UConn Advance - October 29, 2007 - Aztec Empire focus of Sackler symposium November 2

“The Aztec Empire: Iconographies and Ideologies of Power,” will be the focus of the 2007 Beverly and Raymond Sackler Art and Archaeology Symposium on Friday, November 2, at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, beginning at 2 p.m.

The symposium will address issues including the Aztec promotion of hegemonic (vs. strictly military) control over a diverse group of quasi-independent city-states, and imperial integration of economics, religion, and politics in state rituals.

Speakers will also examine the complex interactions between ruling metropole and subject peoples.

Through these interactions, the central Aztec state negotiated economic and social stability with its neighbors to counteract political instability.

Speakers and their presentations include:

Michael E. Smith, Arizona State University, “Material Culture of the Aztec Empire in Central Mexico: Local, Regional, and Global Patterns,” 2:15 p.m.

Cecelia Klein, University of California, Los Angeles, “From Clay to Stone: The Role of Ceramic Figurines in the Formation of the Official Aztec Pantheon,” 3 p.m.

Elizabeth Brumfiel, Northwestern University, “Cosmology at Home,” 4 p.m.

Eulogio Guzman, Boston Museum of Fine Arts School/Tufts University, “Iconographic Variability: Shifting Meanings in Aztec Sculpture and the Political Expansion of the Mexican State,” 4:45 p.m.

The event is open to the University community and the public. Admission is free.

The Beverly and Raymond Sackler Art and Archaeology Symposium, now in its sixth year, fosters an exchange of ideas between scholars, faculty, and students across the University and throughout New England.

The event is made possible by support from philanthropists Raymond and Beverly Sackler.

For more information, e-mail Professor Robin Greeley at robin.greeley@uconn.edu