Eddie Tafoya Ph.D.
English & Philsophy
Professor
Phone: 505-454-3207
Home/Cell Phone: 505-429-0129
Room: DH-143
Email: eddiet19@nmhu.edu
Faculty Information
Overview
Current Position
Professor, Department of English and Philosophy, New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, New Mexico. Initial appointment August 1996. granted 2001; promoted to Associate Professor 2001; Promoted to Full Professor May 2011.
Graduate Degrees
Doctorate of Philosophy, Creative Writing, Binghamton University (State University of New York), Binghamton, New York, 1997.
Areas of Concentration: Creative Writing, Literature of the American West, Chicano Literature, The Bible as Literature. Dissertation: Parfitinos: A Novel of Fixed Points in Space-Time.
Master of Arts, American Studies, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1992. Areas of Concentration: Southwest Hispanic Studies, Chicano Literature, The Pachuco.
Finding the Buddha, published by Pen-L Publishing, Fayetteville, Arkansas, July 2015.
Icons of African-American Comedy: A Joke of a Different Color.
Greenwood Press, Santa Barbara, California. Publication date: June 30, 2011.
The Legacy of the Wisecrack: Stand-up Comedy as the Great American Literary Form. Universal/BrownWalker Press, Boca Raton, Florida. April 2009.
Phenomenological Approaches to Popular Culture.
Michael T. Carroll and Eddie Tafoya, Editors. Bowling Green University Popular Press, March 2000.
The Duke City Comedy League, episode 1.7, October 23, 2010, headliner. Broadcast on KASY-MY50 TV, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Duke City Comedy League, “First Annual Roast,” Part 1, November 20, 2010, roastee. Broadcast on KASY-MY50 TV, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Duke City Comedy League, “First Annual Roast,” Part 2, November 27, 2010, roastee. Broadcast on KASY-MY50 TV, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Duke City Comedy League, episode 1.5, December 4, 2010, headliner. Broadcast on KASY-MY50 TV, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Duke City Comedy League, “New Year’s Day Show,” January 1, 2011, feature act. Broadcast on KASY-MY50 TV, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Duke City Comedy League, episode 1.18, January 29, 2011, feature act. Broadcast on KASY-MY50 TV, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The After After Party with Steven Michael Quezada, episode 2.44. October 8, 2011. Comedian. Broadcast on KASY-MY50 TV, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Film Appearance
Alone Up There: A Journey to Understand Stand-up Comedy. Dir. Sean Shaul. PrairieCoast Films. Original release September 20, 2012.
Other Professional Publications
Encyclopedia Articles
“Lenny Bruce,” “Dick Gregory,” “Richard Pryor,” and “Mort Sahl,” for the volume American Political Humor: Masters of Satire and their Impact on U.S Policy and Culture, which is set to be published by ABC-CLI/Greenwood Press out of Santa Barbara, CA, in early 2019.
Essay
“The High Road to Taos,” Night Writers with photographs by Laurie Tumer and essays by Eddie Tafoya and Laurie Tumer. Published by MagCloud, 2015
Critical Essays
“Born in East L.A.: Cheech as the Chicano Moses,” published in The Journal of Popular Culture, vol. 26:4, Spring 1993.
“The Holy Fool In Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” in Phenomenological Approaches to Popular Culture, Michael T. Carroll and Eddie Tafoya, Editors. Bowling Green State University Press, 1999.
Fiction
“Joto Zanahorias Is Dead,” published in SYZYGY: A Magazine of the Literary Arts; Fall/Winter 1995: vol. 1:1.
“Miguel Comes Home,” published in SYZYGY: A Magazine of the Literary Arts; Spring/Summer 1996: vol. 2:1.
“Miguel,” published in The Blue Mesa Review, Spring 1992.
Comic Essay
“An Overeducated Chicano Turns 30,” in Manila: An Envelope of Writing and Art, Spring 1992.
Biography
“Jason Flores Williams,” in The Dictionary of Literary Biography: Chicano Writers: Third Series. Francisco A. Lomelí and Carl Shirley, editors. Gale Research, Inc., September 1999.
October 25, 2012
“Jokes of a Different Color: the Legacy of African-American Comedy,” presented during the Black History Month events at Northern New Mexico College, Española, NM.
November 29, 2012
“The Spectre of Marxism Is Haunting America or The Whole of Western Comedy Is Footnotes to Chico, Harpo, and Groucho,” Northern New Mexico College, Española, NM., also presented to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Bernalillo, NM, July 15, 2013.
May 4, 2007
“The American Jeremiad from Cotton Mather to Chris Rock,” New Mexico Highlands University Faculty Research Day (a version of this presentation appeared in my monograph
March 29, 2007
“The Most Divine of American Comedies: Richard Pryor Live on the Sunset Strip.” Presented during the Michael T. Carroll Lecture Series, New Mexico Highlands University.
September 7, 2005
“The Jewish Humor Tradition in American Literature,” Congregation Nahalat Shalom, Albuquerque, New Mexico.
August 18, 2005
Guest Speaker, Las Vegas City Schools Staff Orientation, Las Vegas, New Mexico.
March 19-20, 2004
“Stand-Up Comedy: The Great American Literary Form” plus a One-Day Jokewriting Workshop, the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts in San Francisco, California.
August 26, 2001
“I Lost a Buttonhole: Steven Wright’s Postmodern Frontier,” presented at the Literatures of the American West Conference
March 26, 1998
“The Holy Fool in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” presented during the Literatures of the American West Conference, Highlands University, Las Vegas, New Mexico.
July 5, 1996
“Joto Zanahorias Is Dead,” presented during The Society of the Muse of the Southwest’s Summer Writers’ Series, Taos, New Mexico.
April 23, 1995
“Miguel’s Return,” presented at La Mariposa Gallery, Alcalde, New Mexico, as part of National Poetry Month festivities.
April 14, 1991
“Born in East L.A.: Cheech as the Chicano Moses,” presented at the National Association of Chicano Studies Conference in Hermosillo, Mexico.
March 29, 1991
“Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily’ As an Aztec Parable,” presented during the University of New Mexico’s Southwest Symposium.