Ricardo Alegría: A Pioneering Anthropologist
Puerto Rico is still mourning the death of Ricardo Alegría, esteemed proponent of the island’s national culture. I wanted to share a thoughtful description of this great man’s legacy “Un
antropólogo
pionero
” by fellow anthropologist Dr. Jorge Duany. Here is my translation with a link to the original article below.
Ricardo Alegría was the first Puerto Rican to receive a PhD in anthropology in 1954. In addition to multiple administrative roles, Don Ricardo as everyone knew him published extensively in the field of anthropology, especially archaeology. His most important works include a pioneering study on the feast of Santiago Apóstol [St. James the Apostle] in Loíza, an elementary textbook on the Taíno Indians, a collection of folk tales, and numerous archeological essays about Puerto Rico and the West Indies.