The Department of English is proud to announce that Associate Professor Mintzi Martínez-Rivera has won this year’s Chicago Folklore Prize for her book, Creating Culture, Performing Community: An Angahuan Wedding Story (Indiana University Press, 2025). The prize is awarded jointly by the American Folklore Society and the University of Chicago. 

The American Folklore Society is a membership organization dedicated to supporting individuals and organizations engaged in the study and advancement of folklore and expressive cultural traditions throughout the world.  First awarded in 1904, the Chicago Folklore Prize is awarded to the author(s) of the best book-length work of folklore scholarship for the year. It is the oldest international award recognizing excellence in folklore scholarship. 

Creating Culture, Performing Community: An Angahuan Wedding Story explores the ways in which the people of Santo Santiago de Angahuan, a P’urhépecha community in the state of Michoacán, México, create and curate their cultural practices and how, by doing so, they perform what it means to be an active member of the P’urhépecha community.  By proposing alternative approaches to understanding indigeneity, Martínez-Rivera showcases how people carefully transform their cultural practices and rearticulate and perform their identities. 

When asked what makes the award so meaningful, Martínez-Rivera pointed to her own identity and heritage. “Writing a book in your second language is hard,” explains Martínez-Rivera. “I worked really hard to strengthen my skills as a writer in English, to the point that I am now a stronger writer in English than in Spanish.”  

Martínez-Rivera is also the first Latina to win in the over 100-year history of this award. She reflects that, “While this is incredibly disheartening given the brilliance of my colleagues and mentors, I know that while I am the first, I will not be the last.” 

Martínez-Rivera also wishes to express gratitude for the communities that have supported her journey, emphasizing that “this book was done for, in, and with community.” 

Congratulations to Professor Martínez-Rivera for this impressive and well-deserved achievement!