The 2025 Mesoamerica Meetings

LINEAGE AND ANCESTRY:
POWER IN THE PAST

January 8-11, 2025
Conference Format: Hybrid
Organizers: David Stuart, Astrid Runggaldier, Milady Casco, Katherine Schumann
The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
 

The role of ancestors in Mesoamerican social, religious and political life can never be overstated. From the lengthy dynastic chronicles of the Classic Maya to the richly adorned tombs of the Oaxaca Valley, and to the venerations and prayers to the “mothers-and-fathers” in present day (to cite just a few examples), we see how ancestral beings were accessed, manifested, revered and maintained with a real and active presence in society. The presentations and discussions at the 2025 UT Mesoamerica Meetings will take an intensive and multi-layered look at the ways in which Mesoamerican peoples kept ancestors close at hand, set them apart, and what the roles that the deceased played in the cadences of religious and political life. The presentations at the Meetings will look at these roles through the overlapping lenses of archaeology, art history, epigraphy, and religious studies.

Please join us in Austin to take in the latest scholarship and ideas about a fundamental dimension of Mesoamerican life and culture.