The Inca: The Highest Achievements of Andean Civilization

Continue reading “The Inca: The Highest Achievements of Andean Civilization”

The Americas: A Free, Open Textbook in Progress

Continue reading “The Americas: A Free, Open Textbook in Progress”

Meet my World – a film by Peruvian youth, in their own words.

Meet my World – a film by Peruvian youth, in their own words.

From the filmmakers:

Amantani is an Anglo Peruvian NGO, which works to help children from marginalised Quechua families to access education, stimulating social development for Peru’s most disadvantaged communities. Together with our friends at Andina restaurant in London, we have created Meet My World; a participatory film campaign developed by indigenous children from the Andes of Peru.

Continue reading “Meet my World – a film by Peruvian youth, in their own words.”

Unrecognized Potential: Terra Preta, Ancient Orchards, and Life in the Amazon

Until relatively recently, it was widely believed that the Amazon Rainforest was incapable of sustaining large scale human development.  New findings have challenged this view, and evidence of ancient agriculture suggests that humans once developed this fragile region in ways so subtle that – in the form of carefully managed soils and prehistoric orchards – they have been hiding in plain sight all this time, challenging the basic tenants of “agriculture” as western eyes tend to recognize it. Continue reading “Unrecognized Potential: Terra Preta, Ancient Orchards, and Life in the Amazon”

The Andes, the Inca, the Spanish, and the Making of Modern South America

Continue reading “The Andes, the Inca, the Spanish, and the Making of Modern South America”

A Guided Tour of Bolivia, 2016.

Continue reading “A Guided Tour of Bolivia, 2016.”

The Inca: Church, State, and the Arc of History in the Realm of the Four Parts

Continue reading “The Inca: Church, State, and the Arc of History in the Realm of the Four Parts”

July 27, 2016: New Horizons in South America and Beyond

 

This may have looked like a blog about some dude’s vacation.  And I won’t lie, I’ve absolutely enjoyed myself out here.  But it has been so much more than just a trip through South America…  The reason I wanted to be here – and the reason that Fund for Teachers so generously funded my research – is that there is something seriously lacking in the historical and cultural education of our students, at least in the United States where I teach. Continue reading “July 27, 2016: New Horizons in South America and Beyond”

July 26, 2016: Tiwanaku, Aliens in Ancient Bolivia, and the Ruins of an Old World

Author Charles C. Mann has called Tiwanaku a combination of the Vatican and Disney World, and he may be spot on in that description.  Just check out the stone megaphones for working the massive crowds of pilgrims that, in pre-Inca times, once trekked here to pay their dues, or the 25 foot tall megalithic being recovered from the ruins here, only to spend decades as a target for beer bottles in front of La Paz’s soccer stadium, rescued only when he achieved UNESCO statues along with the rest of Tiwanaku.  Now that is religious entertainment…. Continue reading “July 26, 2016: Tiwanaku, Aliens in Ancient Bolivia, and the Ruins of an Old World”