Lectures

November 13th, 2026 | 12 p.m.

Online Only!

Based on his 2026 book, The Maze of History, about Akimel O'odham storyteller Thin Leather, Martínez will talk about Sivan Vahkih as symbolic of an O'odham world in transition. What archeologists regard as a ruin of a vanished era, in the O'odham imagination, is more accurately described as a living place where Huhugam dwell. What does their story still teach us today?

David Martínez is the director of the Institute for Transborder Indigenous Nations (ITIN) at ASU and ASU professor of American Indian Studies and Transborder Studies. He is enrolled in the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC), Martínez is Akimel O'odham, Hia-ced O'odham, and Juhkam (Mexican). Click the link below to learn more about David Martínez's new book!