The Connectedness of People and Geological Features in the El Malpais Lava Flows of New Mexico, USA

Simon Larsson ()
Additional contact information
Simon Larsson: Department of Theology, Centre for Multidisciplinary Research on Religion and Society (CRS), Uppsala University, P.O. Box 511, 751 20 Uppsala, Sweden

Land, 2025, vol. 14, issue 6, 1-21

Abstract: El Malpais National Monument in New Mexico, USA, is a landscape of significant cultural and geological importance, characterized by extensive lava flows, caves, and cinder cones. Despite its harsh terrain, El Malpais holds deep cultural and spiritual meanings for Native American communities, including the Acoma, Zuni, Laguna, and Navajo tribes, whose cosmologies and histories are interwoven with this landscape. Employing a mixed-methods approach combining ethnographic fieldwork with comparative literature studies, this paper documents how these Indigenous groups perceive and interpret interconnected geological features as sacred and meaningful parts of their ancestral heritage. The findings reveal that volcanic landscapes are central not only to cultural origin narratives but also to ongoing rituals, resource use, and pilgrimage practices. This interconnectedness is exemplified by the cultural links between El Malpais and adjacent Mount Taylor, highlighting how geological features form a unified sacred geography. This study positions El Malpais as a culturally animated landscape, where Indigenous epistemologies and spiritual relationships with volcanic landforms challenge conventional notions of geoheritage and call for relational, community-informed approaches to heritage management.

Keywords: geoheritage; immaterial culture; cultural landscapes; volcanic landscapes; geo-mythology; environmental anthropology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/6/1243/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/14/6/1243/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jlands:v:14:y:2025:i:6:p:1243-:d:1675577

Access Statistics for this article

Land is currently edited by Ms. Carol Ma

More articles in Land from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().