Please help me find an explorer for my documentary

June 8, 2018 10:09 AM

I'm producing a documentary on explorers and we had one of our subjects drop out at the last minute and now I'm scrambling to find someone to fill the spot. Do you know someone who is doing research into Mayan culture?

I'm looking specifically for a male doing research (archaeology, anthropology, etc) into Mayan civilization but I'm open to other explorers doing work on land in the Yucatan peninsula, Central or South America. We're looking for someone with boots on the ground doing work in country. Also, because I know the question will rightly come up, our other subjects are female and the client is asking for a male to balance things out. I know this is a long shot but we have a budget and the project is super worthwhile.

posted by photoslob to Media & Arts (9 answers total)

Does the guy who had to drop out have any colleagues he could recommend, or even contacts he could give you (professional organizations, email lists, etc)?
posted by natabat at 10:24 AM on June 8, 2018

Response by poster: Unfortunately no because the thing he studies is only tangentially Mayan. We are also trying to stay away from Nat Geo sponsored explorers because of client concerns and everyone we've had recommended to us has ties to geographic.
posted by photoslob at 10:34 AM on June 8, 2018

I just finished a book by Adam Shoalts:
http://adamshoalts.com/

The book was about some exploration he completed in northern Canada, but he briefly mentioned some archaeology work he assisted with in South America "earlier" in his career.
posted by csmason at 10:34 AM on June 8, 2018

Joel Palka at UIC?
I have literally no knowledge about this whatsoever, but did a Google Scholar search on "Mayan Anthropology" filtered to works published since 2014 and a book of his came up. There are probably a fair number of other people you could find using similar searches or even going past the first page of results.
posted by Homeboy Trouble at 10:46 AM on June 8, 2018

Response by poster: whoa, I did not know there was such a thing as google scholar search! Thank you!
posted by photoslob at 10:55 AM on June 8, 2018

This guy is on the cutting edge in Mayan archaeology.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/906128/mayan-civisilation-cave-mexico-underground-tunnel-Gran-Acuifero-Maya
Robert Schmittner
posted by Ideefixe at 5:51 PM on June 8, 2018

Response by poster: We need someone who works on land and not underwater :/
posted by photoslob at 6:03 PM on June 8, 2018

There’s a study center at UT Austin for Mayan studies. Housed in Art & Art History. The guy they hired away from Harvard when I was there is David Stuart. Here’s the page for this year’s Maya Meetings.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 7:27 PM on June 8, 2018

Response by poster: Thank you! The Maya meetings page has lots of great info
posted by photoslob at 9:09 AM on June 9, 2018 [1 favorite]