2026/05/04 by Peter Moore, Peter N. Moore, Walker Perkins
Social Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Archaeology and Natural History #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Historical and Cultural Archaeology Studies
paper · doi:10.1080/00822884.2026.2683298
This article offers the perspectives of professor and student on a unique master’s level seminar taught at a regional state university in south Texas. Entitled “On the Trail of Cabeza de Vaca,” this problem-based course sought to reconstruct Cabeza’s route through Texas based on his Narrative and an extensive secondary literature, supplemented by archeological and ethnohistorical works. At the end of the term, the class formulated its own interpretation of the route. Students learned that a fairly straightforward historical question that many assumed had been settled – what route did Cabeza de Vaca and his companions take through Texas? – is actually quite complex, and that historians’ answers have been shaped by cultural bias as much as detached scholarly investigation. Pedagogically, one of the most interesting aspects of this course was the professor’s lack of expertise in the topic. Though a colonial historian, he had no specialization in the history of exploration and contact, early Texas, or the Spanish borderlands, and little in-depth knowledge of Cabeza de Vaca’s long, strange trip. Rather than “sage on the stage” whose command of the literature and knowledge of the field was assumed, he served as designer and facilitator. This was risky and sometimes awkward, but it created an opportunity for students: some of them became co-instructors, both teachers and learners, thereby achieving one of the key outcomes of graduate education. These authors’ dual perspectives as teacher and student are especially fitting due to the collaborative nature of the class.