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CSULA News Release

May 13, 2009

CONTACTS:
Sean Kearns
Media Relations Director
(323) 343-3050
or
Margie Low
Public Affairs Specialist
(323) 343-3047

Cal State L.A.
Office of Public Affairs
(323) 343-3050
Fax: (323) 343-6405

 

Media Advisory:

Mesoamerica meets modern times, May 15-16

Cal State L.A. free event gathers experts, public to explore culture,
language, history of Mayan, Aztec, Oaxacan realms

Experts available for advance interviews in English and Spanish

Note to editors and news directors: Consider just a few of the ways the ancient Mesoamerican world shows up in modern culture, society and architecture:

  • The music of Azteka, who bills himself as the “Latin Hip Hop Warrior”
  • The Mayan Theatre, a resurgent landmark in downtown L.A. built in 1927
  • “Brown pride” bandanas emblazoned with a Yaotl (warrior) skull
  • The many words – such as chili and chocolate – with roots in Aztec
  • Existing Mesoamerican communities, with languages intact

 

What drives this fascination and durability? Where do myths diverge from reality? How do we know what we know—and what can we do with it? And what’s the big deal about this Tatiana woman born 100 years ago in Siberia?

To find out more, reporters are invited to the 2009 Conference on Mesoamerica - Continuity and Change in Mesoamerican History, From the Pre-Classic to the Colonial Era,” to be held at Cal State L.A.  Friday and Saturday, May 15-16. 

Journalists may also arrange advance interviews with conference organizer Roberto Cantú (in English or Spanish) and other key individuals.

The conference – free and open to the public – offers more than a dozen lectures, workshops, panels and a showing of the film “Breaking the Maya Code.” Presenters will include some of the world’s top Mesoamerican scholars.  They are also convening to celebrate the centennial of the birth of Tatiana A. Proskouriakoff (1909-1985), a pioneering ethnologist/archaeologist whose work revised modern understanding of the ancient Mayans.

For details, see the accompanying news release here:

http://www.calstatela.edu/univ/ppa/newsrel/mesoamer-conf2009.htm

 

WHAT:          2009 Conference on Mesoamerica - Continuity and Change in Mesoamerican History, From the Pre-Classic to the Colonial Era

WHEN:          Friday and Saturday, May 15-16. See schedule for details:

WHERE:        University-Student Union (major events), other buildings, California State University, Los Angeles. The University is located at the intersection of the 10 and 710 freeway.

WHO:             Experts on a myriad of aspects of Mesoamerica (including hieroglyphics, ancient sports, modern culture), for example:

Pre-conference interview options with Cal State L.A. scholars/organizers:

Roberto Cantú, professor of Chicano studies, expert on Latin American literature.

Manuel Aguilar-Moreno, professor of art history, author of “Handbook to Life in the Aztec World” (2006), expert on ancient game of ulama.

 

Key conference presenters (among more than 30):

David Carrasco, founder and director of the Mesoamerican Archive, Harvard University; presenting Saturday, May 16, from 6 to 8 p.m.

John Pohl, curator of the Arts of the Americas, Fowler Museum, UCLA; presenting Friday, May 15, 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m.

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Additional resources:

Conference news release: http://www.calstatela.edu/univ/ppa/newsrel/mesoamer-conf2009.htm

Conference program: http://calstatela2009conferenceonmesoamerica.blogspot.com/

 

Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles’ civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 205,000 alumni—with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds—reflect the city’s dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu

 

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