I write this new post, the first in many weeks, from the Casa Herrera in Antigua, Guatemala. This newly restored mansion opened June 1, 2009 as the University of Texas at Austin’s new academic research center devoted to Mesoamerica and its interdisciplinary study. With the cooperation and vision of the Fundación Pantaleón, the owners of the facility, UT-Austin inaugurates what we hope will be a long-lasting and important venue for conferences, seminars, residential scholars, and international academic programs. More information will be available soon once the new website for the Casa is up and running later this summer.
We’re happy to be hosting our first formal academic event this coming week: a mini-conference on “The Future of Mayan Linguistic Research.” More gatherings of students and scholars, large and small, are in the works for later this year and next.
Very soon I and others will be getting back to posting more blog entries on epigraphy and archaeology; in the meantime I simply want to share my own excitement about the Casa Herrera’s potential in the coming years as an important place for intellectual exchange and creativity, in the heart of the Maya world.
I don’t know why but the picture of Casa Herrera reminds me of apartment complexes in Teotihuacan. Maybe it’s just the color scheme.