About Us

Mesolore has been created by Liza Bakewell and Byron Hamann.

Dr. Liza Bakewell received her PhD in anthropology at Brown University in 1991, after which she joined the faculty at Brown, where she has remained, first teaching in the Department of Anthropology, later conducting research and directing The Mesolore Project at the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Her research areas include linguistics, women studies, art, and aesthetics, all of which appear in her most recent book, Madre: Perilous Journeys with a Spanish Noun (W.W. Norton, 2011). Bakewell has received awards from the National Science Foundation, Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, the Davis Educational Foundation, and the Fulbright Program.

Dr. Byron Hamann received a dual PhD from the departments of Anthropology and History at the University of Chicago in 2011. His research centers on prehispanic Mesoamerica, early modern Iberia, and the connections linking the Americas and Europe in the early modern transatlantic world. He is coauthor of the CD-ROM Mesolore: Exploring Mesoamerican Culture, and project manager for the DVD-web resource Vistas: Visual Culture in Spanish America 1520-1820.

Mesolore was developed at Brown University in collaboration with Prolarti Enterprises, LLC, and with funding from the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Davis Educational Foundation, and the Ford Foundation.

During its many years of testing, Mesolore has received broad critical acclaim from university professors and high school teachers across the country.

“What an exciting and impressive achievement.”
—Dr. William Taylor, University of California, Berkeley

“While there are several interesting surveys of Mesoamerican history and culture in book form, there has been to date nothing quite like this introduction to the primary documents, fundamental questions, and classic scholarly articles in the field. Those who want a linear narrative history will be disappointed, but the compensation is the richest tapestry now available to the student of the stuff from which those linear narratives are crafted.”
—Dr. Rex Koontz, University of Houston, Hispanic American Historical Review

“[O]ne only needs ten minutes with [Mesolore] to see how useful it could be as a didactic tool… In general, the editors are to be congratulated on the thoroughness of their research and the skill with which the project has been compiled. The program is beautifully and elegantly designed and extremely easy to use. It seems very much up to date in terms of the scholarly development of the field, and an impressive roster of scholars has contributed to its depth and variety.”
—Dr. Matthew Restall, The Americas: A Quarterly Review of Inter-American Culture

“I finally [spent] a pleasant afternoon with Mesolore and I wanted to let you know personally what an excellent job you did with it. I shall sing its praises across the Americas and around the world!”
—Dr. Anthony Aveni, Colgate University

“Mexico’s deeply grained indigenous history that runs parallel to the national narrative of Spaniards, Mestizos, and other Mexicans begins with Mesolore. This is a work of tremendous historical and anthropological sophistication. It is possible for the viewer-reader to see and hear indigenous voices, but those voices only have meaning because they are explained, analyzed, emphasized, and given context by the editors.”
—Dr. William H. Beezley, University of Arizona