Américo Parades, Ballad Scholarship, and Cultural Studies

Abstract

Américo Paredes became known as the leading scholar of Mexican-American studies on the strength of his classic 1958 study of the balladry of Greater Mexico, "With His Pistol in His Hand." The emerging Chicano ethno-nationalist movement quickly pressed his theme of Mexican-American cultural resistance expressed through balladry into political and educational service. Lost in the process, however, was the fact that Paredes' study was a significant departure from previous ballad scholarship and anticipated the advent of cultural studies.