Lewis "Skip" C. Messenger, Jr
Introduction • Research Interests • Courses • Recommendations
Introduction
When I am asked what I am, I usually respond, "an archaeologist." When asked what I do, I say, "I am a teacher." When asked what I teach, I reply, "anthropology." This often leaves people confused and I end up saying that I am an anthropological archaeologist who spends most of his time teaching at Hamline University.
I have been a teacher at Hamline since 1983. Prior to that, I attended Hiram College in Ohio where I received a B.A. in history in 1971. During that time I had a chance to study in Cambridge, England where I developed an interest in landscape change and how early English land-tenureship intersected with privatization to produce the anthropogenic landscapes so characteristic of the rural south England landscape.
A summer in southwestern Colorado convinced me of the value of geology. It was during my Hiram years that I met and fell in love with Phyllis Mauch who became my wife. I had begun having a strong interest in the ancient Maya when I was in third grade and I guess it would be more appropriate to say that I become a "Maya Junkie." This interest in the ancient Maya led to my visiting Mexico following high school and again while I was a student at Hiram. Following graduation from Hiram, we went to live in Mexico and enrolled in Masters programs at the Universidad de las Americas in Cholula, Puebla-UDLA as it still is known (pronounced, "Ood La"). During that time I had numerous opportunities to study under, and work with Mexican archaeologists. This led to my directing a project at the Maya site of Becán, Campeche for the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH).
We took advantage of our stay and traveled extensively, visiting and photographing virtually all of the major archaeological sites and museums in Mesoamerica-in México, Guatemala, and Belize. México indeed became a place where we both came to feel at home! After finishing our Masters work in Mexico in 1975, Phyllis and I moved back to the United States where I began in a Doctor's program at the University of Minnesota under the mentorship of Dennis Puleston--an energetic and innovative Mayanist scholar who had worked at the massive site of Tikal in Guatemala. Working as a teaching assistant with him, as well as with Bob Kiste, taught me about the value of cross-disciplinary research, and also much about the rewards of being a student centered teacher. Denny's untimely death toward the end of my graduate career left me devastated, but this ultimately led to my working in Honduras where my revised dissertation topic focused on ways to understand prehistoric ethnic mapping in the southern Mesoamerican periphery. I also began to dedicate myself to trying to find innovative ways to document and understand the intersections between ancient climatic changes and human affairs.
In 1983 Cynthia Cone invited me to offer a class on ancient Mesoamerica at Hamline. The following year I received my Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. I continued at Hamline and have stayed here ever since and profited from the fertile intellectual environment of this place. My earlier international student experiences had galvanized my dedication to, and encouragement for, cross-cultural emersion. Hamline University became a place my goals could be realized. This has taken the form of a series of on-site courses offered in Yucatan, central Mexico, and Thailand. My climate-related research conducted while at Hamline has become recognized internationally and I have been fortunate to be invited to forums in the United States and in Mexico.
I love working with students and appreciate Hamline's ethic of student-centeredness. I was humbled when the Hamline Student Congress recognized my work by giving me the Teacher of the Year Award in 1994. I have been able to develop courses that reflect my personal interests: Cultural Ecology, Prehistory of the Non-Mediterranean World, Ancient Civilizations of Middle America, Ancient Civilizations of Southeast Asia and have been able to marry these with student-collaboration projects focusing on ancient, as well as future, climate change scenarios. I am blessed by a wonderful family and we have had numerous opportunities to experience many diverse cultures together. I am gratified that our children, Lindsay and Alex, think of world citizenship as "natural." We also have found the wilderness to be a source of inspiration and spiritual renewal and, as a family, we now always make sure that we get up to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area at least once every summer.
Research Interests
Courses
1160: Introduction to Anthropology
Recommendations
