Professors Isabel Molina-Guzmán and Angharad N. Valdivia have been awarded the Charles H. Woolbert Research Award from the National Communication Association for their article "Brain, Brow, and Booty: Latina Iconicity in U.S. Popular Culture."
The award recognizes a journal article or book chapter that was published at least 10 years ago who has influenced the field of communication and reflects the diversity of the discipline's scholarly pursuits. Molina-Guzmán and Valdivia's article was published in The Communication Review in 2004.
Their article examines the representational politics surrounding Salma Hayek, Frida Kahlo, and Jennifer Lopez in contemporary U.S. culture and explores the gendered and racialized signifiers surrounding them as symbols of Latinidad and Latinas. They also examine the related processes of producing and policing Latina bodies and identities in films and magazines.
In the announcement the National Communication Association said:
"Molina-Guzmán and Valdivia establish a foundational framework for analyzing Latina visibility at the intersections of race, gender, embodiment and media production. Drawing on interdisciplinary conversations about racialized embodiment, the authors identify colonial histories that continue to structure media narratives. Over time, this framework has enabled generations of scholars to extend and refine analyses of Latinidad, media power, belonging and cultural citizenship. Its influence extends beyond communication to ethnic and racial Studies, sociology, psychology, feminist, media and gender studies, among others."
Isabel Molina-Guzmán is associate dean for Student Academic Affairs in the College of LAS and professor of Latina/Latino studies and communication, and Angharad N. Valdivia is emerita professor of Latina/Latino studies and the Institute of Communications Research.
They will be formally recognized at the 112th NCA Convention during the NCA Award Presentation on Saturday, November 21, in New Orleans, Louisiana.