Description
Book SynopsisAlex E. Chávez explores the contemporary politics of Mexican migrant cultural expression manifest in huapango arribeño, a musical genre from north-central Mexico that helps Mexicans build communities on both sides of the US border and give voice to the transnational migrant experience.
Trade Review"Chavez uses the songs of the borderlands to talk about immigration into the US and the culture that has sprung up around the border. He pulls in both history and current situations – and best of all, his own experiences as a Mexican academic and musician – to create a multidimensional, gorgeous book." -- Alejandra Oliva * Remezcla *
"Bold and engaging. . . . Teeming with moments of intimacy, and a genuine attention to humanity. . . . Courageous and timely. . . .
Sounds of Crossing will be of interest not only to scholars across disciplines and musical genres, as it relates aurality and aesthetics to political and social life, but also to non-academic lovers of music. This is a book of humanity, and a book of stories." -- Nandini Rupa Banerjee-Datta * Current Musicology *
"Alex E. Chávez has made an important contribution in the fields of cultural anthropology, ethnomusicology, folklore, history, and immigration studies with his work,
Sounds of Crossing. . . . A must read for those interested in the lives, experiences, and music of undocumented people in the United States." -- José R. López Morín * Anthropos *
"Few scholarly works have attempted to link the study of popular music and literary practices to the experience of international migration and fewer still have done so in as compelling a way as Chávez has done." -- David Spener * Bulletin of Latin American Research *
"
Sounds of Crossing succeeds in introducing Huapango Arribeno to the world, articulately weaving between the daunting cliffs of anthropological theory and the lush valleys of sung poetry and anecdote, carrying the mellifluous sounds of Espanol and a vihuela on its back, greeting across space and time, singing the songs of the unheard." -- Renata Yazzie * Linguistic Anthropology *
"The rigor and depth of both the ethnographic and musical work in this text, and the joining of the two, is a rare find in contemporary ethnography." -- Kristina M. Jacobsen * Anthropological Quarterly *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments xi
Introduction: American Border/Lands 1
1. Aurality and the Long American Century 34
2. Companions of the Calling 62
3. Verses and Flows at the Dawn of Neoliberal Mexico 130
4. Regional Sounds: Mexican Texas and the Semiotics of Citizenship 198
5. From Potosi to Tennessee: Clandestine Desires and the Poetic Border 232
6. Huapango sin Fronteras: Mapping What Matters and Other Paths 278
Conclusion: They Dreamed of Bridges 316
Epilogue: "Born in the U.S.A." 327
Appendix A: Musical Transcriptions 331
Appendix B: Improvised Saludados 349
Notes 361
References 387
Index 411
