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Américo Paredes Lectures & Awards
Since 1987, the Center for Mexican American Studies (CMAS) has sponsored the Américo Paredes Distinguished Lecture, which brings a prominent speaker from beyond The University of Texas at Austin to address the public on a timely topic in Mexican American Studies.
Américo Paredes was a musician, scholar, and folklorist from Brownsville, Texas. Prior to death on Cinco de Mayo of 1999, Dr. Paredes was the Dickson, Allen, and Anderson Centennial Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and English at The University of Texas at Austin. Among the numerous honors that marked his career are the Charles Frankel Prize from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Orden del Águila Azteca — Mexico’s highest award given to the citizen’s of other countries. Professor Paredes is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking work on border ballads and folklore. In recent years, however, his novel George Washington Gomez in addition to his numerous short stories have found an audience across disciplines and alongside an entire generation of Mexican American scholars.
May 5, 2009 marked the ten-year anniversary of the passing of Dr. Américo Paredes. To honor his memory, CMAS presented its first ever Américo Paredes Arts and Letters Award. The prize is awarded approximately every four years, to an individual whose creative and scholarly contributions have had a significant impact in the field of Mexican American Studies.
- Lectures
2020: cancelled
2019: María Josefina Saldaña-Portillo, Ph.D., NYU Arts & Science
2018: Stephen Pitti, Ph.D., Yale University
2017: cancelled
2015: Lisa García Bedolla, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
2014: Sonia Nieto, Ed.D., University of Massachusetts, Amherst
2013: Abel Valenzuela, Jr., University of California, Los Angeles
2011: Norma Elia Cantú, Ph.D., Trinity University, San Antonio
2010: Manuel Medrano, Ph.D., UT Brownsville; Teresa Mckenna, Ph.D., USC; José E. Limón, Ph.D., Notre Dame
2008: Rafael Pérez-Torres, Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
2007: Néstor Rodriguez, Ph.D., University of Texas, Austin
2006: Doctoral Recipients from UT Austin
2005: Davíd Carrasco, Ph.D., Harvard University
2004: Aida Hurtado, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara
2003: Llano Grande Center for Research and Development
2002: Norma V. Cantú, J.D., University of Texas, Austin
2001: María Herrera-Sobeck, Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara
2000: Vicki Ruiz, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine
1999: Ramón Saldívar, Ph.D., Stanford University
1998: Pat Mora, M.A.
1997: Amalia Mesa-Baines, Ph.D.
1996: Nicolás Kanellos, Ph.D., University of Houston
1995: Antonia Hernández, J.D.
1994: Norma Alarcón, Ph.D.
1993: Renato Rosaldo, Ph.D.
1992: Jorge Bustamente, Ph.D.
1991: Rosaura Sánchez, Ph.D.
1990: Tomás Ybarra-Frausto, Ph.D.
1989: Juan Vásquez, B.A.
1988: Marta Tienda, Ph.D.
1987: Luis Leal, Ph.D.
- Awards
2024
CMAS honored Professor Emeritus José E. Limón with the Américo Paredes Arts and Letters Award in the Spring of 2024 for his creative and scholarly contributions to Chicano/a and Mexican American Studies.
2016
Dr. Rolando Hinojosa-Smith was the 2016 recipient of the Américo Paredes Arts and Letters Award. On April 25, 2016, the Américo Paredes Arts and Letters Award was presented to Dr. Hinojosa-Smith to recognize his role in helping to create the discipline of Mexican American Studies through arts and letters. Please visit our Video page to see an interview with Dr. Hinojosa-Smith.
2012
CMAS presented the 2012 Américo Paredes Arts and Letters Award to Lourdes Portillo. Mexico-born and Chicana identified, Lourdes Portillo's films have focused on the search for Latino identity. She has worked in a richly varied range of forms, from television documentary to satirical video-film collage.The awards ceremony included a screening of La Ofrenda: The Days of the Dead (1988) and a master-class conversation with Professor Charles Ramirez Berg (Radio-Television-Film). The ceremony took place on Thursday, May 3, 2012 in the Auditorium of the Student Activity Center (SAC).
2009
The first recipient of the Américo Paredes Arts and Letters Award was the poet, novelist, short story writer, and essayist, Ana Castillo. Long considered one of the leading voices to emerge from the life experiences of Chicanas, Ana Castillo is a prolific author whose work has been critically acclaimed and widely anthologized in the United States and abroad. The ceremony was held on May 5, 2009 at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center.
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