Talon member Kayla Lewis and advisor Dr. Michele Weber met with Professor John Torres, an Anthropology professor at MSJC, who is also of Chicano and Navajo descent, to discuss Native American heritage for Native American Heritage Month.

Professor Torres has been a professional archaeologist and anthropologist for over 25 years. The bulk of his research has been in Southern California, the Great Basin and the American Southwest, however he has worked across the Americas including the Yucatan, Bolivia, the Northwest Coast and the Great Plains. He has also worked paleoanthroplogical sites in Southern France, Spain and Italy. 

He brings this experience to his teaching where he emphasizes a cultural-ecology approach. He also likes to highlight the practical applications of cultural resource management as a career option to students.

Professor Torres is of Chicano and Navajo descent and it is very important to him to make connections between the past and present. This includes working and sharing with Native people, discussing the transition from pre-Columbian and modern Native art, recording and learning about in-use-sites and listening to oral traditions as told by the elders.

You can also view his MSJC Tedx from 2020 by clicking here as well.