The Impact of Collaborative Educational Tourism on Archaeological Research, Management Initiatives, and Curriculum Development

2016 Southwest Symposium Poster.
As part of their Cultural Exploration program, Crow Canyon Archaeological Center often brings together Native Pueblo and Archaeological scholars for one week-long Exploration trips. The trips are framed as educational tourism seminars around themes such as Hopi migrations, the History of Taos, or the Chaco World. While there is monetary and professional incentives for scholars to participate in these trips, a growing number engage in them to expand their own personal and professional perspectives. This is partially due to the nature of the discourse during these seminars, which is public yet intimate and unconstrained by policy and procedure. In this paper we explore the scholar’s experience of these trips and identify how they integrate this discourse into their research programs, perspectives on heritage management, and academic curriculums.