Kivas, cathedrals and energy seats: The making of religious landscapes in the upper Rio Grande Valley

The upper Rio Grande valley, with its mix of New Age ceremonials and recently arrived practices like Buddhism, heavy doses of Catholicism, dollops of other Christian and Jewish traditions is unlike anywhere else in the nation. It is a region that has experienced waves of conquest, with subsequent reshapings of the landscape. This dissertation is about analyzing and narrating the ways people and groups struggle to assign meanings to and make material changes in the landscape through the distinct medium of religion. I argue that human beings have not only laid claim to the region through physical, political and legal means but, even more importantly, by claiming for themselves an indigenous identity. Religion, I argue further, was a crucial ingredient in fashioning these claims of "nativeness.";Using diverse sources such as court documents, church records, local legends and stories, art and architecture, the dissertation tracks four case studies over time, from the period prior to European contact to the near contemporary. By reimagining a landscape through the particular lens of religion, Spanish conquistadores, Hispano settler groups, turn-of-the-century Americans, and late twentieth century New Agers, have sought to remake themselves as the legitimate owners and heirs of the place. At the same time, such colonial narratives claiming indigeneity were countered by the plural narratives of those seeking to avoid displacement, those laying their own claims to the land. The result is a sacred landscape that is complex, nuanced and clearly marked by struggles.