Columbia University anthropologist to deliver annual Journal of Anthropological Research Distinguished Lecture

Severin Fowles, a leading anthropologist at Columbia University, will deliver the 2025 Journal of Anthropological Research (JAR) Distinguished Lecture.

The annual event will feature an engaging talk by a leading expert examining colonialism in the American West and its intersections with Native communities.

The JAR lecture, titled Image Capture: War and Iconology in Colonial New Mexico, will be held Thursday, Oct. 23, at 5:30 p.m. in Hibben Hall, Room 105.

The lecture will explore the history of colonialism in the American West as more than the introduction of European people, animals and technologies into Indigenous worlds. Instead, it will focus on how Native communities engaged with, repurposed, resisted or adopted these elements. As part of this examination, Fowles moves beyond materialist analyses centered on horses, guns, germs and steel to explore the circulation of images and new understandings of their function.

A Q&A session will take place the following day at 11 a.m., followed by a seminar at noon in Anthropology Room 248. The Q&A will allow students and faculty to ask Fowles questions about his research.

His seminar, titled Iconohistory, will explore the history of the image in New Mexico and present a theoretical framework for the study of rock art as iconology.

Fowles is a professor of anthropology and American studies and serves as director of the Archaeology Track at Barnard College, which is affiliated with Columbia University. His numerous publications focus on how Indigenous communities in the American Southwest and Great Plains have shaped, responded to and recorded their experiences of colonialism through art, landscape and material culture.

Together, his works highlight how images, places and movement tell stories of cultural exchange, resilience and identity. His most recent co-authored publication, On Wolves and Predation in Colonial New Mexico (Historical Archaeology, 2024, with Julia Morris), explores how wolves in colonial New Mexico shaped and reflected human-animal relationships, using their stories to argue for a multispecies approach to understanding settler colonialism.

Event Information

These events, sponsored by the Journal of Anthropological Research and the Department of Anthropology, are free and wheelchair accessible. Students, staff and faculty are encouraged to attend. Attendees without a UNM parking permit should use metered spaces along Redondo Road or Las Lomas Road to avoid fines.

The Journal of Anthropological Research, published quarterly by UNM since 1945, is a leading publication in anthropological scholarship. For more information or to subscribe, visit Journal of Anthropological Research.