González y González, Luís (1925–2003)

Luís González y González, a Mexican historian, was born on October 11, 1925, in San José de Gracia, Michoacán. He studied history at the Colegio de México, Universidad Autónoma de México, and the Sorbonne in Paris and then taught history at some of Mexico's most prestigious institutions of higher education. He founded the Colegio de Michoacán (1978), an institution dedicated to the study of regional history as a reaction against the centrality of Mexico City in Mexican history. In his pathbreaking 1968 work, Pueblo en vilo: Microhistoria de San José de Gracia (published in English translation as San José de Gracia: Mexican Village in Transition, 1974), he applied the methodology of microhistory with total mastery. He also authored books about historical theory and methods in which he highlighted the importance of both local experiences and local social categories. Among his notable works are La tierra donde estamos (1971), Invitación a la microhistoria (1972), Michoacán y la querencia (1982), Nueva invitación a la microhistoria (1982), and El oficio de historiar (1988). Recognized internationally for his work, he received numerous awards from Mexican, American, and French institutions (American Historical Association, 1971; Premio Nacional de Historia, Ciencias Sociales y Filosofia, 1983; Palmes Académiques, 1985; and Medalla Belisario Domínguez, 2003). He died on December 13, 2003, in Morelia, Michoacán.

See alsoColegio de México .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ochoa Serrano, Alvaro, ed. Pueblo en vilo: La fuerza de la costumbre: Homenaje a Luís González y González. Guadalajara: El Colegio de Jalisco; Mexico: El Colegio de México; Zamora: El Colegio de Michoacán, 1994.

                        Claudia P. Rivas JimÉnez