Eighteenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

Music has been utilized as a coping mechanism for various minorities throughout the United States since historians began documenting sociomusical phenomena. Mariachi music was declared a national symbol of mexicanidad in 1930 following years of sociopolitical turmoil. This paper traces how mariachi became synonymous with mexicanidad and is now utilized to represent Mexican immigrants who have been minoritized in response to anti-immigrant policies specifically enacted between 2015-December 2019. Five mariachi protests– Occupy Lafayette Park, Schlossberg/Tapatio, Trump Tower 2016, Chase Protest, and Mirrorachi– are analyzed discussing how the power music can declare immigrant autonomy in an anti-immigrant Western-centric political environment. “The Mariachi Protesta: Border Policies and Immigrant Autonomy” seeks to address how racial inequality between the Mexican immigrant population in the United States has been fueled by the enactment of the 2015 “Build the Wall” border policy. By analyzing how mariachi has been used to express mexicanidad in protest, I propose that music can be used as an intermediary tool of protest where the Mexican immigrant community can express autonomy. Systematic racism is addressed through a critical analysis of the Border Policy’s tendency to fuel anti-immigrant sentiment. Mariachi is described as a tool that can address social injustice through identity expression in peaceful protest policy responses.