CSULA’s annual symposium celebrates Mesoamerican art, history and culture

Latino talent and excellence will be recognized at this year's California State University, Los Angeles’s 2025 Mesoamerican Symposium, an annual event that looks to highlight and present a spectrum of interdisciplinary research through innovations in archaeological methods and historical and ethnographic studies about Mexico’s Pacific coastal influence, Mesoamerican culture and more.

The symposium will also feature prominent speakers and researchers who will speak on a range of topics, including Mesoamerican art, culture and ritual, as well as how those factors have shaped the world we live in today. 

This year, two Latinos will be recognized and honored, including John M. D. Pohl, an archeologist, and Manuel Aguilar-Moreno, an art historian, both professors of CSULA.   

This year’s symposium, titled “At the Crossroads of Civilizations: The Cultures of West Mexico Through Time,” will be hosted in CSULA’s student union theater on Saturday, March 22, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The all-day event will feature forums and seminars about the valuation of West Mexico and Mesoamerica and the major civilizational developments in these times and regions. It will also present a compelling new perspective through the recognition of cultural continuity and diversity and power of indigenous peoples. The event is free to the public and organized by CSULA’s Art History Society, the Anthropology Film Club, the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Natural and Social Sciences.

The highlight of the event will be the homage to Pohl and Aguilar-Moreno, who will both be presented with the Tlamatini Awards, which look to value their contributions to the field of Mesoamerica. 

Pohl is an adjunct professor in the Department of Anthropology at CSULA and also a specialist in ancient Mesoamerican art and writing systems. He has directed numerous archaeological excavations and surveys in Canada, the United States, México and Central America, as well as Europe. Pohl is also the author of several books on the ancient worlds of Mesoamerica, including “Exploring Mesoamerica, The Aztec Warrior: 1325-1519” and “The Legend of Eight Deer.” He has also written, produced, designed, and directed feature and television productions about archaeology, art history and theater. 

Aguilar-Moreno, a professor in the Department of Art at CSULA, is an expert in the art and culture of Latin America. He has conducted research in the art and history of pre-Columbian and Colonial Latin America. He has co-directed an interdisciplinary research project about “Ulama: The Survival of the Mesoamerican Ballgame” and the research project, “Walls of Passion: The Murals of Los Angeles,” that featured documentation and analysis of approximately 500 Los Angeles County murals. 

The Treasures of West Mexico exhibition will be on display in the university's John F. Kennedy Memorial Library's Special Collections and Archives reading room as part of the symposium. 

Presenters and speakers featured at the event are local and national researchers and academics, including Diana Magaloni Kerpel of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Mary Miller of the Getty Research Institute, Lorenza López-Mestas of the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Jalisco, Mexico, Susana Ramírez-Urrea of the University of Guadalajara, Mexico, Michael Mathiowetz of the Getty Research Institute, José Luis Punzo of INAH-Mexico, Johannes Neurath of INAH-Mexico, Christian De Brer of UCLA-Fowler Museum, and Khristaan Villela of the Getty Research Institute.

Advanced ticket reservations are required. Please register online to attend the symposium at https://www.calstatela.edu/arthistorysociety.