Mexico

Edward Herbert Thompson and the Cenote Sagrado

28. September 2022 Tabea Tietz

On September 28, 1857, American archaeologist and diplomat Edward Herbert Thompson was born. Thompson is most famous for dredging the Cenote Sagrado (Sacred Cenote) in Chichen Itza from 1904 to 1910, where he recovered artifacts of gold, copper and carved jade, as well as the first-ever examples of what were believed to be pre-Columbian Maya cloth and wooden weapons. Edward Herbert Thompson – Early Years Edward Herbert Thompson was born in Worcester, Massachussetts,…

cinematography

Luis Buñuel and his Cinema of the Absurd and Desire

22. February 2021 Harald Sack

On February 22, 1900, Spanish, later naturalized Mexican, filmmaker Luis Buñuel was born. Often associated with the surrealist movement of the 1920s, Buñuel created films from the 1920s through the 1970s. Having worked in Europe and North America, and in French and Spanish, Buñuel also directed films spanning various genres. His first picture, Un Chien Andalou — made in the silent era — is still viewed regularly throughout the world and retains its…

archeology

John Lloyd Stephens and the Archeology of Middle America

28. November 2020 Harald Sack

On November 28, 1805, American explorer, writer, and diplomat John Lloyd Stephens was born. Stephens was a pivotal figure in the rediscovery of Maya civilization throughout Middle America and in the planning of the Panama railroad. His exploration of Maya ruins in Central America and Mexico generated the archaeology of Middle America. John Lloyd Stephens Background John Lloyd Stephens was born in the township of Shrewsbury, New Jersey, as the second son of…

explorer

Juan Bautista de Anza and the Route to San Francisco Bay

28. March 2020 Tabea Tietz

On March 28, 1776, Basque New-Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza was the first to reach the San Francisco Bay by land. De Anza was the first European to establish an overland route from Mexico, through the Sonoran Desert, to the Pacific coast of California. New World Spanish explorers had been seeking such a route through the desert southwest for more than two centuries. Background Juan Bautista de Anza Anza was born in 1736…

politics

Frida Kahlo’s struggling Life and Extraordinary Art

6. July 2019 Harald Sack

On July 6, 1907, Mexican painter Magdalena Carmen Frida Kahlo y Calderón was born. She is probably best known for her impressive self-portrait and is still admired as a feminist icon. “A little while ago, not much more than a few days ago, I was a child who went about in a world of colors, of hard and tangible forms. Everything was mysterious and something was hidden, guessing what it was was a…

literature

Anna Seghers – Prominent Advocate of German Exile Literature

19. November 2018 Harald Sack

On November 19, 1900, German writer Anna Seghers was born. Seghers became famous for depicting the moral experience of the Second World War. I came across the writer at the end high school. “The Seventh Cross” of Anna Seghers was the last piece of literature that we officially had to read in the German literature courses before high school graduation. And I remember that I was rather impressed by this novel. “What…

social science

Robert Redfield and the Folk-Urban Continuum

4. December 2017 Harald Sack

On December 4, 1897, American anthropologist and ethnolinguist Robert Redfield was born. Redfield‘s ethnographic work in Tepoztlán, Mexico is considered a landmark Latin American ethnography. From his studies of Mexican communities, Redfield developed a theory (1956) of a folk-urban continuum, to account for the differences between folk society and urban society. Early Years Robert Redfield was the son-in-law of University of Chicago sociologist Robert E. Park. In 1923 he and his wife…