March 16, 2026
A team from the Institute of Communications Research, including two alumni and an emerita professor, have co-edited the book “Quinceañeras: Latinidades and Girlhood in Popular Culture” (University of Illinois Press).
Jillian M. Báez (PhD ’09, communications and media, ICR), Diana Leon-Boys (PhD ’20, communications and media, ICR), and Institute of Communications Research Professor Emerita Angharad N. Valdivia (PhD ’91, communications and media, ICR) edited a collection that draws on the expanding field of girlhood studies to examine the increasing visibility of the event and the figure of the quinceañera herself in pop culture.
The contributors focus on quinceañeras as a trope for English-language media’s treatment of Latina girlhoods and Latinx cultures but also examine how use of the quinceañera charts openness and inclusivity within Latinx culture.
Valdivia was part of an ICR team that also organized an exhibit on quinceañeras in 2022, with current ICR doctoral student Stephanie Pérez and alum Ariana Cano (PhD ’24, communications and media, ICR), who were also book contributors.
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