Cultural Considerations
Autumn Leaving: The Jazz Guitar Community in Winter
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Peter Laurence
The jazz guitar community is almost an illusion. While vibrant discourse online suggests life, trying to play in real life suggests otherwise. Finding other jazz musicians is difficult, other jazz guitarists more so. This paper examines how the first globally popular genre became a little-known curiosity. It starts with the short career of Eddie Lang, the founder of jazz guitar in the 1920s. He connected an ascendant but racially divided community, which peaked demographically in 1940. From there, it looks at guitarist Danny Cedrone and saxophonist Charlie Parker from 1946 until 1955. Their contrasting responses to a situation of ascending artistry during a demographic decline are examined. Bassist Charles Mingus and his political activism illustrate the peak artistic year of 1959. Duke Ellington's career arcs over most of the story, from the period of Eddie Lang, his post-war faltering, the stunning comeback at Newport in 1956 and what he thought was a peak at the time of his death in 1974. Finally, the paper looks beyond scholarly sources and music to explain what has happened since. The trade press wrings its hands incessantly about the current situation for musical instruments. Linguistics shows what is happening to jazz in terms of bottom to top language death. The revival of klezmer music, notwithstanding its moral imperative that jazz would lack, shows how jazz might become popular again. The current scene in New Orleans also shows some possibilities.
Cross-border Inequalities Among Mixtec Migrant Female Farmworkers in Both Californias
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Evarista Arellano-garcia, Concepción Martínez-Valdés, Lourdes Camarena-Ojinaga, Christine von Glascoe
In the context of globalized market economies increased migration of Mexican indigenous workers to northern Mexico and to the United States together with the feminization of the agricultural labor force have contributed to deepen inequalities that exclude indigenous populations from social benefits, which result in disadvantages marked by social class, gender and ethnic differences, as well as national and international policies. This study discusses the point of view of migrant female indigenous farmworkers on both sides of the border regarding social inequalities. The study took place in two agricultural regions, in Oxnard, California and in the valley of San Quintín in Baja California, where members of the same mixtec families work in the fields on both sides of the border. The objective is to understand from a comparative perspective these women’s perceptions of how their migratory experience and work situation affect their lives and general well-being. Qualitative methods were used, including non-participant observation, participative workshops and individual and group interviews. The study concludes by arguing that a transnational comparative perspective can contribute to deepen our understanding of the multi-factorial and relational dimensions of marginalization and social exclusion of indigenous populations.
Migrant Farm Work, Structural Vulnerability and Health in California and Baja California
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Christine von Glascoe, Lourdes Camarena-Ojinaga, Evarista Arellano-garcia, Concepción Martínez-Valdés
The occupational sub-group of female indigenous migrant industrial farmworkers in Baja California and California is confronted with a number of social difficulties such as language barriers, inadequate health care, and reduced workers' rights, constraints which make it difficult for them to experience a quality of life that may otherwise be available to them. Qualitative research methods, including individual and group interviews, were used to assess working conditions, health and health care among groups of women in San Quintin, Baja California and Oxnard, California. Female workers in both places describe arduous work days that often involve pesticide exposure, unhygienic working conditions, and a lack of basic workers’ rights. Physical complaints include musculoskeletal problems, sunstroke, and skin problems. Access to care, communication with healthcare personnel and general quality of care, are problematic for both groups of workers. Results are interpreted in terms of the patterned social positionality that contributes to structural vulnerability in the industrial farm setting of each country, and that results in abusive labor practices, chronic health conditions, and poor continuity of health care.
Racism in the Education of the Original Native Ethnic Groups Yoreme Mayo and Apaches
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Elvira Martinez, Ernesto Guerra García, Lizbeth Félix Miranda, Víctor Manuel Hernández Fierro
The research reveals how racism is present in the lives of the original natives of the Yoreme-Mayo and Apache ethnic groups. One of the main representations of racism is the color of the skin, in this case it is given by belonging to an ethnic group, its customs, its traditions, beliefs, language, culture, among others. The study focuses on the education of ethnic groups. The research is carried out in the North of Sinaloa, Mexico and in Silver City, New Mexico, U.S.A., applying to two educational institutions respectively: Autonomous Intercultural University of Sinaloa and Western New Mexico University, where some ethnic groups attend to educate themselves professionally. The objective of the case study is to show how racism manifests itself in the students belonging to the Yoreme Mayo and Apache ethnic groups in higher education institutions. The study applies the methodology of a qualitative research approach, secondary sources are used with a general frame of reference that applies the constructivism and interpretativism. The testimonies of the students of both institutions are collected. They demonstrate that racism is presents towards the original natives of the ethnic groups.
