Episode 15: The Thirsty Llano Estacado

Ryan’s guests this episode are Dr. Timothy M. Foster, former WT prof and currently a Spanish teacher in Oskaloosa, Iowa, and Dr. John Beusterien, Professor of Spanish at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Tim and John come on the podcast to discuss their article, “The Thirsty Llano Estacado: The Manuel Maés Ballad Corpus,” published in 2022 in The Great Plains Quarterly. This piece includes a thorough appendix of transcriptions, translations, and recordings — several of which can be heard in this episode — of the Nuevomexicano ballad of Manuel Maés, a real-life, twenty-one-year-old cibolero (buffalo hunter) who was killed while hunting in 1873 and buried somewhere in the Llano Estacado of Texas. Tim and John argue that examining the ballad’s environmental vision can shed light on the contemporary problem of water scarcity, awakening “the spirit of water as a force of renewal and, in so doing, raise consciousness toward ecologically sound and sustainable water practice.” After a brief introduction in Spanish, the interview covers topics like Priscilla Ybarra’s concept of Chicana/o “goodlife writing” and the challenge it represents to Anglo-American environmentalist movements rooted in settler colonialism; the role of groups like the comancheros, pastores, and ciboleros in the pre-Anglo history of the Llano; and the Maés song’s status as indita, corrido, and ballad, three complexly interrelated genres. We also discuss the thematic role of canyons, rivers, and water-collection points, and how the song functions as a kind of tombstone, not only for Maés but also for the Panhandle playa where he was likely buried, a lake that “is almost certainly plowed under, built over, or trenched for irrigation, unable to fulfill either its cultural or ecological function.”

The Great Plains Quarterly Cover Image: The Killing of Manuel Maés, courtesy of the artist, Ronald Kil.