Dr. Michael Brescia: Head of Research and Curator of Ethnology, Arizona State Museum; Professor of history, University of Arizona
Monday, April 14, 2025,
2:30-4:30 pm (with break)
ASA Koffler Great Room and Zoom
Biography remains a favorite genre that provides compelling life stories that transport readers to strange and familiar places, introduces historical context, and has the ability to promote empathy and a deeper understanding of seemingly disparate lived experiences. Early Mexican history is no exception, as it provides us with a series of interconnected lives and cultural experiences filtered through the disparities of power that accompanied Spanish colonialism and its multiple agents.
In his first of five presentations, Dr. Brescia introduces the major themes of the series and establishes the nature and scope of biography as a tool to uncover the historical experiences of Indigenous peoples and Spaniards in the early days of cross-cultural contact and exchange, followed by the violence of conquest, demographic collapse of Native communities due to Old World diseases, and the biological and cultural blending (mestizaje) of myriad peoples.
You can connect to Zoom either by using the following URL: https://zoom.us/j/95456511620?pwd=OC9GcnJRNmJpMTdXdXFhaUpCUkx4QT09 or by opening a browser to zoom.com/join and typing in Meeting ID: 954 5651 1620 and Passcode: 85747