Elizabeth Terese Newman, a Yale-trained anthropologist with research interests in 19th and 20th century Mexico, has been appointed to serve as the new dean of the College of Liberal Arts.
Integrating the disciplines of archaeology, ethnography and ethnohistory, Dr. Newman spent seven years researching her first book, Biography of a Hacienda: Work and Revolution in Rural Mexico (University of Arizona Press, 2014). A case study of Mexican agrarian life, Biography of a Hacienda reconstructs the community of Hacienda San Miguel Acocotla, located in the Valley of Atlixco, near Puebla. Dr. Newman won praise for her careful archeological fieldwork, and her ability to find meaning in the most mundane household artifacts. The book sheds new light on the role of women in the agrarian revolution that shook Mexico in the early twentieth century, and which continues to shape life in rural Mexico today. `
Biography of a Hacienda received the James Deetz Book Award by the Society for Historical Archaeology.
Dr. Newman’s current project builds upon her gendered approach to Mexican social history to examine the experiences of women during the century between Independence and the outbreak of Revolution (1810-1910). “From Country to Kitchen: The Role of Things in Mexican History,” will explore the evolving experiences of Mexican women from the late colonial period to the twentieth century through an analysis of material culture. Drawing upon the writings of travelers to Mexico—such as diaries, letters, scrapbooks, and postcards—she seeks to build snapshots of rural household life at significant historical moments in Mexican history.
Prior to her appointment at UTA, Dr. Newman served as the vice provost for curriculum and undergraduate education at Stony Brook University, New York.
