Gutierre Tibón

Gutierre Tibón (16 July 1905 – 15 May 1999) was an Italian-Mexican writer. He wrote widely on issues of cultural identity, mixing ideas from anthropology, linguistics, psychology, philosophy, ethnology, sociology, and political science.

Early career Tibón was born in Lombardy, Italy. In his early years he worked as a typewriter salesman, and later travelled widely in Europe and the Americas for his work. His visits to Mexico attracted him to the country, and he moved there in 1940. He established himself as a writer and radio personality. His first major work was on the culture and future prospects of Mexico. México, 1950, un país en futuro (1942) looked forward to what he called a México feliz, which he thought could be achieved by 1950. He advocated strong leadership and government intervention to promote mass education.

Onomastics Tibón was especially interested in the history of personal and topographical names. His book América: Setenta siglos de la historia de un nombre (1945) constitutes what has been called a "novelized study in which a word is the chief character".

Later work His later writings continue his interest in names, but also branch out to include mysticist or occult topics. He developed the method of his book on America in his discussion of the origins of Mexico in Historia del nombre y de la fundación de México (1975).

In El Ombligo como centro cósmico (1981), he argued for the survivals of "paleolithic magic" in a "prenatal triad" of umbilical cord, placenta and amniotic sac and on the navel as "cosmic center". In Los Ritos Mágicos y Trágicos de la Pubertad Femenina (1984) he explored the "magic and tragic rites" of female puberty.

He was elected to the Academia Mexicana de la Lengua as an honorary member on 10 December 1987.

From 1959 until his death at the age of 93, Tibón lived in Acapantzingo, Cuernavaca, Morelos.