Santo Domingo convent, Oaxaca
The state of Oaxaca in Mexico, and its Spanish colonial capital city of the same name, have been important cultural crossroads from pre-Columbian times to the present day. Cultural historian George Scheper surveys Oaxaca’s rich cultural history over the centuries: the domestication of maize corn more than 10,000 years ago; the rise of the ancient Zapotec ceremonial centers of Monte Alban and Mitla; the ascendency of powerful Mixtec dynasties in the highlands of the Mixteca Alta; the coming of the Spanish and the arts of colonial New Spain; and Oaxaca’s current role in the world of art.
Scheper examines the Pre-Columbian cultures of Oaxaca, the Zapotecs and Mixtecs, their pyramids, ball courts, and enigmatic carvings of Monte Alban (600–800 CE), and the mosaic stonework of the palaces of Mitla built by the Zapotecs. Subsequent Mixtec re-occupation has yielded the richest tomb ever excavated in North America. The Mixtec also produced the most lavishly illustrated manuscripts of any pre-Columbian people (11th to 15th centuries), which read like ancient graphic novels telling of the lives of their kings and queens.
Scheper explores Oaxaca as a Spanish Colonial capital and as a contemporary international arts center. Now a UNESCO World Heritage site, Oaxaca and its hinterland are home to an array of Spanish colonial churches and palaces, making it one of the best-preserved capitals of New Spain. Today its vibrant cultural scene extends from galleries of fine art and folk art to exuberant street art.
Scheper is senior lecturer in advanced academic programs at Johns Hopkins University, and has directed National Endowment for the Humanities Faculty Summer Institutes in Oaxaca.
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