The Fernando Ortiz Foundation, the statement said, is dedicated to disseminating the life and work of the Cuban scholar and developing scientific research on the Caribbean country’s cultural identity.
Rueda Smithers is a Mexican researcher at INAH who has worked at the institution for almost five decades.
In its announcement, the Cuban cultural institution emphasized that the awarding of its highest award to Maestro Salvador Rueda “reflects the high values of his scientific work, his status as a promoter of culture and his enormous work as director of the National Museum of History of Mexico.” ».
Rueda Smithers recalled that the Fernando Ortiz Foundation was founded in 1995 at the initiative of the poet, storyteller and ethnologist Miguel Barnet Lanza.
He did this in recognition of the work of his mentor, the lawyer, anthropologist, historian and diplomat Fernando Ortiz Fernández (1881-1969), in researching the Afro-Cuban historical-cultural roots and deepening the processes of transculturation and historical emergence of the Cuban Nationality.
I like the motto of this foundation: “Science, conscience and patience” because this play on words carries with it a life principle; and the fundamental idea of the institution is to preserve a legacy, firstly that of Don Fernando Ortiz and secondly that of contemporary Cuban thought and Caribbean and Latin American popular culture, he expressed.
That is, an attempt is made to draw profiles based on elements of identity with African, indigenous and mestizo roots, not to homogenize them, but to piece together the anthropological puzzle that this means.
The director of the National History Museum, Castillo de Chapultepec, also highlighted the legacy of the president of the Fernando Ortiz Foundation, Miguel Barnet, who was honored at the 34th INAH International Book Fair of Anthropology and History.
This happened with the new edition of a classic of anthropology: Biografía de un mararrón (1966), his novel testimony that shaped the generation of social scientists that emerged in the 1970s.
“In the 80s I was lucky enough to coordinate an oral history project from the INAH’s Directorate of Historical Studies, and the Biografía de un maroon was in turn essential to address the rescue and then the construction of life stories. explains the winner.
Salvador Rueda Smithers holds a degree in history from the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a master’s degree in art history from the Universidad Iberoamericana.
Since 2005 he has been the owner of the National History Museum, which he also managed from 1990 to 1992.
He was a professor of pre-Hispanic art, Mexican Revolution and world history at the above-mentioned educational institutions as well as at the National School of Anthropology and History.
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