The weeks of Laidlaw Summer Research have flown by and even though we're nearing the end of our summer in New York City, I realized I hadn't done a blog post yet! My research has evolved so much from when I first started thinking about applying to Laidlaw to my application to now. Initially, I was interested in researching the Northern New Mexico Embudo Region and the development of ethnic identity that came about due to Spanish colonization in the region. My dad's family are Nuevo Mexicanos with Indigenous and Hispano ethnicity and have generations of roots in Northern New Mexico and Santa Fe. I grew up hearing about the region, but have never actually visited. I saw this opportunity with Laidlaw as a way to further explore my own family's history and how it plays a role in the broader so called "tri-ethnic trap" of Hispano, Anglo and Native ethnic culture and identity. 

Now, I am researching Chicano identity in the Southwest and its connections to Indigenous identity in Mexico and the United States. I am so excited to have this opportunity to research such personal and meaningful history and expand the historical narratives surrounding identities that have bonded me and my community to our regions in the Southwest and to the broader historical and present conversations surrounding identity and Indigenous sovereignty in the United States. 

What I have learned so far from the process of shifting my research is to be open to exploring new threads of information and to be flexible to new ideas. It is what has led me to engaging with Laidlaw and my cohort community in the ways that I have and what has had the most impact on my work as a scholar and as a person. 

I am so excited to check back in and see what everyone has been doing!