Apply today! Application will close once 5 qualified students are identified.
This internship opportunity is for “Casta Paintings: Colonial Peoples’ Classification and Its Repercussion on Modern Mexico,” and is a NAU Student-Faculty Public Humanities Project with the department of Comparative Cultural Studies and the Martin-Springer Institute. Dr. Pedro Gonzalez Corona (Future Faculty Fellow with CCS and Criminology/Criminal Justice) and Dr. Bjorn Krondorfer (Director of MSI) will mentor students for the exhibit.
During the Spanish colonial rule in the New Spain—and other viceroyalties—the casta system became the answer to the implementation of a hierarchical classification to organize everyone in the colony. The language of racial consciousness, borrowed from the Iberian society, found in the casta system a way of proliferation of discriminatory aspects, even for criollos—American-born Spaniards—in the New Spain. Casta paintings symbolized a new order that became deeply embedded in Mexican society. Having a clear organization of races for the new socio-political regime in Mexico’s also produced a discourse based on the idea of being mixed or mestizo. The idea of being mestizo has been associated with a national identity, but also implies a racial membership that can be exclusive and discriminatory.
In this project students will benefit from two workshops and planning sessions based on the acquired knowledge of the casta system and its racial repercussions in modern Mexico. Students will also acquire knowledge on the ways in which racial thought has facilitated events of violence. Students will design and set an exhibit under the mentorship of Gonzalez and Krondorfer. The Exhibit will open in Spring 2025; an expert on the Mexican Baroque, Dr. Fernando Rodriguez-Miaja affiliated to the National University of Mexico, will visit NAU for a talk.
Students interested in researching, writing, and designing the exhibit are invited to apply and students pursuing majors or minors in Latin American Studies, Global Languages, Museum Studies, Criminology/Criminal Justice, Education, Design, Anthropology, Communication, Art History, International/Political Science
and Literature, are especially encouraged to apply but the opportunity is open to students in all disciplines. Bi-lingual students are particularly encouraged to apply.
The subject matter can be distressing. Students want to bring cultural sensitivity, emotional intelligence, and empathy to the project.
The project can accommodate up to five students, who commit to
• attend one regular, 60-90 minutes group meeting per week
• work independently or in small groups on specific tasks between weekly meetings
Students can receive, if desired, independent academic studies credit.
Please email Dr. Gonzalez for an application or if you have any questions at pedro.gonzalez@nau.edu.