Dr. Manuel Torres with glasses and a mustache in front of a bush.

Art Historian/Archeologist

Constantino Manuel Torres, Ph. D., Art History, Professor Emeritus, Art and Art History Department, Florida International University, Miami.

Constantino Manuel Torres has conducted research on ancient cultures of the South Central Andes since 1982. His work has concentrated on the San Pedro de Atacama oasis, Chile, and the use of Anadenanthera-based snuffs. Torres is also involved in the study of the art of Tiwanaku, Bolivia, attempting to unravel the structure of the Tiwanaku iconographic configuration and its relationship to visionary plants. His books include Anadenanthera: Visionary Plant of Ancient South America (2006), co-authored with David Repke, a comprehensive and detailed study of this sacred plant continually used for the past 4000 years. His recent research on Anadenanthera preparations has led him to the study of ayahuasca analogues in South American antiquity.

On two occasions he has been an invited presenter to the Dumbarton Oaks Round Table, and participated in a symposium on the art of the South Central Andes at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Visual Arts of the National Gallery, Washington, DC. Torres has also organized several symposia on the art and archaeology of the Andes for the International Congress of Americanists and for the Society for American Archaeology. He has been the recipient of four Fulbright Fellowships, He is adjunct professor for the graduate program in Anthropology and Archaeology, Universidad Católica del Norte, San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Torres is also advisor for “Cultura y Drogas,” an interdisciplinary graduate program at the Universidad de Caldas, Manizales, Colombia.

See also