Description
The Mexican Folk Narrative project was the
result of Elaine K. Miller's PhD dissertation. With the aid of the
distinguished scholar in the field of Hispanic folklore, Dr. Stanley
Robe, Ms. Miller developed a dissertation proposal that involved
collecting, annotating, and analyzing folk narrative tales and legends
from the Mexican American community in the Los Angeles area. With the
support of a National Defense Foreign Language (NDFL) fellowship, Ms.
Miller's study was furthered by her initial contacts made with the
Guadalupana Society. These initial contacts grew into a network that
eventually became the unique set of narratives that comprised the
publication of The Mexican Folk Narrative from the Los Angeles
Area.
In addition to this project Ms. Miller has produced a number
of illustrated presentations on the Chicano murals in the area, based,
among them are: Charles Felix (Estrada Courts project in Los Angeles),
Judith Baca (The Great Wall in Burbank), and Manuel Unzueta (the
Quarantina Street Mural in Santa Barbara).
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Background
Elaine Miller completed her BA in Spanish and French at Millikin
University in Decatur, Illinois, and her MA in Spanish and Latin
American Studies at Indiana University. She completed her PhD in Spanish
Language and Literature at the University of California at Los Angeles.
Her fieldwork resulted in the publication of Mexican Folk Narrative from
the Los Angeles Area, a Memoir of the American Folklore Society (Univ.
of Texas Press, 1973).For the past 30 years she has taught at
various colleges, most recently at the State University of New York,
College at Brockport , where she was Dean of the Alternate College,
Director of Women's Studies, Chair of the Department of Foreign
Languages and Literatures, and directed a Peace Corps/College Degree
Program that trained math and science majors for service in Latin
America and Francophone Africa.Ms. Miller retired in 2004, and
continues to do presentations and workshops and produce videos on
editorial cartooning, through e k miller Productions
(www.ekmillerproductions.com). Her first video, "Running Mate: Gender
and Politics in the Editorial Cartoons" (1993) is based on portrayals of
Geraldine Ferraro from the 1984 Vice Presidential campaign. Her second
video is titled "Drawing Conclusions: Editorial Cartoonists Consider
Hilary Rodham Clinton" (1998). Both are in distribution with First Run
Icarus Films. Her most recent video production is "Trailblazer: The
Editorial Cartoons of Etta Hulme" (2004), is on Ms. Hulme who is the
editorial cartoonist for the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, one of the very
few women in the field.
Restrictions
For students and faculty researchers of UCLA, all others by
permission only. Copyright has not been assigned to the Chicano Studies
Research Center. All requests for permission to publish or quote from
manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Archivist and/or the
Librarian at the Chicano Studies Research Center Library. Permission for
publication is given on behalf of the UCLA Chicano Studies Research
Center as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include
or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be
obtained.
Availability
Access is available by appointment for UCLA student and faculty
researchers as well as independent researchers. To view the collection
or any part of it, please contact the archivist at
archivist@chicano.ucla.edu or the librarian at yretter@chicano.ucla.edu