The University of New Mexico Honors College reintroduced Archeology of Trails and Anthropology of Place this semester.
According to Troy Lovata, the chair of the Honors College and professor of the class, he has taught this class off and on since it was introduced in 2015.
With a background in archeology that is grounded in anthropology, Lovata has extensive knowledge in human history. He has taught courses on landscape, culture and place for more than a dozen years.
“Part of our job as honors faculty is to individually create courses based on our specialities,” Lovata said.
In the honors course, students will read primary source materials in the classroom and ask each other questions about differences between researchers. The class will also spend several class periods walking across campus and consider how UNM affects us, and in turn, how students affect the campus.
In addition to the time spent in class, students will visit places like Bandelier National Monument for day trips. The purpose of the field trips are to allow students to experience New Mexico land, first hand. Along with the UNM walks and day trips, an overnight backpacking trip will also take place.
“We are spending three days and two nights backpacking through the mountains outside Cuba, New Mexico to get much deeper into the world than day trips allow…(this will provide) some time to think about how their own actions relate to the fundamentals of the course,” Lovata said.
This class received praise and many students are excited to go on the field trips. According to class members field trips make the class interesting.
“It’s going to be really rewarding to actually go out and experience the class, instead of just hearing about it in a lecture style,” said Jessica Davis, a UNM sophomore majoring in interdisciplinary film and media. “I’m most excited for the three-day trip because of it being over night”
Lovata said he wants students within the class to see concrete examples of landscapes in New Mexico that are remnants of vibrant past peoples. In addition to this, he said students will see that the way humans of today use the places they live in and how it reflects just as much about us as the past reflects about past peoples.
“I really like backpacking and (I am most interested in) looking at (the class) from a Thoreauvian perspective, like how we experience the landscape we are in, in a spiritual way, ” Emily Ganley, a UNM sophomore majoring in chemical engineering.
Archeology of Trails and Anthropology of Place are offered to any student enrolled in the Honors Program, students can join the honors program, even if they are not incoming freshmen.
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“There are ways to join and finish in interdisciplinary honors even if you've already got several years under the belt here at UNM or are transferring in,” Lovata said. “The Honors College has a lot to offer apart from this particular course of mine.”
Luisa Pennington is a freelance reporter with the Daily Lobo. She can contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @_lpennington_.
