Rivera, Rowena A.

Identified Persons Photograph Collection, Pict 992-014

Rowena A. Rivera received B.A. and M.A. degrees in Romance Languages and Literatures at the University of Texas, El Paso. Her Ph.D. in Contemporary Latin American Literature is from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

She taught Spanish, French, and Portuguese at Colorado State University, and has taught Latin American literature, Spanish language courses, Hispanic folk traditions, and Chicano literature at institutions including the University of Colorado, Colorado College, and the University of New Mexico. Rivera has authored and co-authored works on New Mexico folk art, Penitentes, Latin American literature and on New Mexico colonial poetry. She has been the recipient of research grants from the NEA, NEH, and New Mexico Arts Division. She has received several awardsand recognitions, including a Fulbright Lectureship and Research Award to the Universidad Nacional del Paraguay, and is listed in the New Mexico Folklore Honor Roll, Zimmerman Library, University of New Mexico.

Edwin Berry "was one of the most notable interpreters of his community's oral history, its ancient and recent folk music, and its religious songs and rituals. In each of his performances, whether in high sacred context, in his many public presentations, or with his family, he kept alive his village's artistic and social history. By means of his extroardinary memory and voice, Mr. Berry was an important guardian of Tomé's collective remembrances. He conserved in music and story his ancestors' memories of beloved persons and of special events, kept alive his community's religious ritualism, and redeemed from oblivion that which his forebears considered essential for material and spiritual survival. "

Source: Rivera, Rowena A. "From Memory to Song: Edwin Berry and Traditional Verbal Art in Tomé" (Talk delivered at the University of New Mexico Valencia Campus, October 5, 2000). A copy of this talk is included in the print collection finding aid in the Anderson Reading Room.

From the guide to the Edwin Berry Oral History Interviews and Songs, 1979-2000 (bulk 1979-1982), (University of New Mexico. Center for Southwest Research.)