LAMADRID AWARDED AMÉRICO PAREDES PRIZE

At the recent Atlanta meeting of the American Folklore Society (AFS), UNM Professor of Spanish and Director of Chicano / Hispano / Mexicano Studies Enrique Lamadrid received national recognition for his work as a cultural activist, writer, and teacher. According to the AFS, "The AMÉRICO PAREDES PRIZE recognizes excellence in integrating scholarship and engagement with people and communities, and in encouraging scholars and practitioners to work in their own cultures." Paredes was the pioneer Tejano folklorist, known as the Dean of Chicano Studies, whose revisionist scholarship and mentorship are legendary. In the 1950s he challenged the Texan academic establishment and their jingoistic portrayal of the Texas Rangers by demonstrating that the true heroes were the Texas Mexicans who stood up for their rights against all odds. WITH HIS PISTOL IN HIS HAND, his classic study of border balladry has been in print ever since. It was also Dr. Paredes in 1981 who broadened the scope of Chicano Studies in a critical time at the University of Texas at Austin by re-christening it Mexican-American Studies. Prof. Lamadrid is known for organizing expeditions and engaging students in his field work projects, whether they be in the Sierra Tarahumara of Chihuahua, the pilgrim's roads of Spain, or the ports of the Caribbean, "wherever Nuevo Mexicanos and Latinos have their roots," he says. His recent work for the new Camino Real International Heritage Center south of Socorro is a case in point. Over the years he has led several student expeditions south to Zacatecas, Durango, and Chihuahua to research the cultural roots and routes of New Mexico. Grads and undergrads were involved in the development and testing of the exhibit scripts, and there is even student photography in the Camino Real permanent exhibit, slated for its grand opening on November 19, 2005. Lamadrid's community-based research on cultural hybridity, festivals, and traditional narrative poetry has attracted international recognition. Two of his books have won the Southwest Book Award from the Border Librarians Association and in 2004 his long term project HERMANITOS COMANCHITOS: INDO-HISPANO RITUALS OF CAPTIVITY AND REDEMPTION won the University of Chicago Folklore Prize for ethnographic writing. The American Folklore Society also commended him for a body of popular writing done for the general public, in museum and festival guides, newspapers, and web sites. Lamadrid's nomination letter notes that "few academics take the time to make their work so accessible to everyday people." Curatorial work has been another priority, since the museum is "a kind of enriched and super-charged classroom space, Lamadrid says, "where the learning continues even when the teacher is no longer present." He is a guest curator for the CAMINO REAL exhibit, and has been a curatorial consultant for national and international exhibitions including two with Smithsonian Institution, CORRIDOS SIN FRONTERAS (on the narrative ballad traditions of greater Mexico), and EL RÍO (on traditional culture, environment, and sustainability in the Río Grande watershed). EL RIO is slated to come to UNM's Maxwell Museum in 2007. In addition, Chicano / Hispano / Mexicano Studies is a partner with the Northern New Mexico Historical Society and their new community museum in Questa, directed by program administrator Lucille Cordova. The Professor, known as "el profe" by his students, typically builds courses around exhibits. The EL RIO course will include trips to Colorado and South Texas plus an expedition down Santa Elena canyon in Big Bend. Lamadrid's directorship of Chicano Studies began with controversy in 2004 when he broadened the program terminology to include "Hispano," a historic and widespread term of self-designation in New Mexico, and "Mexicano" in recognition of the thriving immigrant community and its cultural contributions. "Chicano" remains as a designator of the cultural activism and social advocacy at the heart of the program. "It is a particular honor for me to receive the PAREDES PRIZE," he states. "Don Américo is one of my most important mentors. He had the courage and vision to do the right thing, in both his research and his leadership."