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Recent research conducted in southern Sonora, Mexico provides an opportunity to revisit debates about interaction between Mesoamerica and the North American Southwest (NAS). In the borderland between these traditions, communities show few signs of cultural amalgamation, instead exhibiting either an avoidance of overt identity markers or an emphasis on more local connections. This pattern contrasts with most discussions of Mesoamerican influence on the NAS that focus on regionally atypical centers of foreign goods consumption or evidence of foreign religious traditions in distant localities. By recentering on local contexts where cultural amalgamation is expected but minimal, we raise important questions about why more distant groups found Mesoamerican societies to be worthy of emulation. The results suggest researchers should devote equal attention to cases in which distinct identities are erased or suppressed as they do to cases in which social boundaries are maintained or created anew. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is an announcement from the journal Kiva, dedicated to John Philip Carpenter, an archaeologist who passed away at the age of 67. Carpenter was known for his extensive scholarship and collaboration, synthesizing various disciplines to create comprehensive narratives about Northwest Mexico. His work spanned a wide range of time periods and topics, and he left a lasting impact on the scholarship of Northwest Mexico through his own work and the students he mentored. Carpenter's career took him to institutions on both sides of the border, and he maintained lifelong friendships and correspondence with those interested in the region. [Extracted from the article]