Music Scholar Returns to IU

Indiana's renowned Folklore Institute invited last summer's fellow, ethnomusicologist Candida Jaquez, back this year to reprise her popular course entitled "Mexicano/Chicano Musical Expressions." Even though students may feel unfamiliar with this subject matter, Jaquez tells her students that they know more about this type of music than they think they do: "This music is pervasive in American culture-they've heard it in the background of their lives. The salsa, mambo, but they don't know the history of it, and that is what we learn in this class." To acquaint students with what she calls "a whole new sonic world," Jaquez provides them with various musical examples and requires them to keep a listening journal where they record their responses and insights into what they have heard. Then, Jaquez and her students explore the music together as a way to discuss how portrayals and cultural stereotypes about Chicano culture emerge and are interpreted in mainstream culture. Because she taught the same course here at IU last summer, Jaquez was able this summer with to revise this course based on her experiences last year. She found that students both need and enjoy specific musical examples, so this year she spent a great deal more class time simply listening to the required music. Like last summer, Jaquez has found her students to be a receptive and appreciative audience. She says, "Students here are wonderful and really open to learning." Many members of her course were graduate students of Folklore, and Jaquez even had the opportunity to sit on one student's Masters exam committee, an opportunity she enjoyed a great deal. "As fellows, we know we may be teaching courses in areas that usually don't get much representation. That makes people excited about it and it makes it fun."

From Bloomington, Jaquez travels directly to Tempe, Arizona to begin a visiting professorship in Arizona State University's Chicana/o Studies Department. There, she will be responsible for teaching two courses this fall: Chicano Folklore and Introduction to Chicano Studies. She looks forward to being able to provide a musical element to these courses that they may not have had in the past. In addition, Jaquez has been chosen for the 1998-99 Residency Roster for the Arizona Commission for the Arts. This position authorizes her to propose and take part in programs funded by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. In conjunction with these programs, Jaquez would work with local schools and communities, making presentations and increasing awareness of and involvement in Chicano culture. Jaquez is delighted that the state legislature wants to recognize the Chicano contribution to the local culture; she feels honored and excited to be included in the effort to raise awareness of these contributions in Arizona communities and schools. Moving to Arizona will provide an exciting change for Jaquez who has been completing her Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In addition to looking forward to the warmer weather, Jaquez states that she is excited to move to a state where the Chicano population is large and dynamic. "If I want to do some musical research, I only have to drive a few miles to reach a Chicano community."