Presents
FROM THE MEXICA EMPIRE TO NEW SPAIN: TRANSCULTURATION AND IDENTITY.
A SYMPOSIUM IN HOMAGE OF DIANA MAGALONI and LEONARDO LOPEZ LUJAN
APRIL 10, 2026
12:00 P.M to 6:30 P.M
This symposium will present the great cultural, historical and artistic developments of the Pre-Columbian peoples of Mesoamerica, during the Contact Period with the Spaniards in the 16th Century. It was a complex process of transculturation that through the mestizaje eventually created the Mexican and Latin American peoples and their identity.
Presentations will detail how the indigenous artists and authors interpreted the Spanish conquest and their role in the new colonial era. The lectures will also include an analysis of early colonial Mexican literary and pictorial sources like the ones Sahagún and his indigenous scholars and artists used in central Mexico to produce the monumental Florentine Codex. Speakers will take on broader temporal, regional, and cultural perspectives on the effects of the Spanish conquest and explore transcultural situations in and outside of central Mexico.
There will be presented some cases that show the transformation of the Indigenous art into an Indian-Christian art.
This symposium will contribute to growing scholarship analyzing the complex and varied processes of artistic and cultural negotiation, collaboration, appropriation, and contestation in which indigenous, Spanish, and mestizo peoples engaged over the past 500 years. It will be emphasized that the formation of the identity of Mexican and Latin American People started since the very first century of the colonial rule, continued evolving through the 17th and 18th centuries, and got consolidated in the 19th century with the Independence of Mexico and the Latin American countries.
Schedule of the 2026 Mesoamerican Symposium of Cal State LA in Homage to Diana Magaloni and Leonardo López Luján.
Friday, April 10, 2026. 12:15 PM – 6:30 PM
CAMPUS OF CAL STATE LA - KING HALL, Lecture Hall 2
11:00 am-5:00 pm ------- Symposium Registration and Information
12:15 pm-12:30 pm ----- Introductory Remarks by Dr. Manuel Aguilar-Moreno, Professor Emeritus of CSULA, and Elizabeth Poz, President of the Art History Society (AHS).
12:30 pm-1:00 pm ------ “Reused, Repainted, and Rare: Late Postclassic Blue-on-White Ceramics in the Huasteca.”
Dr. Kim Richter, Getty Research Institute (GRI)
1:00 pm-1:30 pm ------- “Cholula: Mesoamerica’s Eternal City.”
Dr. John M.D. Pohl, California State, Los Angeles (CSULA)
1.30 pm-2.00 pm -------- "Little Book of the Medicinal Herbs of the Indians: the Badianus Codex as a Hybrid Document."
Dr. Frances Berdan, California State University, San Bernardino
2:00 pm-2:30 pm -------- BREAK – LIGHT LUNCH
2:30 pm-3:05 pm ------- “The Acolman Cross and The Mesoamerican Tree of Life”
Dr. Manuel Aguilar-Moreno, California State, Los Angeles (CSULA)
3:05 pm-3:55 pm ------- “In Search of the Sacred Precinct of Tenochtitlan: Archaeology in the heart of Mexico City.”
Dr. Leonardo López Luján, National Institute of Anthropology (INAH- México).
3:55 pm-4:15 pm -------- BREAK - SNACK
4:15 pm-4:50 pm ------- “Who was Malintzin? A question asked from 1519 until today.”
Dr. Mary Miller, Yale University-Getty Research Institute (GRI).
4:50 pm-5:25 pm -------- “The Wisdom of the Tlacuiloque.”
Dr. Diana Magaloni, Los Angeles Museum of Art (LACMA).
5:25 pm-6:00 pm -------- TLAMATINI AWARD CEREMONY
Members of the Presidium
Dr. Diana Magaloni (honoree), Senior Deputy Director and Virginia Fields Curator of the Program of Ancient Americas. Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA).
Dr. Leonardo López Luján (honoree), Director of the Templo Mayor Project. Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (Mexico City).
Elizabeth Poz, President, Art History Society (AHS) of Cal State LA.
José Antonio Ramirez, Vice President, Art History Society (AHS) of Cal State LA.
Dr. Manuel Aguilar-Moreno, Professor Emeritus of Mesoamerican Art History, and Founder andAdvisor Emeritus of the Art History Society. California State University, Los Angeles.
Dr. Julian Nykolak, Associate Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History, and Advisor of the Art History Society.
Dr. Stephen Trzaskoma, Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, Cal State LA.
Dr. Katherine Weiss, Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, Cal State LA.
Professor James Ovelmen, Chair of the Art Department of Cal state LA.
Amb. Carlos González Gutiérrez, Consul General of Mexico in Los Angeles.
Dr. Stephen Trzaskoma, Dean of Arts and Letters will present the Tlamatini Award to Dr. Diana Magaloni and Dr. Leonardo López Luján in the presence of the members of the Presidium and the Audience. Words by Dr. Trzaskoma, the two honorees, Ambassador González, and Elizabeth Poz, President of AHS.
6:00 pm-6:30 pm -------- END OF THE EVENT – Autographs and Photo Opportunities.
SPEAKERS
Dr. Diana Magaloni - Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) - Senior Deputy Director and Virginia Fields Curator of the Program of Ancient Americas.
Dr. Leonardo Lopez Lujan - Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia (Mexico City) - Director of the Templo Mayor Project.
Dr. Kim Richter - Getty Research Institute - Senior Research Specialist in the Director's Office.
Dr. John M.D. Pohl - California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) - Faculty Curator and Lecturer in the Anthropology Department.
Dr. Frances Berdan – California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) – Professor Emeritus of Mesoamerican Anthropology.
Dr. Mary Miller - Yale University, Professor Emeritus of Art History and Dean Emeritus; Getty Research Institute, Director Emeritus.
Dr. Manuel Aguilar-Moreno - California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA) - Professor Emeritus of Mesoamerican Art History.
Free Admission
Lunch is provided for our guests
We will be selling merchandise and books| Cash or check preferred
For parking information, please click the site and select a 1-day event to purchase parking in advance. Parking will be in Parking Structure C. https://calstatela.aimsparking.com/permits/?cmd=new
