In 1920, UNAM Rector Jose Vasconcelos stressed the importance of ending oppression and the violent confrontations it was wont to sow, of turning battle fields into fields of harvest for education and culture, in order to bring about a new era in which Mexicans and the peoples of Latin America become aware of the need for cultural, spiritual, racial and territorial unity. These aspirations are expressed in the UNAM Crest, which is supported by the Andean condor and Mexican eagle defending the map blazoned on the shield depicting Latin America from Mexico’s northern border to Cabo de Hornos. Beneath the shield, the design is complemented by a motif of nopal cactus and the twin volcanoes.

The shield bordure bears the motto coined by Vaconcelos himself: “Por mi raza hablará el espíritu,” which succinctly expresses the conviction of the coming synthesis of a new global race of men, urging people everywhere to behold the “new continent that is both new and old, predestined to hold a fifth race, a unified cosmic race made up of the scattered peoples of the world.”

REFERENCES

• BLANCO, José Joaquín, "Se llamaba Vasconcelos. Una evocación crítica", México, FCE, 1996, pp. 79-89.

• ITUARTE Verduzco,Beatriz, "Vasconcelos, el hombre multifacético", México Senado de la República, 2003, pp. 185.

• VASCONCELOS, José, "La raza cósmica. Misión de la raza iberoamericana", México, Aguilar, 1966, pp. 32, 34, 39, 45.