Ortiz, Alfonso, 1939-1997

Chiricahua Apache
essay 1983

Summary: Alfonso Alex Ortiz was a Tewa cultural anthropologist and activist. Ortiz's research focused on Tewa cultural practices, rituals, myths, and knowledge. He is best known for his book on Tewa cosmologies, The Tewa World: Space, Time, Being and Becoming in a Pueblo Society, published in 1969. While this sharing of sacred practices with outsiders generated some controversy within his community, Ortiz was an early proponent of autoethnography and encouraged other Native peoples to produce scholarship on their own cultures, instead of being the object of study of outside researchers. Wikipedia
Gender or Sex: Male [1][2][3][4][5]
Born: 1939-04-30 [2][5]
Birth Place: San Juan (Argentine) [3]; Ohkay Owingeh [5]
Died: 1997-01-26 [2]; 1998-09-27 [5]
Death Place: Santa Fe, N. Mex. [3]
Country: United States [2]; Ecuador [2]
Language: English [3]
Occupation: anthropologist [5]
Profession: Anthropologe [2]
Employer: Princeton University [5]; University of California, Los Angeles [5]; University of New Mexico [5]
Educated at: University of New Mexico [5]; University of Chicago [5]
Country of Education: United States [5]
Archives at: Princeton University Library Special Collections [5]; University of Chicago Library [5]; Western New Mexico University [5]
Yale LUX: Entity [5]

Sources: 1. VIAF; 2. Deutsche Nationalbibliothek (Germany); 3. Bibliothèque nationale de France; 4. National Library of Korea; 5. Wikidata

Last updated Dec 19, 2025