Dr. David Tavárez (left) and Dr. Alberto Wilson ’16

Explore Zapotec Visions of Time, Ceremony, and Resistance: A Latine Heritage Month Conversation

Step into the worldview of the Zapotec peoples of colonial Mexico—one shaped not by Western calendars, but by sacred cycles of time, ritual, and divine beings.

In this Latine Heritage Month virtual conversation, Vassar anthropology professor David Tavárez, author of Rethinking Zapotec Time, which has won four book awards, joins fellow professor and Vassar alum, Alberto Wilson ’16, for a dialogue on Zapotec cosmology and Indigenous resistance to colonial Spanish rule.

Based on a unique set of 17th-century texts by Indigenous intellectuals, Tavárez’s research reveals how Zapotec communities navigated colonization while protecting their spiritual and social traditions. This event is an invitation to expand your understanding of Indigenous Mexico—past and present—through the voices of scholars dedicated to honoring its complexity.

Date: Sunday, September 14  
Time: 1:00 p.m. Eastern US
Where: Join us online live! Link will be provided upon registration

Speakers

David Tavárez is a first-generation college graduate from Ciudad Juárez, a linguistic anthropologist, and a historian of Latin America. His research explores Indigenous intellectual traditions, colonial Mesoamerica, ritual and religion, and Native Christianities. He is the author of Rethinking Zapotec Time (2022), which received book prizes from LASA, NAISA, and NECLAS, and The Invisible War (2011). He has also edited or co-authored multiple volumes on Indigenous texts and ritual language, including The Oxford Handbook of Ritual Language (2024), Words and Worlds Turned Around (201), and Painted Words (2016).

Tavárez’s work has been supported by the Guggenheim Foundation, NEH, NSF, and the John Carter Brown Library. He serves as co-editor of Anthropological Linguistics and sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Native American and Indigenous Studies. His current projects focus on Nahuatl devotional texts and the only known Biblical commentary in an Indigenous language of the colonial Americas.

Alberto Wilson ’16 is an assistant professor of history whose research focuses on Mexican American history, U.S.-Mexico border relations, and twentieth-century political economy. He earned his Ph.D. in History from the University of Houston in 2021 and holds a BA in History and Latin American and Latinx Studies from Vassar College.

Dr. Wilson teaches courses on Latinx history and U.S. urban development and has published on the history of El Paso in the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History (2023). He serves on the editorial board of Chihuahua Hoy and was a 2022 reviewer for the Fulbright García Robles Fellowship.

Why “Latine”?

Latine (pronounced lah-tee-neh) is a gender-inclusive term used in place of Latino or Latina. It comes from Spanish-speaking communities as a way to recognize all gender identities and promote inclusive language while remaining true to the language’s structure and pronunciation.

Questions? Contact vassaraffinity@vassar.edu.

Affinity Engagement, housed in the Office of Advancement, creates thoughtful experiences that foster belonging and lifelong engagement among alums connected by shared identities, interests, cultural heritage, and academic affiliations.