Commitment

Name: Xóchitl Chávez

Assistant Professor in Ethnomusicology

UCR Music Department

I was born in Pueblo, Colorado. My mother was a bilingual elementary school teacher and my father worked in the meatpacking industry. Despite our limited resources, we were always immersed in cultural activities, charreadas (Mexican Rodeos), community based performances, the arts, etc. My parents did everything they could to make sure we participated in events, whether it be going to Native American Pow-Wows, or traveling to Mexico to partake in festivities from Sierra del Chihuahua. Growing up in a bilingual and bicultural home, I lived multiple cultural experiences.

Coming from the working class agricultural community, I experienced plenty of classism. When a teacher asked me what my favorite food was, I said “Filet mignon”. She responded with, “How do you know about that? I know your family and they can’t afford that.” My father was a meat cutter, so I had it all the time. At a young age, I began to recognize moments of ethnic xenophobia and classist statements in southern Colorado. Racial stereotyping was quite pervasive; you were marked as of Italian heritage, children of Mexican immigrants.

Education was an important aspect for my family. Our table was always covered with school work. My mother went back to school to get her Master's degree in education from Colorado State University- Pueblo. Having three children and working, it took her longer; however, she succeeded. Seeing both my mother and brother’s dedication and hard work while studying at University of Colorado, Boulder, I decided to attend the same. While at the University of Colorado, Boulder I was part of the Ronald E. McNair Post Baccalaureate Program (TRIOS Program) which took underrepresented students and prepared them for graduate school. I did research in Chiapas, Mexico, completed my honors thesis, and graduated Cum Laude. With the TRIO Programs, I received a fellowship to go to UT Austin for my Master's. My research continued and I began to work for a UT Performing Arts Center in Austin. There I focused on community relations, as I noticed that cultural centers were attracting only a certain demographic. I wanted to make these shows more accessible to youth in the local Austin K-12 school district by creating educational curriculum for the arts.

Then I went to UC Santa Cruz to pursue my PhD in Cultural Anthropology with an emphasis on Latin American and Latino/a Studies. In 2005, I began new research in Oaxaca, Mexico studying cultural performances of indigenous communities such as music, dance, and local festivals. My doctoral research documents how the migrant Oaxacan communities in California recreate the Guelaguetza festival in LA and Santa Cruz. This research led to a postdoctoral fellowship awarded at the Smithsonian Institution in 2013-2014. After working in Washington DC for a year, I applied to the UC President’s Postdoctoral Fellowship program where I proposed to study brass bands in LA, thus bringing me to the UCR Department of Music. I chose UCR because of the possibility of making an impact with the student population on this campus and the local community.

In the last two years, Dr. Chavez continues her research and offers new courses with a focus on Mexican/Latin American music, cultural performances, activism, and gender analysis. Many students have stated to Dr. Chavez that the Music and Political Protest Movements class prepared them to teach outside of the university setting and within their communities.

On January 27, 2018, Dr. Chavez coordinated a music program with 140+ Oaxacan musicians, and four pioneering Zapotec brass bands that reside in Los Angeles. UCR has many U.S. Tribal affiliated students, as well as indigenous students from Oaxaca.The fact that there was an event to showcase their music, traditions, and identity had a profound effect on both the university and the local community.

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