David Carrasco

Who is David Carrasco?

Davíd L. Carrasco is a Mexican-American academic historian of religion, anthropologist, and Mesoamericanist scholar. As of 2010 he holds the inaugural appointment as Neil L. Rudenstine Professor of Latin America Studies at the Harvard Divinity School, in a joint appointment with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences' Department of Anthropology at Harvard University. Carrasco is known for his research and extensive publications on Mesoamerican religion and history, as well as wider contributions within Latin American studies. His work is known primarily for his illuminating writings on the ways human societies orient themselves with sacred place.

Noted as "one of the foremost scholars of Mesoamerican religions and cultures" Carrasco has contributed particularly to the study of history, religion and symbolism of the Aztec and Teotihuacan cultures. Several of his publications have received awards, and he is a recipient of the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest decoration awarded by the Mexican government to foreigners. In 2006, Carrasco received the Mircea Eliade Jubilee medal, presented in absentia by the President of Romania, Traian Basescu. The Mircea Eliade award, named for the preeminent Romanian-born interpreter of world religions, was given as a sign of appreciation for contributions in the study of history of religion.