Un-imagining the Anglo Southwest and the Impossibility of Trans-scription

This thesis is an interrogation of the Anglo Southwest as a problematic and persistent regional and national construct. I propose that the Anglo Southwest emerged at a pivotal moment in the late nineteenth century during which Americanist approaches to geography, anthropology, and the arts, were being shaped to define the region and determine the production and distribution of knowledge. This resulted in an Anglo view of the Southwest as uninhabited, silent, and imaginary, which omitted the actuality of silencing Native voices, cultural appropriation, and the taking of resources and land. Army surgeon and amateur ethnographer Washington Matthews (1843–1905) serves as the principal Anglo character of investigation for the relevance and enduring legacy of his work with the Diné. Through engaging with Matthews’ archive, including field notes, photographs, Navajo weavings, and wax cylinders recordings of Diné songs and chantways, I aim to complicate and challenge what these early artefacts have come to represent, to disrupt the Anglo script, and to un-imagine the Anglo Southwest. I will consider the processes of translation and transcription as methods to interrogate the language and terminology of the arts, anthropology, and geography. I will employ sound as an analytical point of departure, for its ability to reach across registers and spaces, and to think across disciplines and traditions. Putting historic artefacts in conversation with select contemporary artists, I consider the possibility of resounding and re-transcription in an effort to reconnect with the land and push against the confines and expectations of the Anglo Southwest.