Andrés Henestrosa
| Andrés Henestrosa | |
|---|---|
| Mexican Senator | |
|
In office 1982–1988 |
|
| Constituency | Oaxaca |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
November 30, 1906 Ixhuatán, Oaxaca
|
| Died | January 10, 2008 (aged 101) |
| Political party | PRI |
| Occupation | Writer |
Andrés Henestrosa Morales (November 30, 1906 – January 10, 2008) was a Mexican writer and politician. In addition to his prose and poetry, Henestrosa was elected to the federal legislature, serving three terms in the Chamber of Deputies, and as a senator for the state of Oaxaca from 1982 to 1988. He was born in Ixhuatán, Oaxaca.
Andrés Henestrosa started studying at Juchitán, Oaxaca. Until he was 15 he only could speak his native language, Zapotec. After finishing his basic education, Henestrosa moved to Mexico City and started studying at the National Teacher's School, where he learned Spanish excellently. Then, he studied at the National High School and after, at the Jurisprudence National School, where he started law studies but he did not graduate. At the same time, he studied at the Philosophy and Literature Faculty at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Around that time (1927) one of his teachers, Alfonso Caso, encouraged what would be the start of his career: he suggested Henestrosa write down Zapotec myths, legends and fables, which formed the basis of his first book, The Men Scattered by Dance, published in 1929.
Henestrosa contributed in many ways to Zapotec culture, keeping a line of investigation and exaltation of it; he also was one of the Mexican exponents of the literary movement called Indianismo, since his first book. He also wrote essays and political documents during his long career.
In 1936, the Guggenheim Foundation gave him a scholarship to investigate about Zapotec culture and visited United States at the linguistic, resulting in Zapotec language phonetization, the adaptation of the Latin alphabet and a Zapotec–Spanish dictionary. During this trip, while in New Orleáns in 1937, he wrote one of his most famous books: My Mother’s Portrait ("El retrato de mi madre").
...
Wikipedia