José Vasconcelos Calderón (28 February 1882 – 30 June 1959), called the "cultural " of the
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...
, was an important
Mexican writer, philosopher, and politician. He is one of the most influential and controversial personalities in the development of modern Mexico. His philosophy of the "
cosmic race" affected all aspects of Mexican sociocultural, political, and economic policies.
Early life
Vasconcelos was born in
Oaxaca, Oaxaca
Oaxaca de Juárez (), or simply Oaxaca (Valley Zapotec: ''Ndua''), is the capital and largest city of the eponymous Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is the municipal seat for the surrounding municipality of Oaxaca, the most populous municipality in O ...
, on February 28, 1882, the son of a customs official. José's mother, a pious Catholic, died when José was 16. The family moved to the border town of
Piedras Negras, Coahuila, where he grew up attending school in
Eagle Pass, Texas
Eagle Pass is a city in and the county seat of Maverick County, Texas, United States. Its population was 28,130 as of the 2020 census. Eagle Pass borders the city of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, which is to the southwest and across the ...
. He became bilingual in English and Spanish, which opened doors to the English-speaking world. The family also lived in
Campeche
Campeche, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Campeche, is one of the 31 states which, with Mexico City, make up the Administrative divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. Located in southeast Mexico, it is bordered by the sta ...
while the northern border area was unstable. His time living on the Texas border likely contributed to fostering his idea of the Mexican "cosmic race" and rejection of Anglo culture.
Private life
At 24, he married Serafina Miranda of
Tlaxiaco
Tlaxiaco () is a city, and its surrounding Municipalities of Oaxaca, municipality of the same name, in the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is located in the Tlaxiaco District in the south of the Mixteca Region, with a population of about 17,450.
The ...
,
Oaxaca
Oaxaca, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Oaxaca, is one of the 32 states that compose the political divisions of Mexico, Federative Entities of the Mexico, United Mexican States. It is divided into municipalities of Oaxaca, 570 munici ...
, in 1906. Their children were José Ignacio and Carmen. He also had a long-term relationship with
Elena Arizmendi Mejia and throughout his life many other shorter liaisons, including one with
Berta Singerman. His troubled relationship with
Antonieta Rivas Mercado
María Antonieta Rivas Mercado Castellanos (April 28, 1900 – February 11, 1931) was a Mexican intellectual, writer, feminist, and Patronage, arts patron.
Biography
Rivas Mercado was born as the second of four children (Alicia, Antonieta, Ma ...
led to her suicide inside Paris's
Notre Dame Cathedral
Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissement of Paris, France. It ...
in 1931. When his wife of forty years died in 1942, their daughter Carmen is reported to have said, "When the coffin was lowered into the ground, Vasconcelos sobbed bitterly. At that moment he must have known and felt who he really had as a wife; perhaps they were tears of belated repentance." He remarried the pianist
Esperanza Cruz and they had a child, Héctor.
Mexican Revolution

Although Vasconcelos was interested in studying philosophy, the Porfiriato's universities focused on the sciences, influenced by French
positivism
Positivism is a philosophical school that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positivemeaning '' a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. Gerber, ''Soci ...
. Vasconcelos attended the
National Preparatory School, an elite high school in
Mexico City
Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...
, and he went on to Escuela de Jurisprudencia in Mexico City (1905). In law school, he became involved with a group of radical students organized as the Ateneo de la Juventud (Youth Atheneum).
[Vera Cuspinera, "José Vasconcelos", p. 1519.] The Ateneo de Juventud was led by a Dominican citizen,
Pedro Henríquez Ureña, who had read Uruguayan essayist
José Enrique Rodó's ''Ariel'', an influential work published in 1900 that was opposed to Anglo cultural influence but also emphasized the redemptive power of education. The Ateneo de la Juventud had a diverse membership, composed of university professors, artists, other professionals, and students. Some other members included
Isidro Fabela and
Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art.
Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...
. Opposed to the Díaz regime, it formulated arguments against it and its emphasis on positivism by employing French spiritualism, which articulated "a new vision of the relationship between individual and society."
After graduating from law school, he joined the law firm of Warner, John, and Galston in
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
Vasconcelos joined the local Anti-Re-election Club in Washington, D.C.
It supported the democratic movement to oust the longtime
President of Mexico
The president of Mexico (), officially the president of the United Mexican States (), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Constitution of Mexico, the president heads the executive branch of the federal government and ...
Porfirio Díaz
José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a General (Mexico), Mexican general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until Mexican Revolution, his overthrow in 1911 seizing power in a Plan ...
in 1910 and was headed by
Francisco I. Madero, the presidential candidate of the Anti-Re-election Party. Vasconcelos returned to Mexico City to participate more directly in the anti-re-election movement, became one of the party's secretaries, and edited its newspaper, ''El Antireelectionista''.
After Díaz was ousted by revolutionary violence that was followed by the election of Madero to the presidency, Vasconcelos led a structural change at the
National Preparatory School. He changed the academic programs and broke with the past
positivistic influence.
After Madero's assassination in February 1913, Vasconcelos joined the broad movement to defeat the military regime of
Victoriano Huerta
José Victoriano Huerta Márquez (; 23 December 1850 – 13 January 1916) was a Mexican general, politician, engineer and dictator who was the 39th President of Mexico, who came to power by coup against the democratically elected government of ...
. Soon, Vasconcelos was forced into exile in Paris, where he met
Julio Torri,
Doctor Atl,
Gabriele D'Annunzio, and other contemporary intellectuals and artists. After Huerta was ousted in July 1914, Vasconcelos returned to Mexico.
The
Convention of Aguascalientes in 1914, the failed attempt of the anti-Huerta regime to find a political solution, split the factions. The leader of the Constitutionalists,
Venustiano Carranza
José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (; 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920), known as Venustiano Carranza, was a Mexican land owner and politician who served as President of Mexico from 1917 until his assassination in 1920, during the Mexican Re ...
, and General
Álvaro Obregón
Álvaro Obregón Salido (; 19 February 1880 – 17 July 1928) was a Mexican general, inventor and politician who served as the 46th President of Mexico from 1920 to 1924. Obregón was re-elected to the presidency in 1928 but was assassinated b ...
split with more radical revolutionaries, especially
Pancho Villa
Francisco "Pancho" Villa ( , , ; born José Doroteo Arango Arámbula; 5 June 1878 – 20 July 1923) was a Mexican revolutionary and prominent figure in the Mexican Revolution. He was a key figure in the revolutionary movement that forced ...
and
Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata Salazar (; 8 August 1879 – 10 April 1919) was a Mexican revolutionary. He was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920, the main leader of the people's revolution in the Mexican state of Morelos, and the insp ...
. Vasconcelos chose the side of the Convention and served as Minister of Education during the brief presidential period of
Eulalio Gutiérrez. Villa was defeated by the Constitutionalist Army under Obregón in the
Battle of Celaya in 1915, and Vasconcelos went into exile again.
Venustiano Carranza
José Venustiano Carranza de la Garza (; 29 December 1859 – 21 May 1920), known as Venustiano Carranza, was a Mexican land owner and politician who served as President of Mexico from 1917 until his assassination in 1920, during the Mexican Re ...
became President (1915–1920), but was ousted and killed by the Sonoran generals who had helped put him in power.
Rector of National University

Vasconcelos returned to Mexico during the interim presidency of Sonoran
Adolfo de la Huerta
Felipe Adolfo de la Huerta Marcor (; 26 May 1881 – 9 July 1955) was a Mexican politician, the 45th President of Mexico from 1 June to 30 November 1920, following the overthrow of Mexican president Venustiano Carranza, with Sonoran generals ...
and was named rector of the
National Autonomous University of Mexico
The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...
(1920) As rector, he had a great deal of power, but he accrued even more by ignoring the standard structures, such as the University Council, to govern the institution. Rather, he exercised personal power and began implementing his vision of the function of the university. He redesigned the logo of the university to show a map of
Latin America
Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...
, with the phrase "Por mi raza hablará el espíritu" (The spirit will speak for my race), an influence of Rodó's ''arielismo''. It also had an eagle and a condor and a background of the volcanic mountains in
central Mexico. Vasconcelos is said to have declared, "I have not come to govern the University but to ask the University to work for the people."
Secretary of Public Education

When Obregón became President in 1920, he created the
Secretariat of Public Education (SEP) in 1921 and named Vasconcelos as its head. Under Obregón, the national budget had two key expenditures; the military was one, but the other was education. Creating the Secretariat entailed changing the
Constitution of 1917, and so Obregón's government had to muster support from lawmakers. Vasconcelos traveled throughout Mexico while he was rector of the university to seek that support. His effort succeeded, and Vasconcelos was named head of the new cabinet-level secretariat in July 1921.
His tenure at the Secretariat gave him a powerful position to implement his vision of Mexico's history, especially the Mexican Revolution.
Vasconcelos printed huge numbers of texts for the expanded public school system, but in the 1920s, there was no agreement about how the Mexican Revolution should be portrayed and so earlier history texts by
Justo Sierra, the head of the ministry of public education during the Díaz regime, continued to be used.
Although Vasconcelos was no advocate of Mexican Indigenous culture, as Secretary of Education he sent a statue of the last Aztec emperor,
Cuauhtemoc, to Brazil for its centennial celebrations of independence in 1923, to the amazement of the South American recipients.
Later life
He resigned in 1924 because of his opposition to President
Plutarco Elías Calles
Plutarco Elías Calles (born Francisco Plutarco Elías Campuzano; 25 September 1877 – 19 October 1945) was a Mexican politician and military officer who served as the 47th President of Mexico from 1924 to 1928. After the assassination of Ál ...
. He worked for the education of the masses and sought to make the nation's education on secular, civic, and Pan-American (''americanista'') lines. He ran for the presidency in 1929 but lost to
Pascual Ortiz Rubio
Pascual Ortiz Rubio (; 10 March 1877 – 4 November 1963) was a Mexican military officer, topographical engineer, diplomat and politician who served as the 49th President of Mexico from 1930 to 1932. He was one of three presidents to serve ou ...
in a controversial election, and again left the country.
He later directed the
National Library of Mexico
The National Library of Mexico () is located in University City of Mexico, Ciudad Universitaria, the main campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City. It was first established on November 30, 1867.
As a national ...
(1940) and presided over the Mexican Institute of Hispanic Culture (1948).
José Vasconcelos died on June 30, 1959, in the Tacubaya neighborhood of Mexico City. His body was found reclining on the desk, in which he was working on one of his last literary works: ''Letanías del atardecer'' (‘Litanies of the evening’), published posthumously unfinished. Because of his qualities as a pedagogue and his strong support for Latin American culture, he was named “Teacher of the Youth of America” a title that is often abbreviated as "Teacher of America".
Philosophical thought

Vasconcelos' first writings on philosophy are passionate reactions against the formal,
positivistic education at the National Preparatory School, formerly under the influence of
Porfirian thinkers like
Justo Sierra and
Gabino Barreda.
A second period of productivity was fed by a first disappointment in the political field, after Madero's murder. In 1919, he wrote a long essay on
Pythagoreanism
Pythagoreanism originated in the 6th century BC, based on and around the teachings and beliefs held by Pythagoras and his followers, the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras established the first Pythagorean community in the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek co ...
, as a dissertation on the links between
harmony
In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...
and
rhythm
Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular r ...
and its eventual explanation into a frame of
aesthetic
Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,'' , acces ...
monism
Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished:
* Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...
. As he argued that only by the means of rhythm can humans able to know the world without any intermediation, he proposed that the minimal aspects of cognition are conditioned by a degree of sympathy with the natural "vibration" of things. In that manner, he thought that the auditive categories of knowledge were much higher than the visual ones.
Later, Vasconcelos developed an argument for the mixing of races, as a natural and desirable direction for humankind. That work, known as ('The Cosmic Race'), would eventually contribute to further studies on ethnic values as an
ethic
Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...
and for the consideration of ethnic variety as an aesthetic source. Finally, between 1931 and 1940, he tried to consolidate his proposals by publishing his main topics organized in three main works: ('
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...
'), ('Ethics'), and ('
Aesthetics
Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...
').
In the final part of his life, he gradually fell into a deeply Catholic political conservatism. Before the Second World War, he had begun writing sympathetically about
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco Bahamonde (born Francisco Paulino Hermenegildo Teódulo Franco Bahamonde; 4 December 1892 – 20 November 1975) was a Spanish general and dictator who led the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalist forces i ...
, and he retracted some of his earlier liberal positions. One of his last published works, ''Letanías del atardecer'' (1957) is a pessimistic tract that hinted that the use of
nuclear weapons
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission, fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion, fusion reactions (thermonuclear weap ...
might be necessary because of the postwar order.
Influence

Vasconcelos is often referred to as the father of the philosophy. In recent times it has come under criticism from Native Americans, because of its negative implications concerning indigenous peoples. To an extent his philosophy argued for a new, "modern"
mestizo
( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...
people, at the cost of cultural assimilation for all ethnic groups. His research on the nature of Mexican modern identity had a direct influence on the young writers, poets, anthropologists, and philosophers who wrote on this subject. He also influenced the point of view of
Carlos Pellicer with respect to several aesthetic assumptions reflected in his books. Together, Pellicer and Vasconcelos made a trip through the
Middle East
The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq.
The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...
(1928–1929) and were looking for the "spiritual basis" of
Byzantine architecture
Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire, usually dated from 330 AD, when Constantine the Great established a new Roman capital in Byzantium, which became Constantinople, until the Fall of Cons ...
.
Other works, particularly and , had a decisive influence in
Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz Lozano (March 31, 1914 – April 19, 1998) was a Mexican poet and diplomat. For his body of work, he was awarded the 1977 Jerusalem Prize, the 1981 Miguel de Cervantes Prize, the 1982 Neustadt International Prize for Literature, a ...
's ('The Labyrinth of Solitude'), with
anthropological
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behaviour, wh ...
and aesthetic implications. Paz wrote that Vasconcelos was "the teacher" who had educated hundreds of young
Latin American
Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America).
Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...
intellectuals during his many trips to
Central and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
. Vasconcelos was a guest lecturer at
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
and
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
, but his influence on new generations in the United States gradually decreased. Nevertheless, his work has been used by
Chicano
Chicano (masculine form) or Chicana (feminine form) is an ethnic identity for Mexican Americans that emerged from the Chicano Movement.
In the 1960s, ''Chicano'' was widely reclaimed among Hispanics in the building of a movement toward politic ...
and
Mexican-American
Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...
movements since the 1970s, which assert the ('retaking' or literally 'reconquest') of the
American Southwest
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural list of regions of the United States, region of the United States that includes Arizona and New Mexico, along with adjacen ...
, based on their Mexican ancestry.
Contributions to national culture
Vasconcelos caused the National Symphonic Orchestra (1920) and the Symphonic Orchestra of Mexico (1928) to be officially endorsed. Under his secretaryship, artists
Diego Rivera
Diego Rivera (; December 8, 1886 – November 24, 1957) was a Mexican painter. His large frescoes helped establish the Mexican muralism, mural movement in Mexican art, Mexican and international art.
Between 1922 and 1953, Rivera painted mural ...
,
José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco (November 23, 1883 – September 7, 1949) was a Mexican caricaturist and painter, who specialized in political murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siquei ...
, and
David Alfaro Siqueiros
David Alfaro Siqueiros (born José de Jesús Alfaro Siqueiros; December 29, 1896 – January 6, 1974) was a Mexican social realist painter, best known for his large public murals using the latest in equipment, materials and technique. Along with ...
were permitted to paint the inner walls of the most important public buildings in Mexico (such as the
National Palace Buildings called National Palace include:
*National Palace (Dominican Republic), in Santo Domingo
* National Palace (El Salvador), in San Salvador
* National Palace (Ethiopia), in Addis Ababa; also known as the Jubilee Palace
* National Palace (Guat ...
in Mexico City), creating the
Mexican muralist movement.
Quotations

"
e leaders of Latin American independence ... strove to free the slaves, declared the equality of all men by natural law; the social and civic equality of whites, blacks and Indians. In an instant of historical crisis, they formulated the transcendental mission assigned to that region of the Globe: the mission of fusing the peoples ethnically and spiritually." (, 1948)
"Each of the great nations of History has believed itself to be the final and chosen one. ... The Hebrews founded the belief in their superiority on oracles and divine promises. The English found theirs on observations relative to domestic animals. From the observation of cross-breeding and hereditary varieties in such animals, Darwinism emerged. First, as a modest zoological theory, then as social biology that confers definitive preponderance to the English above all races. Every imperialism needs a justifying philosophy". (, 1948)
"Hitler, although he disposes of absolute power, finds himself a thousand leagues from Caesarism. Power does not come to Hitler from the military base, but from the book that inspires the troops from the top. Hitler's power is not owed to the troops, nor the battalions, but to his own discussions... Hitler represents, ultimately, an idea, the German idea, so often humiliated previously by French militarism and English perfidy. Truthfully, we find civilian governed 'democracies' fighting against Hitler. But they are democracies in name only". ("", ''Timon'' 16; June 8, 1940)
Publications
Vasconcelos was a prolific author, writing in a variety of genres, especially philosophy, but also autobiography.
Philosophy
* ('
Pythagoras
Pythagoras of Samos (; BC) was an ancient Ionian Greek philosopher, polymath, and the eponymous founder of Pythagoreanism. His political and religious teachings were well known in Magna Graecia and influenced the philosophies of P ...
'), 1919
* ('Aesthetic
Monism
Monism attributes oneness or singleness () to a concept, such as to existence. Various kinds of monism can be distinguished:
* Priority monism states that all existing things go back to a source that is distinct from them; e.g., in Neoplatonis ...
'), 1919
* ('The
Cosmic Race'), 1925
* ('
Indology
Indology, also known as South Asian studies, is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent, and as such is a subset of Asian studies.
The term ''Indology'' (in German, ''Indologie'') is ...
'), 1926
* ('Metaphysics'), 1929
* ('Cheerful Pessimism'), 1931
* ('Aesthetics'), 1936
* ('Ethics'), 1939
* ('A History of Philosophical Thought'), 1937
* ('Organic Logic'), 1945
Other publications
* ('Dynamic Theory of Rights'), 1907
* ('The Intellectuality of Mexico'), 1916
* ('
Creole Ulysses), 1935
* ('The Storm'), 1936
* ('A Brief History of Mexico'), 1937
* ('The Disaster'), 1938
* ('The
Proconsul
A proconsul was an official of ancient Rome who acted on behalf of a Roman consul, consul. A proconsul was typically a former consul. The term is also used in recent history for officials with delegated authority.
In the Roman Republic, military ...
ated'), 1939
* ('The Sunset of My Life'), 1957
* ('The Flame. Those of Above in the Revolution. History and Tragedy'), 1959
* ('The Political Letters of José Vasconcelos'), 1959
* ('Complete Works'), 1957–1961
See also
*
José Vasconcelos Library
*
José Vasconcelos World Award of Education
*
Moises Saenz Moises or Moisés is a male name common among people of Iberian origin. It is the Spanish, Portuguese and Tagalog equivalent of the name Moses.
Notable people bearing the name include:
* Moisés (footballer, born 1948) (1948–2008), Brazilia ...
References
Further reading
* Aguilar, Hector Orestes. "Ese olvidado nazi de nombre José Vasconcelos". ''Istor: Revista de historia internacional'', Year 8, No. 30, 2007, pp. 148-157.
* Bar Lewaw, Itzhak. ''Introducción Crítico-Biografía a José Vasconcelos''. Madrid: Ediciones Latinoamericanas, 1965.
* Bar Lewaw, Itzhak. "La revisita Timón y la colaboracíon Nazi de José Vasconcelos". ''Proceedings of the Fourth Congress of the International Association of Hispanists: held in Salamanca, August 1971, Salamanca, University of Salamanca'', 1982, pp. 151-156
* Carballo, Emmanuel. ''Diecinueve protagonistas de la literatura mexicana del siglo XX''. Mexico City: Empresas Editoriales, 1965; see especially 17–47.
* Cárdenas Noriega, Joaquín. ''José Vasconcelos, 1882-1982: Educador, político y profeta''. Mexico City: Oceano, 1982.
* De Beer, Gabriela. ''José Vasconcelos and His World''. New York: Las Américas 1966.
* De Beer, Gabriela. "El ateneo y los atenistas: un examen retrospectivo". ''Revista Iberoamericana'' 148–149, Vol. 55 (1989): 737–749.
* Garciadiego Dantan, Javier. "De Justo Sierra a Vasconcelos. La Universidad Nacional durante la revolución mexicana". ''Historia Mexicana'', vol. 46. No. 4. Homenaje a don Edmundo O'Gorman (April–June 1997), pp. 769–819.
* Haddox, John H. ''Vasconcelos of Mexico, Philosopher and Prophet''. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1967.
*
Krauze, Enrique. ''Redeemers: Ideas and Power in Latin America'', chapter 3, "José Vasconcelos, the Cultural Caudillo". New York: Harper Collins, 2011.
* Lucas, Jeffrey Kent. ''The Rightward Drift of Mexico's Former Revolutionaries: The Case of Antonio Díaz Soto y Gama''. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2010.
* Molloy, Sylvia. "First Memories, First Myths: Vasconcelos' ''Ulises criollo''", in ''At Face Value: Autobiographical Writing in Spanish America''. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press was the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted a letters patent by King Henry VIII in 1534, it was the oldest university press in the world. Cambridge University Press merged with Cambridge Assessme ...
, 1991, pp. 186–208.
* Vera Cuspinera, Margarita. ''El pensamiento filosófico de Vasconcelos''. Mexico City: Extemporáneos, 1979.
* Vera Cuspinera, Margarita. "José Vasconcelos", in ''Encyclopedia of Mexico'', Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1997, pp. 1519–21.
* Ward, Thomas. "José Vasconcelos y su cosmomología de la raza", in ''La resistencia cultural: la nación en el ensayo de las Américas''. Lima, Peru: Editorial Universitaria URP, 2004, pp. 246–254.
External links
Encyclopedia – Britannica Online Encyclopediaat www.britannica.com
at www.lib.utexas.edu
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasconcelos, Jose
1882 births
1959 deaths
Writers from Oaxaca
People from Oaxaca City
Members of El Colegio Nacional (Mexico)
Secretaries of education of Mexico
Candidates in the 1929 Mexican presidential election
Mexican anti-communists
Mexican far-right politicians
Antisemitism in Mexico
20th-century Mexican lawyers
Mexican Roman Catholics
20th-century Mexican educators
Mexican male writers
Historians of philosophy
20th-century Mexican philosophers
Social philosophers
Mexican revolutionaries
Catholic philosophers
Eugenicists
Indigenismo in Mexico
Hispanic eugenics