Gerardo Aldana | Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies

Professor

1710 South Hall

About

Education:

B.S.: University of California, Berkeley, Mechanical Engineering
M.S.: University of California, Irvine, Mechanical Engineering
A.M.: Harvard University, History of Science
Ph.D.: Harvard University, History of Science

Research:

Mayan hieroglyphic history
Mesoamerican art
Experimental archaeology
Science studies
Culture theory
Indigeneity

Media

Online Presentation: "Calculating Brilliance: Mayan Hieroglyphic History and the Future of Thought," Latinx Research Center, UC Berkeley, April, 2023

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5vk7XTf6OM

Online Presentation: "K'uk'ulkan and Other Feathered Serpents," The Precolumbian Society of the University of Pennsylvania Museum. December 10, 2022

https://precolumbian.org/next-meeting/

Podcast on Calculating Brilliance, "Mesoamerican Studies On Air" September 14, 2022

https://anchor.fm/catherine-nuckols-wilde/episodes/Calculating-Brilliance-An-Intellectual-History-of-Mayan-Astronomy-at-Chichen-Itza--with-Gerardo-Aldana-e1nq1rt

Podcast on Ancient Mayan Astronomy, “What the IF?” August 5, 2022

https://whattheif.com/episodes/mayan

Online Presentation: “Quetzalcoatl and the Dresden Codex Venus Table,” Institute for Maya Studies Public Lecture. July 20, 2022

https://www.instituteofmayastudies.org/gerardo-aldana-july-20-2022/

Online Presentation: “On the Intellectual Cost of Conquest,” Art, Design & Architecture Museum ‘Amid a Pandemic’ Lecture Series. May 22, 2021

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99OV0xpVqsQ

Big Screen: Wakanda Forever and Indigenous Worldbuilding

https://vimeo.com/793527390

Publications:

https://ucsb.academia.edu/GerardoAldana

2022	Calculating Brilliance: An Intellectual History of Mayan Astronomy at Chich’en Itza.University of Arizona Press.
2016	Discovering Discovery: Chich’en Itza, the Dresden Codex Venus Table and 10th Century Mayan Astronomical Innovation. Journal of Astronomy in Culture
2015	"14C and Maya Long Count Dates: using Bayesian modeling to develop robust site chronologies," in Archaeometry, DOI: 10.111/arcm.12200
2011	On Mayan Astronomy and Modern Economics
2011	"On Deciphering Ancient Mesoamerican Foundational Texts: The Challenges of a Non-Logos-Based Creation Narrative" in Foundational Texts of World Literature, edited by Dominique Jullien. Peter Lang, New York.
2011	Tying Headbands or Venus Appearing: New translations of k'al, the Dresden Codex Venus Pages and Classic Period Royal 'Binding' Rituals. British Archaeological Reports International Series S2239.
2007	The Apotheosis of Janaab’ Pakal: Science, History, and Religion at Classic Maya Palenque. University Press of Colorado, Boulder.