Norma Elia Cantú

Norma Elia Cantú (born January 3, 1947) is a Chicana postmodernist writer and a professor of English at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Early life and education

She was born in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico to Florentino Cantú Vargas and the former Virginia Ramón Becerra. She was reared in Laredo, Texas, the seat of Webb County, and attended public schools there. Prior to her UTSA professorship, Cantu taught in Laredo at Texas A&M International University.

Cantú received her A.A. degree from Laredo Community College in 1970. She received her bachelor of science degree in English and political science from Texas A&M International University in Laredo, from which she graduated summa cum laude in 1973. She received her master of science degree in English with a minor in political science from Texas A&I University‑Kingsville in 1976 and her Ph.D. in English from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1982.

Awards and recognition

• 2002: Elli Köngäs Maranda Prize from the Women’s Section of the American Folklore Society, for Chicana Traditions: Change and Continuity (co-editor and contributor)
• 2002: American Educational Studies Association Critics' Choice Award, Race in the College Classroom (contributor)
• 2003: Américo Paredes Prize, American Folklore Society
• 2003: Distinguished Scholar Award from the Division on Chicana and Chicano Literature of the Modern Languages Association
• 2008: National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies Scholar of the Year
• 2008: Cátedra Laboris from the Universidad de Monterrey, Monterrey, Nuevo León
• 2010: Exceptional Texas Woman, by the Veteran Feminists of America, Texas, March 19, Dallas, Texas
• 2010: UTSA Globalization Award, April
• 2010: Elvira Cordero de Cisneros Macondo Foundation Award
• 2011: Fellow of the American Folklore Society

Publications

Books

• Forthcoming. Soldiers of the Cross: Los matachines de la Santa Cruz. Texas A&M University Press
• Co-editor with Inés Hernández Ávila, Entre Malinche y Guadalupe: Tejanas in Literature and Art. 2002
• "Los Tecolotes," in ¡Arriba Baseball! A Collection of Latino/a Baseball Fiction. VAO Publishing. 2013
• Editor. Flor y Ciencia: Chicanas in Mathematics, Science and Engineering. AAAS Adelante Project. 2006
• Co-editor with Olga Najera Ramírez. Changing Chicana Traditions, University of Illinois Press. 2001
• Telling to Live: Latina Feminist Testimonios. Co-editor with the Latina Feminst Group. Individual pieces included: "Getting there cuando no hay camino," "A Working Class Brujas Fears," and two poems: "Migraine" and "Reading the Body." Duke University Press.*Santuarios: Program Essay. The Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center Rockefeller Gateways Program Performance. 2000
• "Realidad Fronteriza" in Cariatides. 2000
• "Police Blotter," Colorado Review. 2000
• Canícula: Imágenes de una niñez fronteriza. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1999
• "Diamond," A Quien Corresponda, Revista Literaria, Cd. Victoria, Tamps. 1999
• "Tino" and "Perpetuo Socorro," in Aztlán in Viet Nam, University of California Press. 1998
• "Capirotada" in Stirring Prose, Texas A&M Press. 1998
• "Adios en Madrid," Proyecto Scheherazade, electronic journal. 1998
• "El luto," in Ventana Abierta. 1998
• "Decolonizing the Mind" and "Trojan Horse" in Floricanto Sí: U.S. Latina Poetry. New York: Penguin. 1998
• Canícula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la frontera. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, paperback edition. 1997
• "Bailando y Cantando," short story, "Las diosas," "Decolonizing the Mind," and "Fiestas de diciembre," poems in Blue Mesa Review, number 9, University of New Mexico. 1997
• "Letters Home/Letters from Home," sporadic column of poetry and prose in the monthly LareDOS. 1996.
• "Tino" and "Papi," in In Short. Judith Kitchen and Mary Paumier Jones, eds. New York: Norton. 1995
• Canícula: Snapshots of a Girlhood en la frontera. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. Winner, 1995 Premio Aztlán Literary Prize
• "Nebraska Family: A Tryptich," Nebraska Humanist.1994
• Chapters 42-44 from Canícula and "Action, Thought, Spirit"(poem) in Prairie Schooner.1992 *"Snapshots of a Girlhood en la frontera," in The Texas Humanist
• "Se me enchina el cuerpo al oir tu cuento" short story New Chicano/a Literature, University of Arizona Press.
• "Unemployed", poem, Huehuetitlan. 1983
• "Untitled", poem, Huehuetitlan. 1983

Book reviews

• 1995 "Fiesta, fe, y cultura," in American Folklore Society Journal.
• 1995 "Carry Me Like Water" in The Washington Post, Book World.
• 1995 "My History Not Yours: The Formation of Mexican American Autobiography," in Western Historical Quarterly.
• 1993 "No Short Journeys: The Interplay of Culture in the History and Literature of the Borderlands," in Western Historical Quarterly.
• 1992 "Footlights Across the Border: A History of Spanish Language Professional Theater on the Texas Stage," Journal of Popular Culture.
• 1991 "Mixed Blessings," in Texas Humanist, Spring.
• 1984 "Woman of Her Word," in La Red/The Net.
• 1984 "Cuentos: Stories by Latinas," in La Red/The Net.
• 1979 "Chicano Voices," in English in Texas.
• 1978 "Selina," in Prairie Schooner.
• 1978 "César Chávez: Autobiography of La Causa," in Prairie Schooner.

Further reading

• Art at Our Doorstep: San Antonio Writers and Artists featuring Norma Elia Cantú. Edited by Nan Cuba and Riley Robinson (Trinity University Press, 2008).

External links

• Homepage at UTSA