
Dr. Alejandro Patino Contreras
Dr. Alejandro Patino Contreras holds a Ph.D. in Archaeology from the University of Calgary and a BA in Anthropology from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Columbia.
Dr. Patino Contreras is a researcher and an educator who advocates for the roles of education and research, kindling and promoting critical thinking through engaged teaching and learning. Dr. Patino Contreras strongly values the relevance of Social Sciences today. In particular, he believes that Social Science studies encourage and sponsor critical thinking as a crucial component of participatory citizenship engaged in democratic institutions, protection of the rule of law and awareness of individual and collective obligations and rights.
Expertise and Experience
Dr. Patino Contreras has taught courses on Indo-European mythology, archaeology and Latin American culture at McMaster University and the University of Calgary. His professional experience encompasses over a decade of research in archaeology and anthropology in Guatemala (Central America) and Colombia (South America). He is particularly interested in the evolution and development of ideologies and institutions that formalize socioeconomic integration and segregation systems in pre-industrial societies in the cultural, social, economic and political spheres. Dr. Patino Contreras looks at these subjects from the perspective of practices of consumption of material culture attested archaeologically, particularly ceramics. The results of this line of research are the subject of peer-reviewed papers published in international journals.
Publications and Scholarly Activity
Publications: Peer-reviewed journals
- 2020a: Fantastic Primeval Beings and their Roles in Reconstructions of Indigenous Colonial Cosmologies from the Eastern Andes of Colombia. Ethnohistory 67 (4): 621-642. Duke University Press, Duke, NC.
- 2020b: Finding the Ties that Bind: Aboriginal Forms of Societal Affiliation in the Cauca River Area of Colombia in the 16th Ñawpa Pacha Journal of Andean Archaeology 40 (1): 61-80. The Institute of Andean Studies-Taylor and Francis, Berkeley CA and London UK.
- 2016a: Explaining Tzakol: Social Interaction during the Early Classic. A View from Naachtun, Petén, Guatemala. Estudios de Cultura Maya XLVIII: 39-70. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (National Autonomous University of Mexico-UNAM), Mexico City.
- 2016b: Architectural Space in the Muisca Settlement of La Maria (Chia, Colombia) during the Prehispanic and Colonial Periods. Journal of Field Archaeology 41(4): 413-427. Trustees of Boston University, Boston.
- 2015: Patrones de Desarrollo en la Cerámica de Naachtun, Peten, Guatemala. Travaux et Recherches dans les Amériques du Centre 67:11-38. Centre d’Etudes Mexicaines et Centraméricaines (CEMCA), Mexico City
Publications: Book Chapters
- 2013: Philippe Nondédéo, Alejandro Patiño, Julien Sion, Dominique Michelet, and Carlos Morales-Aguilar. Crisis Múltiples en Naachtun: Aprovechadas Superadas e Irreversibles. In Millenary Maya Societies: Past Crises and Resilience, edited by M. Charlotte Arnauld and Alain Breton, pp. 122-147. Electronic document published online at Mesoweb: mesoweb.com/publications/MMS/9_Nondedeo_etal.pdf.
Awards
- 2011: Research scholarship granted by the Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary. Fall term. Value: CA $7,000
- 2010: A Faculty of Graduate Studies Unit. Value: CA $7,000
- 2009: Winter Graduate Research Scholarship granted by the University of Calgary. Value: $7,300
- 2008: Faculty of Graduate Studies Doctorate Scholarship granted by the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the University of Calgary. Value: CA $10,000
- 2007: Wadsworth International Fellowship (third and last year) provided by the Wenner-Gren Foundation United States). Value: CA $18,000
- 2007: Carter Scholarship granted by the Department of Archaeology of the University of Calgary. Value: CA $700
- 2006: Wadsworth International Fellowship (second year) provided by the Wenner-Gren Foundation (United States). Value: CA $16,000
- 2006: University of Calgary’s Dean’s Entrance Scholarship. Value: CA $14,100
- 2006: Fall Graduate Research Scholarship granted by the University of Calgary. Value: CA $7,000
- 2006: Winter Graduate Research Scholarship granted by the University of Calgary. Value: CA $7,000
- 2005: Wadsworth International Fellowship (formerly known as the Professional Development International Fellowship) provided by the Wenner-Gren Foundation (United States). Value: CA $16,000
- 2005: Fall Graduate Research Scholarship granted by the University of Calgary. Value: CA $10,000
- 2005: Winter Graduate Research Scholarship granted by the University of Calgary. Value: CA $8,000
- 2005: Dr. Jeanette Nicholls Graduate Scholarship granted by the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the University of Calgary. Value: CA $1,000
Contact him on LinkedIn.