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Posted: 11/14/19

TAMIU Continues Native American Heritage Month, Presents Mayan Archaeoastronomy Film Nov. 19

 

Florentine Codex
 

Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) presented enriching cultural and educational events during the month of November in celebration of Native American Heritage Month.

On Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 6:15 p.m. at the Lamar Bruni Vergara Planetarium, the University will present a film titled, “Mayan Archaeoastronomy: Observers of the Universe.”

The film presentation is free and open to the public and is the last of three events planned in observation of Native American Heritage Month.

The events, titled, “Diversity Dialogues,” are organized by TAMIU’s Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity in collaboration with the Intercultural Events and Education Committee.

Earlier this week, TAMIU Ballet Folklórico presented an Aztec Dance performance, followed by a reading of the “Florentine Codex,” featuring  Dr. Aaron Olivas, TAMIU assistant professor of History.

The “Florentine Codex” is a 16th Century ethnographic research study in Mesoamerica by the Spanish Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún. In partnership with Nahua men who were formerly his students at the Colegio de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco, Sahagún conducted research, organized evidence, wrote and edited his findings. It documents the culture, religious cosmology (worldview) and ritual practices, society, economics, and natural history of the Aztec people.

Sahagún worked on this project from 1545 until his death in 1590. The work consists of 2,400 pages organized into 12 books. More than 2,000 illustrations drawn by native artists provide vivid images of this era. The Codex is held in the Laurentian Library of Florence, Italy.

TAMIU also presented a film showing of “Ixcanul,” a 2015 Guatemalan drama film, a debut written and directed by Jayro Bustamante. It is set in a village built on the slopes of a volcano, where María and her parents cultivate coffee. She has been promised to the foreman of the plantation in an arranged marriage, but María is involved with a young man who wants to emigrate to the United States.

For more information, please contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at 956.326.2180, email prmis@tamiu.edu or visit the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library, room 268.

University office hours are 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Monday-Friday.

TAMIU is celebrating its 50th Anniversary and its 25th Anniversary at its north Laredo campus throughout 2019-2020.  A dedicated website shares the University’s transformation from a hybrid upper-level university to a full doctoral degree-granting University. It includes a calendar of Anniversary events and more at tamiu.edu/50.

For more on the University’s story, contact the TAMIU Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at 956.326.2180, email prmis@tamiu.edu, click on tamiu.edu or visit offices in the Sue and Radcliffe Killam Library, room 268.

 

 

 

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