Scholar and anthropologist Davíd Carrasco has dedicated much of his career to exploring Mexico’s Mesoamerican past.
Aztec and Mayan imagery was adopted during the Chicano movement and continues to be used as a symbol of Mexican American identity today.
Carrasco, the Neil L. Rudenstine Professor for the Study of Latin America at Harvard University, explained why he felt called to study Mesoamerican religions and cultures.
“(I became) fascinated to know about the Aztecs and to study them in a much more profound way,” Carrasco said. “I realized that my studies of Mesoamerica could make a contribution to the Chicano movement and to Mexican Americans who are interested in really knowing what was on the other side of the border that was related to them.”
Carrasco is also dedicated to telling the story of his father, David L. Carrasco — an El Paso native who became the first Mexican American head basketball coach at a major U.S. university.
“My father — being who he was from the border, from a poor situation that my family had improved themselves — he embraced African Americans and was the first to recruit them to play in college sports.”
Carrasco is working with filmmaker Abel Sánchez to produce a film about his father that will be called Coach Carrasco: Pasó Por Aquí.
Carrasco and Sánchez are asking the public to share any stories they might have about Coach David L. Carrasco. Reach out to dcarrasco@hds.harvard.edu.
Watch a trailer of the film below:
