“Native Trails” and Challenging the Spatial Imaginary of the Old Spanish Trail

Abstract

This paper describes the ongoing research project entitled “Native Trails” which broadly serves as a confrontation of settler-centric representations of historic trails in the US National Trails system. This project is funded by the National Park Services and is led by a team of two professors and two graduate students from Geography and History departments. This project consists of two primary, interconnected approaches, historical research and geovisualization. The broader goal of this project is to center Indigenous histories that intersect with the Old Spanish Trail thus disrupting the settler-centric histories/narratives of the Old Spanish Trail with a public-facing StoryMap. We also aim to challenge the colonial cartographic traditions associated with mapping trails by representing the Old Spanish Trail beyond a fixed line, but more so as a regional network of interactions and exchanges. With this we attempt to address the question: How has the portrayal of the Old Spanish Trail as a series of fixed lines obfuscated Indigenous histories and prioritized settler experiences?