Alfonso Alex Ortiz (April 30, 1939 Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo, New Mexico – January 26, 1997) was a Native American cultural anthropologist.

Life

Ortiz graduated from the University of New Mexico in 1961, and from the University of Chicago with a master's degree and a Ph.D. in anthropology. He taught at University of California at Los Angeles, Colorado College,

Pitzer College Pitzer College is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. One of the Claremont Colleges, the college has a curricular emphasis on the social sciences, behavioral sciences, international programs, and media studies. Pitzer is k ...

, Princeton University, and University of New Mexico. He was president of the

Association on American Indian Affairs The Association on American Indian Affairs (originally the American Indian Defense Association) is a nonprofit human rights charity located in Rockville, Maryland. Founded in 1922, it is dedicated to protecting the rights of Native Americans in ...

. His San Juan Pueblo, Oral History tapes and papers are held at Princeton.

Legacy

In 1999, the National Endowment for the Humanities issued a grant for the University of New Mexico to establish the Alfonso Ortiz Center for Intercultural Studies.

Awards

* 1975

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

* 1982

MacArthur Fellows Program The MacArthur Fellows Program, also known as the MacArthur Fellowship and commonly but unofficially known as the "Genius Grant", is a prize awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation typically to between 20 and 30 ind ...

Works

* * ''New Perspectives on the Pueblos'', University of New Mexico Press, 1972 * ''Handbook of North American Indians'' (volumes 9 and 10, Smithsonian Institution, 1979 and 1983 * ''To Carry Forth the Vine: an Anthology of Traditional Native North American Poetry.'' * ''American Indian myths and legends'' Richard Erdoes, Alfonso Ortiz (eds) Pantheon Books, 1984, * *
Alfonso Ortiz Papers 1926-1993 (mostly 1960s-1980s)
at Princeton University Library
Alfonso Ortiz Collection of Native American Oral Literature 1959-1965
at Princeton University Library

References

External links

"A Tribute to Alfonso Ortiz (1939-97)"
Ted Jojola, ''Wíčazo Ša Review'', Vol. 12, No. 2 (Autumn, 1997), pp. 9–11
"A Conversation with Alfonso Ortiz"
Dewitt, Susan, ''La Confluencia'', 1, 2, 32-9, Dec 76 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ortiz, Alfonso 1939 births 1998 deaths Tewa people University of New Mexico alumni University of Chicago alumni University of California, Los Angeles faculty Colorado College faculty Pitzer College faculty Princeton University faculty University of New Mexico faculty MacArthur Fellows People from Ohkay Owingeh, New Mexico 20th-century American anthropologists Native American social scientists Ohkay Owingeh people