In his new book Sounds of Crossing: Music, Migration, and the Aural Poetics of Huapango Arribeño (Duke 2017), Dr. Alex E. Chávez explores the contemporary politics of Mexican migrant cultural expression manifest in the sounds and poetics of huapango arribeño, a musical genre originating from north-central Mexico. In this presentation, he draws on this work to address how Mexican migrants voice desires of recognition and connection through performance, and how such desires have grown sharply political amidst the transnational context of migrant deportability. Dr. Chávez himself has also consistently crossed the boundary between performer and ethnographer in the realms of both academic research and publically engaged work as an artist and producer — experiences with sound, aurality and performance that have shaped his perspective on the disciplinary futures of borderlands anthropology.

Dr. Chávez is an assistant professor at the University of Notre Dame.

Lunch will be served. No RSVP is needed.

This program is open to all eligible individuals. USC Annenberg operates all of its programs and activities consistent with the University’s Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.