Jose Limon

Biography

José E. Limón received the lifetime distinguished scholarly achievement award in 2018 from the Western Literature Association and the American Folklore Society’s Américo Paredes Prize for distinguished folklore scholarship. His four books include Mexican Ballads, Chicano Poems: History and Influence in Mexican-American Social Poetry  (University of California Press, 1992), which received an “Honorable Mention” award for the University of Chicago Folklore Prize for a “distinguished contribution to folklore scholarship.” His second book, Dancing with the Devil: Society and Cultural Poetics in Mexican-American South Texas  (University of Wisconsin Press, 1994) was named as the winner of the 1996 American Ethnological Society Senior Scholar Prize for “a vital and contentious contribution to ethnology.” A third book, American Encounters: Greater Mexico, the United States, and the Erotics of Culture, appeared with Beacon Press in 1998. His most recent book is Américo Paredes: Culture and Critique (University of Texas Press, 2012). He has also edited the writings of Jovita Gonzalez, Texas historian and folklorist, in two volumes,  Caballero: A Historical Novel  (Texas A&M University Press, 1995) and Dew on the Thorn  (Arte Publico Press, 1997). At present, he is retired in Long Beach, CA. and at work on a book, The Streets of Laredo: Modernity and its Discontents.