Manitos

I ended up only doing 500 miles through Manito country last summer, rather than the planned six. I started from Santa Fe and went as far north as El Alto del Cañón (Gardner), Colorado. Along the way I worked with people in the Nuevomexicano communities of Cuyamungué, El Embudo (Dixon), Peñasco, Chamisal, Placita, Llano Quemado, Ranchos de Taos, Los Córdovas, Arroyo Seco, San Antonio (Valdez), Costilla, Amalia, and El Ventero; as well as the Coloradense communities of Colonias de San…

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Linguist, Len Nils Beké, is traveling 600 Manitos Miles by bicycle, mapping and documenting place names of the Manitas and Manitos homeland, and their stories. Follow along and connect with Len as he sends us updates from the road!

Len Nils Beké is a doctoral student in in Hispanic Linguistics at the University of New Mexico. In the Manito Topos Project, Len has embarked on an initiative focused on the recovery of Nuevomexicano Spanish place names. This week, he also launches his fieldwork expedition, which he has called Seiscientas Millas Manitas (600 Manito Miles).