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For more than four generations, Salvadorans have made themselves at home in the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and have transformed the region, contributing their labor, ingenuity, and culture to the making of a thriving but highly neglected and overlooked community.

In Avocado Dreams, Ana Patricia Rodríguez draws from her own positionality as a Salvadoran transplant to examine the construction of the unique Salvadoran cultural imaginary made in the greater D.C. area. Through a careful reading of the creative works of local writers, performers, artists, and artivists, Rodríguez demonstrates how the people have remade themselves in relation to the cultural, ethnoracial, and sociolinguistic diversity of the area. She discusses how Salvadoran people have developed unique, intergenerational Salvadoreñidades, manifested in particular speech and symbolic acts, ethnoracial embodiments, and local identity formations in relation to the diverse communities, most notably Black Washingtonians, who co-inhabit the region.

This timely and relevant work not only enriches our understanding of Salvadoran diasporic experiences but also contributes significantly to broader discussions on migration, identity, and cultural production in the United States.
 

Jyana S. Browne has been awarded the Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei Prize for Japanese Theatre Scholarship for her article “Puppetry Networks of the Island of Naoshima” in Theatre Research International 49, no. 2 (2024).

Presented annually by the Association for Asian Performance (AAP), this prize recognizes an early career scholar for an outstanding article, chapter, or essay on Japanese theatre or performance published in English during the calendar year. The award is designed to promote and encourage the study of Japanese theatre and performance, honoring emerging voices who advance the field.

Jyana S. Browne has been awarded the Nancy Staub Publication Award for her book chapter “Realisms in Japan’s Eighteenth-Century Puppet Theatre” in Realisms in East Asian Performing Arts (University of Michigan Press, 2023).

The award, given annually by UNIMA-USA (the North American Center of Union Internationale de la Marionnette), recognizes outstanding scholarship in puppetry arts. Named in honor of Nancy Lohman Staub—an original member of UNIMA-USA known for her leadership, writing, and contributions to the Center for Puppetry Arts Museum in Atlanta—the award celebrates scholarship that deepens understanding of puppetry worldwide.