Miguel Valerio, assistant professor of Spanish in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has won a 2021–22 Career Enhancement Fellowship from the Institute for Citizens & Scholars.
Launched in 2001 and funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Career Enhancement Fellowships seek to increase the presence of underrepresented junior and other faculty members in the humanities, social sciences and the arts. Fellows are awarded a sabbatical stipend as well as a research, travel or publication stipend and matched with a mentor from a network of tenured former fellows.
Valerio will be revising the manuscript of his first book, “Sovereign Joy: Afro-Mexican Festive Practices, 1539-1640,” under contract with Cambridge University Press. “Sovereign Joy” studies the performance of festive black kings and queens in Mexico City between 1539 and 1640. The book shows how Afro-Mexicans formed community, developed Creole culture, and used their festive customs to negotiate their standing in colonial society.
Valerio’s teaching and research explore the African diaspora in the literature and culture of the Iberian world.
