Fernando Ortiz on Music
Excerpt • Temple University Press Introduction Fernando Ortiz Ideology and Praxis of the Founder of Afro-Cuban Studies Robin D. Moore ernando Ortiz Fernández (1881–1969) is recognized today as one of the most influential Latin American authors of the twentieth century. FAmazingly prolific, his roughly one dozen books and 600 total publica- tions appearing between 1900 and the mid-1950s address a vast array of sub- jects and intersect with disciplines such as law, political science, history, ethnography, linguistics, sociology, folklore, geography, and musicology.1 Poet and essayist Juan Marinello described Ortiz as the “third discoverer of Cuba” (after Columbus and the Prussian geographer Alexander Humboldt), a phrase that has been widely repeated (Coronil 1995, ix). He single-handedly founded the journals Surco, Ultra, Revista bimestre cubana, Estudios afrocu- banos, and Archivos del folklore cubano, and contributed extensively to many others. He edited book collections on Cuban history and founded multiple societies dedicated to studying local culture. Ortiz corresponded with prom- inent anthropologists, folklorists, and other intellectuals throughout the Americas and beyond (Mário de Andrade, Roger Bastide, Ruth Benedict, Franz Boas, Melville Herskovits, Bronislaw Malinowski, Jean-Price Mars, Alfred Métraux, etc.). He mentored prominent international artists and aca- demics (such as Katherine Dunham and Robert Farris Thompson in the 1. Many of these have been cataloged in García-Carranza 1970. See also the Appendix to this volume with a list of publications by year that focus specifically on black Cuban music and/or culture. 2 Introduction Excerpt • Temple University Press United States), read widely in at least five languages, and maintained an active academic exchange with regional Latin American intellectuals and international institutions.2 His honorary doctorate from Columbia University in 1954 attests to this legacy and its recognition abroad (anon.
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