Alfredo Federico López Austin (March 12, 1936 – October 15, 2021) was a Mexican
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
who wrote extensively on the
Aztec
The Aztecs () were a Mesoamerican culture that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl ...
worldview and on
Mesoamerican religion
Mesoamerican religion is a group of indigenous religions of Mesoamerica that were prevalent in the pre-Columbian era. Two of the most widely known examples of Mesoamerican religion are the Aztec religion and the Mayan religion.
Cosmology
The c ...
. As an academic teacher, he inspired generations of students, but his influence extends beyond the boundaries of academic life. His sons are Alfredo Xallápil López Luján, well known biologist and informatic and the renowned archaeologist,
Leonardo Náuhmitl López Luján.
López Austin was born in
Ciudad Juárez
Ciudad Juárez ( ; ''Juarez City''. ) is the most populous city in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. It is commonly referred to as Juárez and was known as El Paso del Norte (''The Pass of the North'') until 1888. Juárez is the seat of the Juà ...
, México. He attended law school and worked as a lawyer in his hometown. His academic association with the
Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México
The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...
(UNAM, Mexico's autonomous national university), where he was a student, spans some fifty years, and he still held a position as a researcher (
emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
) at UNAM's
Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas (IIA, or Institute of Anthropological Research). López Austin lectured in the History department of UNAM's
Faculty of Philosophy and Literature, the Facultad de FilosofÃa y Letras (FFyL).
In
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
, López Austin won the
National Prize for Arts and Sciences in Fine Arts.
Bibliography
Books
*''Los personajes del mito'' (2020)
*''CosmogonÃa y geometrÃa cósmica en Mesoamérica'' (2018)
*''Juego de tiempos'' (2018)
*''La cosmovisión de la tradición mesoamericana, Tercera parte'' (2016)
*''La cosmovisión de la tradición mesoamericana, Segunda parte'' (2016)
*''La cosmovisión de la tradición mesoamericana, Primera parte'' (2016)
*''Calpulli. MitologÃa de Mesoamérica'' (2013)
*''Monte sagrado – Templo Mayor. El cerro y la pirámide en la tradición religiosa mesoamericana'', written with Leonardo López Luján (2009)
*''Dioses del Norte, dioses del Sur. Religiones y cosmovisión en Mesoamérica y los Andes'', written with Luis Millones (2008)
*''Mito y realidad de Zuyuá. Serpiente Emplumada y las transformaciones mesomericanas del Clásico al Posclásico'', written with Leonardo López Luján (1999)
*''Un dÃa en la vida de una partera mexica'' (1999)
*''Breve historia de la tradición religiosa mesoamericana'' (1999)
*''El pasado indÃgena'', written with Leonardo López Luján (1996)
*''Tamoanchan y Tlalocan'' (1994)
*''El conejo en la cara de la Luna. Ensayos sobre mitologÃa de la tradición mesoamericana'' (1994)
*''Los mitos del tlacuache. Caminos de la mitologÃa mesoamericana'' (1990)
*''Teotihuacan'', written with Carlos MartÃnez MarÃn and José Rubén Romero Galván (1989)
*''Una vieja historia de la mierda'' (1988)
*''La educación de los antiguos nahuas'' (1985)
*''GuÃa de estudio México Prehispánico'', written with Dúrdica Ségota Tómac (1984)
*''Tarascos y mexicas'' (1981)
*''Cuerpo humano e ideologÃa. Las concepciones de los antiguos nahuas'' (1980)
*''Un recorrido por la historia de México'', written with Edmundo O’Gorman and Josefina Vázquez de Knaut (1975)
*''Hombre-dios. Religión y polÃtica en el mundo náhuatl'' (1973)
*''Textos de medicina náhuatl'' (1971)
*''Augurios y abusiones'' (1969)
*''Juegos rituales aztecas'' (1967)
*''La literatura de los guaranÃes'', written with León Cadogan (1965)
*''La constitución real de México-Tenochtitlan'' (1961)
Edited books
*''Cuernos y colas. Reflexiones en torno al Demonio en los Andes y en Mesoamérica'', edited with Luis Millones (2013)
*''Animales de Dios'', edited with Luis Millones (2012)
*''El modelo en la ciencia y en la cultura'' (2005)
*''La cultura plural. Reflexiones sobre diálogos y silencios en Mesoamérica. Homenaje a Italo Signorini'', edited with Alessandro Lupo (1998)
*''De hombres y dioses'', edited with Xavier Noguez (1997)
*''Origen y formación del estado en Mesoamérica'', edited with Andrés Medina and Mari Carmen Serra (1986)
*''Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España'', edited with Josefina GarcÃa Quintana (1982)
*''Rafael Sandoval, Arte de la lengua mexicana'' (1965)
Notes
References
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External links
Alfredo López Austin, On-line publicationsAlfredo López Austin, Webpage
*
1936 births
2021 deaths
20th-century Mexican historians
Mexican Mesoamericanists
Historians of Mesoamerica
National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni
National Autonomous University of Mexico faculty
20th-century Mesoamericanists
21st-century Mesoamericanists
People from Ciudad Juárez
21st-century Mexican historians
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