The pre-Hispanic architecture of Mexico, to the classrooms of the University of Texas

Beginning in the first semester of 2023, Dr. Nelly Robles García, a researcher at the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and director of the Atzompa Monumental Archaeological Project, in Oaxaca, will teach the Pre-Hispanic Architecture of Mexico course at the University of Texas in Austin, as a distinguished visiting professor.

The invitation is the result of the call presented by the United States-Mexico Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange (COMEXUS), to inaugurate the Chair of Mexican Studies at said university, an honor that was conferred on three contestants, chosen from among hundreds of proposals, among them Dr. Robles García, who was selected for the Humanities area, after a rigorous and competitive selection process.

Archaeologist Nelly Robles García is a specialist in archaeological studies in Oaxaca and a pioneer in the field of Archaeological Heritage Management in Mexico. She is widely known in the media for her publications and social commitment to emblematic sites such as Mitla, Monte Albán-Atzompa, Yagul, the Yagul Prehistoric Caves and recently with the sites of the Cañada Cuicateca, in the Valle de Tehuacán-Biosphere Reserve. Cuicatlán, UNESCO World Heritage since 2018.

His systematic research work over decades was instrumental in the inscription of the prehistoric Yagul and Mitla Caves as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2010, an ecosystem that is home to pre-Hispanic sites and rock shelters dating back thousands of years and in the that the earliest evidence of the domestication of plants in America has been found, including the cultivation of pumpkins, which date back 10,000 years.

In December 2020, it was recognized by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), Mexico Chapter, with the Federico Sescosse Award for preparing and supervising the Management Plan for the Monte Albán Archaeological Zone and the Center Historical of Oaxaca, recognized by UNESCO among the ten best in the world.

Dr. Robles García shared with El Economista that the chair that she will teach at the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin is the first time that it has been offered and will have an impact on the training of international professionals, as well as consolidated architects with an interest in the ancestral roots of the forms, functions, materials and symbolism of the architecture of the original peoples of Oaxaca; She also advanced that during her stay she will carry out research based on the extensive bibliographic deposits of the University of Texas.

The distinction, proposed by the COMEXUS Academic Committee, is granted through a collaboration between the University of Texas at Austin and the United States government, through the Fulbright García-Robles scholarship, Mexican Studies Chair program.

Recognition to INAH

The specialist added that these academic experiences “place INAH research at the forefront in the country, it is a recognition of the excellent work that researchers do, and at the same time the enormous value of pre-Hispanic cultures is recognized.” In particular, the selection of Dr. Nelly Robles is also a recognition of her long academic career, which has been exemplary for a large number of national and international researchers.

He stressed that this academic collaboration is part of the celebration of 200 years of bilateral relations between Mexico and the United States, which began on December 12, 2022 and will emphasize the benefits of joint development; In cultural matters, it is expected that great visibility will be given to the issues that historically unite the two countries, such as the follow-up to the investigation of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro and the route of the Baja California Missions. Above all, the continuity and consolidation of cultural programs between both nations is expected.

In her long career, Dr. Robles García studied Archeology at the ENAH, a master’s degree in Restoration of Pre-Hispanic Architecture and a doctorate in Anthropology, at the University of Georgia, United States. In 2013 she made a stay as a visiting professor at Harvard University and has been part of the board of directors of the American Society of Archeology (2002 to 2004) and ICCROM (2003-2007) and was also regional director of Latin America at the International Committee for the Management of Archaeological Heritage and president of the INAH Archeology Council (2009-2012), among other positions.

From Mexico were also elected:

Carlos Luis Moreno Jaimes

• Professor of the Department of Sociopolitical and Legal Studies, Western Institute of Technology and Higher Studies (ITESO).
• He will teach at the UT Austin School of Public Affairs.

Marcia Medrano Serrano

• Professor of Trombone at the Higher School of Music of the National Institute of Fine Arts and Literature (INBAL), and professor of Trombone at the Faculty of Music of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
• He will teach at the Butler School of Music at UT Austin.

More about the joint initiative Founded in 1990, COMEXUS is a joint organization of the United States and Mexico that promotes bilateral understanding through educational and cultural exchange. Thanks to the Fulbright-García Robles scholarships, COMEXUS supports Mexican and American students, researchers and teachers to carry out postgraduate studies, research and teaching stays, as well as professionalization programs in the US and Mexico.

francisco.deanda@eleconomista.mx