Fernando Ortiz Fernández

Fernando Ortiz Fernández was a Cuban lawyer, essayist, anthropologist, ethnomusicologist and scholar of Afro-Cuban culture. Ortiz was a prolific polymath dedicated to exploring, recording, and understanding all aspects of indigenous Cuban culture. Ortiz has been called the "third discoverer of Cuba", after Christopher Columbus and Alexander von Humboldt. A title first given to him by his secretary Rubén Martínez Villena and later echoed and published by Juan Marinello. Ortiz is widely recognized as a pioneering figure in postcolonial Latin American thought, as well as a foundational voice in African American anthropology. One of Ortiz's most influential contributions is his coining of the term "transculturation," which describes the complex process of cultural convergence and exchange.