Vasconcelos, José (hōsā` väskōnsā`lōs), 1882–1959, Mexican educator and writer. He headed (1920–24) the National Univ. of Mexico and, as minister of education under Álvaro Obregón Obregón, Álvaro (äl`värō ōbrāgōn`), 1880–1928, Mexican general and president (1920–24).
..... Click the link for more information. , worked vigorously and with considerable success to establish schools, to persuade the Mexican people of the importance of education, and to raise the literacy rate. For this task he enlisted the aid of prominent figures, notably the poet Gabriela Mistral Mistral, Gabriela (gäbrēā`lä mēsträl`)
..... Click the link for more information. . In 1929 he was defeated in the presidential race and was forced into exile by Plutarco Elías Calles. As teacher, propagandist, and writer, he attracted a large youthful following, and his fierce localism and belief in Latin American culture as the response of a unique mixture of peoples to a unique physical environment had an effect abroad as well as in Mexico. In later years he became an ardent Roman Catholic and a zealous apologist for the Spanish tradition. He denounced democracy and tended to glorify force and racism. Among his well-known works are La raza cósmica (1925) and Indología (1927). The first volume of his four-volume autobiography (1935–39) is Ulises criollo—also the general title for the whole work, which includes La tormenta, El desastre, and El proconsulado.

Bibliography

See biographies by G. de Beer (1966) and J. H. Haddox (1967).

Vasconcelos, José

(born Feb. 28, 1882, Oaxaca, Mex.—died June 30, 1959, Mexico City) Mexican educator, politician, essayist, and philosopher. He campaigned for the revolutionary candidates Francisco Madero and Pancho Villa. As minister of education (1920–24) he initiated major reforms in Mexico's school system, especially expansion of the rural school program. He ran unsuccessfully for president in 1929. Vasconcelos's political activism forced him into exile several times. He regarded the indigenous Indian culture as transcending Western culture. His autobiography (5 vol., 1935–59), abridged as A Mexican Ulysses (1962), is one of the finest sociocultural studies of 20th-century Mexico.