologías de colonización: metalurgia en las misiones religiosas del Orinoco, siglo XVIII.. Revista de Arqueología Americana (2014): 129-150.
Newsletter
Navas Mendez, A., & Guerrin, A. In the Lab - Florida Style: Analyzing Panamanian majolica production in the lab. Time Sifters Newsletter (2023)
Presentations
Characterization of Mendoza and Cortezo pigments: communities of practice and ceramic production in pre-Columbian Panama (AD 1300-1500). 89th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA). (2024)
Communities of practice and Panamanian majolica production. 88th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA). (2023)
Communities of practice during the Late Pre-Columbian period in the Gran Coclé and Gran Darién, Panama.. Paper presented at the 87th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA). (2022)
Colonial utilitarian wares and the configuration of constellations of practice in Panama.. 86th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA). (2021)
Arqueología en tiempos de pandemia: retos y estrategias desde la perspectiva de una arqueóloga venezolana.. Testimonios de la Arqueología en Tiempos de Pandemia: comentarios reales. (2020)
Pinturas y cerámica: Caracterización química con LA-ICP-MS de los pigmentos de la cerámica Mendoza y Cortezo Red-Buff del Centro de Panamá.. II Congreso de Antropología e Historia de Panamá,. (2019)
Tales of extinction: Natives in the narratives of early colonial Panama, historical representations, and archaeology.. 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology (SAA). (2019)