Roots, Patterns and Priorities of Place-making in New Mexico

This paper analyzes and compares the roots, patterns and priorities of place-making in American Indian, Hispanic and Anglo and traditions in New Mexico. The relative importance given to values of permanence, propinquity, sustainability and land tenure, and the perceived relationship between manmade and natural landscapes will be interpreted through both legislation and legend. The paper will also explore the effects that these different traditions had on each other as they came together over time in the region. For example: how were the Spanish settlement patterns established by the Laws of the Indies inverted and reshaped by the powerful traditions of place-making of the Pueblo Indians? How did the United States government use the Land Ordinances, the national survey grid and allotment policies to impose social and physical order on the Navajo Indians? And how successful were the Navajo and Pueblo Indians at using these same laws and policies to consolidate their own place-making traditions?