Fernando Ortiz Fernández
Fernando Ortiz Fernández (16 July 1881 – 10 April 1969) was a Cuban essayist, anthropologist, ethnomusicologist and scholar of Afro-Cuban culture. Ortiz was a prolific polymath dedicated to exploring, recording, and understanding all aspects of indigenous Cuban culture.Ortiz has been called the "third discoverer of Cuba", after Christopher Columbus and Alexander von Humboldt. A title first given to him by his secretary Rubén Martínez Villena[1] and later echoed and published by Juan Marinello[2]. Ortiz is widely recognized as a pioneering figure in postcolonial Latin American thought, as well as a foundational voice in African American anthropology.[2][3] One of Ortiz's most influential contributions is his coining of the term "transculturation," which describes the complex process of cultural convergence and exchange.[4]
Early life and education
[edit]Ortiz was born in Havana. He was son of Don Rosendo Ortiz y Zorrilla and Doña Josefa Fernández y González del Real.[5]
When he was two years old he moved with her mother to Menorca where he spent most of his youth. He also completed his primary and secondary studies and obtained his high school diploma in 1895.[5] That year, he relocated to Havana where he began studying law. Four years later, in 1899, he returned to Spain, this time to Barcelona, where he completed his studies and earned a law degree at the University of Barcelona in 1900.[5] In 1901 he received his title of Doctor of Law at the Central University of Madrid with a thesis on penal law that was later published in the journal Derecho y Sociología. [5][6] In 1902 he returned to Habana and received the title of Doctor of Civil Law and Doctor of Public Law [6].
Career
[edit]Disillusioned with politics in the early period of Cuban history and having been a member of President Gerardo Machado's Liberal Party, and a Liberal member of its House of Representatives from 1917 to 1922, he became active in the early nationalist civic revival movement.
Throughout his life Ortiz was involved in the foundation of institutions and journals dedicated to the study of Cuban culture. He was the cofounder of the Cuban Academy of the Language in 1926. He also founded Surco (founded 1930) and Ultra (1936–47), both journals that provided commentary on foreign journals. In 1937 he founded the Sociedad de Estudios Afrocubanos (Society of Afro-Cuban Studies) and the journal Estudios Afrocubanos (Afro-Cuban Studies).
He helped found the journals Revista Bimestre Cubana, Archivos del Folklore Cubano, and Estudios Afrocubanos.
Ortiz also developed a theory of activism within Cuba's political system. He said that Afro-Cubans had been characterized negatively based on their African descent, and traits said to be "primitive." He wanted to show the true nature of their culture: its language, music and other arts.
His books, La Africania de la Musica Folklorica de Cuba (1950), and Los Instrumentos de la Musica Afrocubana (1952 - 1955) are still regarded as key references in the study of Afro-Cuban music.
In his second marriage, Fernando Ortiz married María Herrera (1942), who remained by his side for the rest of his life.[7] María was a close collaborator in Ortiz's work.
Fernando Ortiz died in Havana in 1969 and was interred there in the Colon Cemetery.[8]
Cuban Counterpoints and the concept of Transculturation
[edit]Fernando Ortiz most known and read book was Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar originally published in 1940 in Spanish and translated to English in 1995.[9] In his book he draws comparisons between sugar and tabaco the most relevant products form Cuba that have entered the daily life of cubans.[4]
In this work, he proposes the concept of transculturation as a phenomena that is more appropiate than acculturation to describe how cultures converge and merge, without removing some of the original aspects of the original cultures.[4] The concept provided a more appropriate way to explain the merging of cultures in Cuba, from Spanish colonialism to Indigenous communities and Afro-Cubans, resulting in a new culture that incorporates elements from each.[4] In the introduction of the book the renowned Polish anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski (1884-1942) wrote the introduction supporting Ortiz's concept and using the concept within Functionalism.[10] His correspondence with Bronisław Malinowski shows they had numerous debates around the concept of transculturation and how it was being received within American anthropology.[11]
Legacy and honors
[edit]After Ortiz's death the government established the Fernando Ortiz Foundation, which devotes itself to studies of ethnology, sociology and Cuba's popular traditions. Since 1995 it has been led by one of his prominent students, Miguel Barnet, known for his development of the testimonial style in ethnographic studies. In current times the foundation continues the work started by Ortiz. It initiates serious scholarly discussions around many cultural issues, including the survival of elements of racism and racial prejudice, and development of measures to deal with such problems.
Bibliography
[edit]- Los negros brujos (1906)
- La inmigración desde el punto de vista criminológico (1906)
- Los mambises italianos (1909)
- Las rebeliones de los afrocubanos (1910)
- Seamos hoy como fueron ayer (1914).
- Los negros esclavos (1916)
- Los cabildos afrocubanos (1921)
- Un catauro de cubanismos: Apuntes lexicográficos (1923)
- Glosario de afronegrismos (1924)
- El cocorícamo y otros conceptos teoplásmicos del folklore afrocubano (1930)
- De la música afrocubana; un estímulo para su estudio (1934)
- Contrapunteo cubano del tabaco y el azúcar (1940; trans. Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar, 1995)
- Las cuatro culturas indias de Cuba (1943)
- El engaño de la razas (The deceit of races), (1946)
- La Africania de la musica folklorica de Cuba (1950); “The Africanness of Folkloric Cuban Music”)
- Los bailes y el teatro de los negros en el folklore de Cuba (1951; “The Dances and Theatre of Blacks in Cuban Folklore”).
- Los instrumentos de la musica afrocubana (1952-1955)
- Ni racismo ni xenofobia (1955)
- Historia de una pelea cubana contra los demonios (1959); “History of A Cuban Struggle Against the Demons” (1959)
- Nuevo catauro de cubanismos (1985) (posthumous)
- Los negros curros (1986) (posthumous)
References
[edit]- ^ Skurski, Julie; Wilder, Gary; Dubois, Laurent; Eiss, Paul, eds. (2019), "Transculturation and the Politics of Theory: Countering the Center, Cuban Counterpoint", The Fernando Coronil Reader, Duke University Press, pp. 69–117, doi:10.1215/9781478004592-004, ISBN 978-1-4780-0459-2, retrieved 12 October 2024
- ^ a b Palmié, Stephan, ed. (2023). Fernando Ortiz: Caribbean and Mediterranean counterpoints. HAU books. Chicago: HAU Books. ISBN 978-1-912808-96-0.
- ^ Arnedo-Gómez, Miguel (June 2022). "Fernando Ortiz's Transculturation: Applied Anthropology, Acculturation, and Mestizaje". The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology. 27 (1–2): 123–145. doi:10.1111/jlca.12590. ISSN 1935-4932.
- ^ a b c d Ortiz, Fernando (1995). Cuban counterpoint, tobacco and sugar. Durham: Duke University Press. ISBN 978-0-8223-1616-9.
- ^ a b c d Rubin, Jane Gregory, ed. (1998). Miscelanea II of studies dedicated to Fernando Ortiz (1881-1969) =: Miscelanea II de estudios dedicados a Fernando Ortiz (1881-1969) = Miscelanea II des études dédiées a Fernando Ortiz (1881-1969) (in engfrespa). New York: Inter Americas, Society of Arts and Letters of the Americas. ISBN 978-1-892321-00-8.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link) - ^ a b García-Carranza, Araceli; Suárez Suárez, Norma; Quesada Morales, Alberto (1996). Cronología Fernando Ortiz. Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba: Fundación Fernando Ortiz. ISBN 978-959-7091-01-1.
- ^ Du Bois, W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt), 1868-1963. Letter from Dr. and Mrs. W. E. B. Du Bois to Fernando Ortiz and María Herrera, June 23, 1942. W. E. B. Du Bois Papers (MS 312). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries
- ^ Duno-Gottberg, Luis. 2003. "Solventando las diferencias: La ideología del mestizaje en Cuba", Iberoamericana – Frankfurt am Main, Vervuert, Madrid.]
- ^ Rojas, Rafael (2004). "Contra el homo cubensis : Transculturacion y nacionalismo en la obra de Fernando Ortiz". Cuban Studies. 35 (1): 1–23. doi:10.1353/cub.2005.0010. ISSN 1548-2464.
- ^ Ortiz, Fernando (2002). Santí, Enrico Mario (ed.). Contrapunteo cubano del tabaco y el azúcar: advertencia de sus contrastes agrarios, económicos, históricos y sociales, su etnografía y su transculturación. Letras hispánicas (1. ed.). Madrid: Cátedra [u.a.] ISBN 978-84-376-1987-3.
- ^ Ortiz, Fernando; Pérez Valdés, Trinidad (2016). Correspondencia de Fernando Ortiz. T. 3: 1940-1949: iluminar la fronda. La Habana: Fundación Fernando Ortiz. ISBN 978-959-7249-05-4.
Further reading
[edit]- Pérez Firmat, Gustavo. The Cuban Condition: Translation and Identity in Modern Cuban Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. Rpt. 1997, 2006.
