Southwest Texas 29th Annual Meeting of the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Association Hyatt Albuquerque February 13 – 16, 2008 www.swtxpcaca.org 2008 “White Buffalo” by Steve Hapy th 29 Annual Meeting of the SW/TX PCA/ACA Welcome Message ¡Bienvenido a Albuquerque! To celebrate our 29th annual conference, we are pleased to return to Albuquerque, a city known for its hospitality, splendid landscapes, rich cultures, and generosity of spirit. With participants from across the country and around the world, we’re excited about this year’s presentations and wide-ranging methodologies. Since our founding by Dr. Peter C. Rollins in the 1970s to create a forum for the interdisciplinary study of the Southwestern region, we have grown to represent over 70+ areas of focus in the fields of popular and American culture. Since our inception, the SW/TX PCA/ACA has aimed to promote an innovative and nontraditional academic movement in Humanities and Social Sciences. We desire to provide an outlet for scholars, writers, and others interested in popular culture and to share our ideas and papers in a professional atmosphere. A core value of the organization is the belief that understanding of national, or even global, concerns first begins with regional and local learning. The SW/TX PCA/ACA enjoys an affiliation with the National Popular and American Culture Associations founded by Ray B. Browne and directed by John F. Bratzel. In the spirit of those dedicated individuals who helped to make our organization what it is today, I invite all of you to look at our impressive list of areas and to acknowledge all of those Area Chairs who have worked diligently to coordinate engaging panels with recognized experts and innovative thinkers. Our Area Chairs, all of whom lead demanding and interesting lives, work hard all year to make this conference a success. When you see our Area Chairs, take a moment to introduce yourself and thank them for their work. In addition to our many conference offerings and special events to which you are all invited, we offer yearly numerous graduate student awards in the areas of Popular Culture, American Culture, Western Studies, European Popular Culture, Biography, Creative Writing, Texas Culture, Folklore, and Women in Popular Culture. We’re pleased this year to offer again a special Albuquerque Convention and Visitors Bureau Award for Southwestern Culture with particular emphasis on food culture, Native American cultures of the region, Southwestern art, Southwestern-focused collections and collectibles, or Route 66. Please plan to attend our graduate student award recognition event to honor our graduate student winners and future leaders of our profession. We also like to thank here the Albuquerque Convention and Visitor’s Bureau and the Charles Redd’s Center for Western Studies for its generosity and support of our graduate students. While you are here, please take advantage of the many cultural activities and dining opportunities Albuquerque has to offer. We feel certain you will come to understand as we do how the state of New Mexico is truly a Land of Enchantment. We hope everybody will enjoy the conference and our fine hotel host, learn much, and plan to return next year. PROGRAM CONTENTS Phil Heldrich & Ken Dvorak i 2008 Southwest Texas Thanks, Credits, and Kudos The work of organizing a conference requires the efforts of many people. The SW/TX PCA/ACA would like to give special thanks here to Sally Sanchez, Conference Coordinator. Sally labors tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure the planning goes smoothly at all levels. She responds year round to literally hundreds of queries and requests in what might be described as a veritable freshet of emails. She’s also the creator of our program layout and our database. She diligently tracks Area Chair requests and presenter requests with expertise and patience. Her many talents and labors are very much appreciated. We also thank Karen Dvorak who has given much of her time to the organization. You might recognize her from the conference registration table, but she works behind the scenes throughout the year with organizational planning and scheduling. Tilly Garcia-Slaten, who has volunteered her time to the organization for the past four years, also plays a crucial role in helping to make participant registration at the conference run smoothly and for choosing the art work that graces our official conference program. Thanks as well to Phil’s mom, Connie, who has enjoyed lending a hand to the team. Special thanks goes to our expert Web Master, Lacy Landrum. She continues to volunteer her time maintaining our SW/TX web site (http://www.h-net.org/~swpca) and providing our world-wide audience with updated information about the SW/TX organization. A very large thank you goes to the Albuquerque, Hyatt Regency Hotel, whose professionalism and expert staff makes this event a truly outstanding conference for our presenters and guests. We also want to thank those serving on the judging panel for the Peter C. Rollins Book Award—Hugh Foley, Delia C. Gillis, and Scott Zeman. Special distinction as well needs to go to those who have served as our Graduate Award judges—Phil Heldrich, Ken Dvorak, Rhonda Harris Taylor, Lynnea Chapman King, Jack Hutchens, J. Christoph Laucht, Tobias Hochscherf, Jill Patterson, Judith L. Carter, John Bratzel, Diana Cox, Mike Schoenecke, Dennis Cutchins, Kenneth W. Davis, Monica Ganas, Steve Davis, and Christopher Smith. This work takes time and is most appreciated. Lastly, the organization would like to thank Phil Heldrich and Ken Dvorak for their exemplary work as Board Directors. They understand that organizing a yearly conference is not always easy work, but they continue to give of themselves and their time because they believe in the organization and what it accomplishes. Kudos to All! SW/TX PCA/ACA ii th 29 Annual Meeting of the SW/TX PCA/ACA Peter C. Rollins Annual Book Award for the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Associations This prize is awarded annually to the ‗best‘ book in popular culture studies and/or American culture studies. Preferred consideration will be given to books on the histories and cultures, including popular cultures, of the Southwest and the West. The SW/TX PCA/ACA also encourages submission by members of the organization. Prize-winning volumes receiving this award are distinguished by their methodology and research; monographs, reference works, and anthologies are eligible. Designed to reward genuine research and lucid expression, the award bears the name of Peter C. Rollins, Co-Founder of the organizations. In reference works such as The Columbia Companion to American History on Film and anthologies such as Hollywood as Historian, he showcased the word of many members. Over a period of thirty years, he helped both junior and senior scholars to do their best work in his role as Associate Editor of the Journal of Popular Culture and the Journal of American Culture, as the former Director of the, Center for the Study of Film and History, and as Publisher of the journal, Film & History: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies (see: filmandhistory.org) Prize –winners are announced at the annual SW/TX Conference and presented with a plaque recognizing their achievement and scholarly contributions to the study of popular and American culture. 2006 AWARD WINNER M. Elise Marubbio (Augsburg College), Killing the Indian Maiden: Images of Native American Women in Film, (University of Kentucky Press, 2006) PREVIOUS WINNERS Wheeler Winston Dixon (University of Nebraska), Lost in the Fifties: Recovering Phantom Hollywood, (Southern Illinois UP, 2005). James M. Welsh (Salisbury University) for his career-long creativity in literature/film books and journals. For additional information and submission guidelines for the 2008 Peter C. Rollins Book Award, contact Dr. Ken Dvorak, Chairperson, Rollins Book Award Committee at the PROGRAM CONTENTS conference or by email at [email protected] iii 2008 Southwest Texas Book Display Times: February 13, 14, and 15 from 9:00 – 5:00 p.m. February 16 from 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Location: Atrium, 2nd floor Film & History McFarland Publisher‘s Texas Tech University Press The Edwin Mellen Press The Scholar‘s Choice Utah State University Press Please support our publishers who have chose to support our event. Your purchase and textbook orders for classes through these publishers make their efforts worthwhile. Remember, they value your work to make the investment to participate in this conference. “If it is not popular, then it is not culture” SW/TX PCA/ACA iv th 29 Annual Meeting of the SW/TX PCA/ACA Annual Meeting Announcement JOIN US FOR OUR TH 30 ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION! THE 2009 ANNUAL SOUTHWEST/TEXAS POPULAR CULTURE ASSOCIATION AMERICAN CULTURE ASSOCIATION Hyatt Regency Conference Hotel Albuquerque, New Mexico February 18 – 21, 2009 This signature event will celebrate thirty years of success (1979-2009) featuring keynote speakers, special guests, plenary sessions, award ceremonies and special evening events. Complete conference details can be found at: www.swtxpcaaca.org We Will Be There, Will You? Dr. Phil Heldrich, Executive Director Dr. Ken Dvorak, Secretary/Treasurer 2009 SW/TX PCA/ACA – Celebration Committee PROGRAM CONTENTS v 2008 Southwest Texas Special Events WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13 8:00am – 6:00pm 2nd Floor Conference Registration 7:00pm – 9:00pm Pavilion IV Fire & Ice Reception Honoring the Presenters and Guests of