Laurette Séjourné

Laurette Séjourné (Perugia, October 24, 1914 – Mexico City, May 25, 2003) was a naturalized Mexican Italian archaeologist, anthropologist and ethnologist. Her original name is Laura Valentini Corsa. When she married a Frenchman her name changed to Laurette Séjourné. She is the partner of Victor Serge, author of the novel The Tulayev Case and other revolutionary writings. In 1942 she arrived in Mexico to reach him. They get married in Mexico. In 1949, two years after her death, she married Arnaldo Orfila Reynal, a prominent editor in Argentina and Mexico, with whom she lived until her death.

Little has been published about her work as a film editor, but in the film The Great Makakikus she is credited as a collaborator in the edition, although her name was written as it sounds in Spanish, Loret; She is the editor of the film Entre Hermanos , from 1945 (see Imdb.com).

Then, he studied archeology at the National School of Anthropology and History of the National Institute of Anthropology and History. He participates in Alberto Ruz Lhuillier's team that discovers Pakal's tomb in Palenque; perhaps before, he investigates among the ancient nations of today's state of Oaxaca. Then he goes on to investigate the ancient city of Teotihuacán, where he makes important discoveries and begins the interpretation of the symbols found and others already known.

He influenced surrealist authors who lived in Mexico, such as Leonora Carrington, who illustrated his book "The Magical World of the Mayas"; Benjamin Péret (Air Mexicain) and Wolfgang Paalen, who prepared an "Amerindian" from his DYN magazine.

His central thesis was that the pre-Columbian past, which was seen in the pyramids and codices, is still alive and present in the ancient peoples, who subsist in modern times. These reminiscences could be seen in the towns of Oaxaca, for example, that she studied, as well as in various communities in the Teotihuacán region and the Valley of Mexico. Her studies of the symbolic writing of pre-Columbian monuments also highlight some signs such as that of & # 34; Ollin & # 34; or movement and that of "Quinquance" (or Quetzalcóatl Cross), which she says presents a geometric dimension, superior to the flat European spatiality.

During the 1950s he worked for the INAH (National Institute of Anthropology and History), excavating in Teotihuacán. He published several books on cosmology and Nahuatl religion, including Boiling Water: Thought and Religion in Ancient Mexico.

His main work was on the figure of Quetzalcóatl. He proposed that Quetzalcoatl was not only a person, but is a role model of personal human development, and therefore a sacred entity. (See his works). Furthermore, he maintained that Teotihuacán was the legendary Tollan, contradicting the official version of Mexican archeology, which places it in Tula even today. (Enrique Flores Cano in recent years has proposed that that ancient Tollan is the current Tulancingo, which could be understood by including the reverential particle tzin in the name).

Séjourné's work is still highly valued by specialists, but some were concerned that some of his work was adopted by esoteric groups, who sought hidden teachings from pre-Hispanic religions. That is something that the anthropologist never supported.

His last years were dedicated to bringing education to the indigenous peoples of southern Mexico.

Some publications

• Palenque, a Mayan cityMexico, Fund for Economic Culture, 1952
• Survivals of a Magic World, Images of 4 Mexican Peoples, dessins de Leonora Carrington, Mexico, Tezontle, 1953
• Thought and Religion in Ancient MexicoMexico, Fund for Economic Culture, 1957; translation: Burning water, thought and religion in Ancient MexicoLondon, New York, Thames & Hudson, 1957; I thought of anciens MexicainsParis, F. Maspero, 1966
• A palace in the city of the gods, TeotihuacánMexico, National Institute of Anthropology and History, 1959
• The Universe of QuetzalcóatlEconomic Culture Fund, 1962
• Archaeology of Teotihuacán, ceramicsEconomic Culture Fund, 1966
• Teotihuacan, métropole de l'AmériqueParis, F. Maspero, 1969
• Ancient pre-Columbian culturesMexico, CenturyXXI of Spain editors, 1976
• The Nahuatl Thought encrypted in calendarsCenturyXXI1983
• Teotihuacan, capital of the Toltecas, Mexico, 20th Century Editors, 1994
• Cosmogonia of Mesoamerica, Mexico, 21st Century Editors, 2004

Honors

In 1989 he received the Alfonso Reyes International Award.