Bio:
Troy R. Lovata, Ph.D. is a Professor in the University of New Mexico’s Honors College, Research Faculty in UNM’s Southwest Hispanic Research Institute, and Affiliated Faculty in UNM’s Department of American Studies. He earned degrees in Anthropology, with a concentration in Archaeology, from The University of Texas (Ph.D. and M.A.) and Colorado State University (B.A.). Recent Honors seminars include studies of: how people mark and visualize place; graffiti, rock art, and public art; the cross-cultural meanings of mountains; and the archaeology of trails, walking, and Route 66. Experiential opportunities—including site visits, road trips, and hiking and backpacking field trips in New Mexico’s mountains and forests—are a featured part of his Honors seminars. Dr. Lovata has led research projects in the US Rocky Mountains, Southwest, and Great Plains and to Ecuador and study abroad courses in Ecuador, Egypt, Kazakhstan, and Spain.
Professor Lovata’s publications include numerous journal articles, contributed book chapters, various comic books and zines, and the books Inauthentic Archaeologies: Public Uses and Abuses of the Past and, with Art Historian Elizabeth Olton, Understanding Graffiti: Multidisciplinary Studies from Prehistory to Present (both available from Routledge). His research, as part of the multidisciplinary Following the Manito Trail Project, into arborglyphs and Hispanics in New Mexico, Wyoming and Colorado has also been featured in exhibits in Albuquerque, Taos, and Laramie as well as the documentary film Deciphering the Past: Arborglyphs of the Sierra Madre broadcast on PBS.
Research Interest:
Dr. Lovata’s teaching and research interests, and occasional research projects with Honors students, include:
- Landscape Archaeology and Marking and Visualizing Place;
- Arborglyphs, Graffiti, and Public Art;
- Trails and Walking, including the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail and Route 66;
- Mountain Landscapes and Cultures;
- Comics and Zines;
- Archaeology Hoaxes and Re-creations;
- Material Culture Studies.
