I*T€Rco N I a N I N S T I T>^§^ I O N Ou the Rover: Aiuistasio Leon, an Itinerant Craftsmnu

Home , Beit Yisrael, Johnson Mountain Boys, Kubbeh, Live at Wolf Trap, Senegalese Americans

I*T€rCo N I A N I N S T I T>^§^ I O N Ou the rover: Aiuistasio Leon, an itinerant craftsmnu. finishes the edge on a frame

containing the holy image of San Xavier, a patron saint of the Arizona-Sonora borderlands

region. Don Anastasio learned this craft, luhich combines reverse-painting on glass luith tin frame-making, from- his father. He usually sells his frames with a variety of holy images at the

Fiesta de San Xavier in Magdalena, Sonora. Photo by Doctor Felippe deJesus Valenzuela SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

1993 Festival of American Folklife

July 1 -July 5

Editor: Peter Seitel

Style Editor: Arlene Reiniger

Designer: ]oan Wolbier

Assistant Designers: Rebecca Lepkowski, Carmina .'\ngulo

Typesetter: Harlowe Typograph)'

Printer: Schneidereith & Sons

Typeface: New Baskerville Paper: LOE Dull

Insert: Cross Pointe Genesis Milkweed Contents

America's Reunion on the Mall, Bill isf Hillary Clinton, Al & Tipper Gore 4

The 1993 Festival, Robert McC. Adams 6

Cultural Conversation on the Mall, Bruce Babbitt 8

Culture on the 1990s Agenda, Richard Kiirin 9

The Festival of American Folklife; Doing More with Less, Diana Parker 15

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS

United States - Mexico Borderlands/ La Frontera, Olivia Cadaval 1 7

Living on the Border: A Wound That Will Not Heal, Norma E. Cantil 26

Cultiual Identities on the Mexico- United States ^ordei, Jose Manuel Valenzuela Arce 30

The Problem of Identity in a Changing Cultine: Popular Expressions of Culture Conflict Along the Lower Rio Grande Border, Americo Paredes 33

The Arizona-Sonora Border: Line, Region, Magnet, and Filter, fames S. Griffith 37 The Epic Tradition of the Foiuiding of Nuevo Laredo, Manuel Ceballos-Ramirez 42

Border, Culture, and Maquiladoras: Testimonies of Women Workers, Maria Eugenia de la O 44

The Mixteco Presence in Tijuana, FranciscoJavier Moreno B. 47

Mixteco Women on the Migration Route, Laura Velasco Ortiz 49

The Texas-Mexican (jonjiuito, Manuel Pefia 53

La Onda Bajita: Lowriding in the Borderlands, Michael C. Stone 56

Mortars and Metates, Alice Fay Lozano as told to Ian Hancock 59

The Chinese in Baja California, Maricela Gonzcilez Felix 61

AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE

Sharing Common Groimd: Social Dancing in the U.S.A, Vivien Chen luith Magaly E.Jan ad & Chan Moly Sam 63

Generations of African American Social Dance in Washington, D.C.: Hand Dancing, Hip-Hop, and Go-Go, LeeEllen Friedland 69 Hip-Hop Dance, Anthony Hovington 73

Iroquois Social Dances: The Life of Dance in the Dance of Life, Linley Logan 74

"Circle Lip Four on the Old Dance Floor": Old-Time Dancing in Chilhowie, Virginia, Susan Eike Spalding 77

METRO MUSIC

Music in Metropolitan Washington, Phyllis M. May-Machunda 80 The Music Performance Trust Fimds 82

KIDS' STUFF

Kids' Stuff: Children's Traditions of Play and Performance in Metropolitan D.C., Diana Baird NDiaye 84

City Play, Amanda Dargan Csf Steven Zeitlin 86

FESTIVAL RESEARCH REPORT

The Jerusalem Festival Project, Amy Horoiuitz 90 Reprinted from the program book for America's Reunion on the Mall,

held for the Presidential Inaugural, fanuary 17-18, 1993.

America's Reunion on the Mall

Bill Cjf Hillary Clinton

Al Csf Tipper Gore

From Kamuela, Hawai'i, and Ketchikan, forge ideals of tolerance, mutual respect, and

Alaska; from Ponce, Puerto Rico, and Rangeley, human dignity. We are still engaged in the pur- Maine; from the rural heartland of Kansas, Mis- suit of these ideals, yet, America stands as a bea- souri, and Tennessee; from our major cities of con of hope. Here, cultural difference can be a Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, they have somxe of strength not weakness, hope not come to our Nation's capital. From the glam- despair, joy not sorrow. orous world of popular entertainment and from A nation comprised of a diversity of people, the neighborhoods of local communities they communities, and cultiual groups is a flexible have come to the Nation's front lawn. Craftspeo- and adaptable one. Ideas, inventions, songs, arts, ple representing the long-lived arts of America's even foods developed by some can be enjoyed by cultural past have come, along with new immi- all. Never before in the histoiy of humankind grants whose artistic and cultural traditions will have so many different people from so many dif- make their place in the history now being writ- ferent places joined together in one nation. And ten. Cooks and stoiytellers, musicians, dancers, never before has a nation accomplished so much and artisans have come to this Festival on the politically, economically, socially, and culturally

Mall to tell, to sing, and to weave the stoiy of as ours. Ovu^ form of democracy, our freedom of

America. Their artistiy, skill, and talent, as expression, our concern for hiunan rights and immense as it is, is but a sample of the cultural for the rights of the minority grow from our diversity that exists throughout our land. That recognition of a diversity of origins, perspectives, this diversity can be imited, together, in the sym- and interests. The diversity of American lives has bolic center of our nation, tells us much about enriched our souls, oiu' minds, our institutions, who we are and what we dream. and even oiu" senses. The enlightened founders of this counti7 We Americans are proud of wlio we are. We conceived of a new nation in which the many take pride in our own regional, ethnic, religious, could be united. We have always thrived as a and family identities, for these give us a sense of nation of nations. This has not been easy to .self. But we are all Americans first. Being Ameri- achieve. We have overcome manv travails to can means bridging differences, not stamping them out. It means learning from each other. It It is fitting that we rededicate ourselves to means including everyone as "us," rather than joining together at this time and in this place. excluding some as "them." It means we can sing The Mall is the place where Americans talk to our own song, enjoy the singing of others, sing each other. It is where we celebrate and enshrine together, and even make up new songs. Some of our national understandings. It is the place the distinctly American forms ofjazz, blues, where soine 30 years ago the Reverend Martin gospel, and rock-and-roll heard at the Festival Liuher King, Jr., informed the nation of his arose from just such a creative combination of dream — of a nation in which children of differ- cultural styles. Just as our recognition of the ent backgrounds, races, and creeds could walk uniqueness of each and every individual does not hand in hand. Wlrere the differences that divide detract from our sense of a common humanity, could one day be used to unite. It is thus fitting so, too, the recognition of our diversity need not that in the same place on this Day, and on Mar- stand in opposition to national unit}- and identi- tin Luther King Day, for the inaugural and for ty. Indeed, just as the creativity, genius, and gen- the first public event celebrating a new adminis- erosity of individuals enlarge our sense of tration, the American people gather here, to humanity, so, too, can an appreciation of our reunite with each other, to reunite with an diversity increase our sense of national accom- Ainerican ideal, and to reunite with a national plishment. dream that all of us can help realize. The 1993 Festival

Robert McC. Adams

Secretary, Smithsonian Institution

This is, in a sense, the second Festival on the respectful setting. Indeed, the Festival has

Mall this year, the first having taken place some proved to be a forum where the confluences and six months ago for the Presidential hiaugural. divergences of culture can be engaged in a The America's Reunion on the Mall brought peaceful and sometimes even enlightening way. together performing musicians, artists, craftspeo- At the Festival, the interaction of visitors, partici-

ple, and cooks from all across the country in a pants, and Smithsonian staff has often resulted celebration of our nation's strength in diversity. in new cultiual awareness and in syntheses of The inaugmal festival was wonderfully successful. new ideas and cultural forms. "We were happy to play a role in celebrating our This summer, the Festival includes programs

democracy, and all the more so because that on U.S. - Mexico borderlands, American social event reinforced what the Smith.sonian's Festival dance, music in the Washington Metropolitan has been doing and saying about American cul- area, and urban children's culture. All point to ture for the past 26 years. how people creatively use the resources of com- Through the Festival of American Folklife munity culture to shape life experiences in ways we have learned that to represent truly the cul- that celebrate and affirm social values. ture of our nation, one must represent the diver- The Festival's featured program, U.S. - Mexi-

sity of its people, its commimities, its regions, co Borderlands, is the latest in a series developed

and its genres of cultural expression. We have for the Columbus Quincentenan' which has learned that such representations — whether in sought to expand public knowledge about the the form of cultiual performances, skill demcjn- cultural histoi"y of our heiuisphere and to fortify strations, expository talks, or museum exhibits — the Smithsonian's engagement of colleagues and must result from intimate collaboration with communities in Latin America and the those being represented; they too have roles to Caribbean. These programs, including Creoliza- play as researchers, curators, presenters, and tion in the Caribbean, Land and Power in Native artists. We have also learned that cultiual repre- American Cultures, New Mexico, Maroons in the sentation is a vehicle for affirmation of self- Americas, and American Indian Soundscapes,

worth, especially when it is done in a highly visi- have directly reached some 5 million Festival visible, centrally symbolic place like the National tors. Brought to fruition with the cooperation of Mall. And we have learned that people — those scores of academic, cultural, and educational

represented at the Festival as well as visitors to it institutions in 18 nations, these programs have — can understand, appreciate, and learn from engaged the efforts of some 250 different schol-

each other when culture is presented in an open. ars and over 1,000 exemplaiy culture bearers from across the Americas. These Festival pro- but as flows of meanings, styles, and values con- grams have generated rich documentary tinually reshaped and revalidated by use. archives, copies of which reside both at the Finding such phenomena as cultural border- Smithsonian and at collaborating institutions. lands represented at the Festival signals the fact Additionally, these programs have generated two that over the past decade, museums and their documentaiy films, several books, and even the programs have increasingly become forums for passage of cultural legislation. addressing the cultural realities of contemporaiy

Our consideration of cultiual borderlands life. These cultural realities are complex, and comes at an important time, socially and intellec- often intimately tied to important social and tually. The migrations and movements of people political issues. The involvement of the Smith- challenge prior notions of boimded, localized sonian and other such institutions with issues of national cultures. Borderlands are generally contemporaiT cultural concern is part of our regarded as the edges of a nation, marginal and public trust. We have the responsibility to con- peripheral to its cultural life. Yet what happens tribute our knowledge and perspective to public when the border region of two nations achieves dialogue and debate — imderstanding of course its own sense of identity, its own idea of cidtural that oiu" voice is only one, and not necessarily centrality? The borderlands are characterized by the definitive one, in that discussion. cultural dynamism, liminality, and contention. The Festival has historically been a leader in

And the U.S.- Mexico cultural border is quite this area. This was especially true during the past permeable, with flows of people, goods, and year as its staff engaged colleagues from Hebrew ideas that extend not only geographically deep and Bir Zeit Universities in researching the grass- into each country, but also deep into their social roots cultural traditions ofJerusalem. No place lives. No doubt, in a continent whose patterns of on earth is perhaps as culturally rich, nor as con- exchange may be refashioned by the North tentious, as Jerusalem. Yet working with local American Free Trade Agreement or like arrange- researchers and scholars, community artists and ments, we will continue to witness the cultural leaders, and members ofJerusalem's diverse evolution of this important region. And so too communities, excellent work was accomplished. will our thinking aboiU the relationship between We hope that this lesearch, the understandings culture and nation deepen. The examination of and substantive practices that animate the cultur- the borderlands makes it possible for us to see al life of that great city, will emerge as a Festival culture not as a static accumulation of things, program in the near future. Cultural Conversation on the Mall

Bruce Babbitt

Secretary, Department of the Interior

Tlic National Mall is our countiy's symbolic This type of cultural conversation, in which center, where we celebrate our national civic cultural traditions can be respectfully presented, rites — the inauguration of a president, our discussed, and even exchanged, is vital to our independence day, oiu" bicentennial. The Mall is continued health as a whole nation. As President our national showcase where we enshrine, in our Clinton has affirmed, our cultural diversity is a national museums, our understandings of histo- source of national strength. Oiu- educational ry, culture, science, and the arts. And it is our programs and public institutions need to encoin- national town square where generations of age the study and broadest dissemination of Americans have gathered to speak to each other, knowledge about our history, and about the to represent themselves and their concerns to value and flow of ideas between people of varied their fellow citizens. backgrounds. Sometimes our cultural conversa- Since 1967, the Festival of American Folklife tions will be celebratoiy, and sometimes sober- has presented the grassroots culture of our ing. But to appreciate their importance, one nation, bringing together musicians, craftspeo- need only look around the globe to places where ple, cooks, stoiytellers, workers, and other cultur- the cultural conversadon has stopped, and where al exemplars from eveiy region of our country. difference has led to intolerance, to the abuse of People from various states, ethnic and Native human rights, and even to endemic violence. American groups, occupations, and cultures We continually engage the American public have brought their wisdom, knowledge, art, and in eveiy state and territoiy in cultural conversa- skill to the Mall and have shared it with their fel- tions. The Yaqui, represented this year at the Fes- low citizens. tival, have regidarly participated in the Fiesta at For some 20 years, the Department of Interi- Tumacacori National Monument in Arizona; or through the National Park Sendee and with musicians, craftspeople, and working cowboys the cooperation of its other Bureaus, has been a like those here at the Festival from Texas have proud partner in the Festival. The Smithsonian displayed their culture at Chamizal National and the Park Sendee share a commitment to the Memorial Park in El Paso; and local Washington preservadon of our national heritage — cultural area musicians like those at the Fesdval have reg- and natural. Over the years, the Festival's work idarly performed in National Park venues at has been guided by research done by folklorists, Glen Echo and Wolf Trap. The cultmal dialogue anthropologists, and historians from both agen- goes on at historical sites such as America's cies in communities across the countiy. The Fes- Industrial Heritage Park in Johnstown, Pennsyl- tival has been a forum for discussions about cul- vania, at interpretive exhibits in urban parks like ture conservation, environmental presenation, Lowell National Historical Park, at natural sites and local economic development. The Festival like Hawaii's Volcanoes National Park, at cultural has provided a training ground for developing centers being developed in Maine and West Vir- skills and techniques for the presentation of ginia, and in programs such as Keepers of the grassroots culture. Most of all, the Festival has Treasures. Our work, and oiu" partnerships with functioned as a combined outdoor museum and the Smithsonian and with many others at the interpretive park, where people from around the national, state, and local level, help Americans countiy can speak directly to their fellow citizens understand their national heritage, and we fer- about their history, their culture, and their lives. vently hope, each other. Culture on the 1990s Agenda

Richard Kurin

Who would have thought that cultiue, as a their bearers; 3) an ethic — the comparable value sign of group identit)', would play a prominent of every culture; and 4) a process — the ways in and sometimes deadly role in world politics? which cultures interact within pluralistic societies

Who would have thought that culture, as com- and complex individual lives. modified knowledge, art, and image, would be Debates over multiculturalism in all of these the world's largest industry? In one form or senses have defined a number of issues. The another, culture has become central to politics political question of the decade will be whether a and economics. Culture is on the agenda for the multicultural state is possible, and if so, how? For

1990s. Wliat role is to be played by institutions public institiuions the question is how to make concerned with understanding culture and edu- multicultiualism part of institutional practice. cating large and broad publics? And for students of society and civilization, the

question is to what extent multicultiualism The Politics of Culture encourages or precludes larger sociocultiual syn- Talk to a politician about cultural issues a theses and unities. Each of these sets of issues — few years ago, and before the eyes glazed over, the political, the educational, and the evolution- you'd likely get a reaction that placed culture in aiy have their own histoi7, and their own prob- the realm of the frivolous, the romantic, or the lems and tensions. obvious. No more. From ethnic cleansing in Culture and the Modern State. Modern Europe Yugoslavia, to family values in the United States, articulated the idea of nation in the mid-1 9th and a distinct society vote in Canada, culture is centui7 by binding it to ideas of race, language, on the battlefield, in the news, and on the ballot. and land. Definitions of singular national cultin- Culture has come to be seen as values, world al identities were attempted through scholarship views, and identities that may move world events, in folklore, physical and cultural anthropology, shatter states and forge new ones. This is not the philolog)'. and other disciplines. Debates over "culture" of high society, the elite arts or com- the characteristics of these unicultural or mono- mercial media. It is rather the culture of ordi- cultural national identities, from their costiuiies nary people as expressed in daily life, in the to their customs to the question of who is to be streets, the workplace, and the school yard. included in them, have never ceased. As a political issue culture has emerged in Many Third World countries, emerging from public consciousness under the rubric of "multi- colonial rule after World War II, knew they had culturalism," a term which has been used to to construct culturally diverse states — nations describe 1) a demographic situation — a culturally with different languages, different religions, and diverse population; 2) a policy — equity in many ethnic and regional backgrounds. India, resource accessibility for different cultures and Indonesia, Kenya, and others had to face the issue of forging political imity from cultiual diversity. As we know, the maintenance of a cen- Richard Kurin is Director of the Smithsonian Institution Cen- tral government with a core civic culture has terfor Folklife Programs & Cultural Studies and a Professor- been difficult in these societies. Ethnic, religious, ial Lecturer at TheJohns Hopkins University Nitze School of tribal, linguistic, and regional differences contin- Advanced International Studies. He is a cultural anthropolo- ue to challenge national civic cultures. gist with a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago who has done most of his research work in India and Pakistan. He The industrialized nations, because of their first worked on the Festival of American Folklife in 1976. histories, traditions of governance, and levels of "

literacy and education, were thought to be ty, economic success, and high moral ideals. immune to pressiues arising from cultural differ- They argue that "politically correct" history, ence. Their stability was thought to result from bilingualism, ethnic particularism, fimding of their having made the transition from traditional the national arts endowment, Hollywood portray- and cultiue-bound societies to modern ones. als of the family, and other activities were imder- Indeed, many political scientists have seen the mining the cultural unity and foundations of the culture of the folk as a sunival, a kind of primor- nation. Some suggested that the way to deal with dial identity subsumed by the modern state and American cultural diversity would be to elimi- the rise of the individual. When cultural identit)' nate it, generally through the type of cultural figures in politics, it is often seen as an irrational, assimilation associated with mainstream econom- unpredictable force. ic success. Others suggested that elimination of

Yet this idea of progress is challenged by the cultmal diversity would involve a more coercive fact that some of the societies most successful in strategy of excluding people and ideas. making this modernizing and industrializing Cultural wars became an election issue. On transition have experienced a strong surge of the eve of the presidential election the celebrat- political conflicts apparently based upon reli- ing crowd in Washington was told, "no more cul- gious, ethnic, and regional cultmal identity. A tural wars. No more religious wars. No more cul- recent study sponsored by the American Acade- tiual cleansing." And in accepting the results. my of Sciences (Fundamentalisms and Society: Bill Clinton interpreted his victory as among Reclaiming the Sciences, the Family and Education) other things, a call "to bring oiu' people together found that religious fundamentalism has tended, as never before so that our diversity can be a worldwide, to emerge as a cultin al reaction to source of strength." The Presidential Inaugural modernism, not as a survival of long held and was termed "America's Reunion" to explicitly cel- cherished folkways. But even the most modern of ebrate the relationship between imity and diver- nations have not been spared from such conflict. sity. And so the question, at least in the United Movements of immigrant and colonized popula- States, would appear to turn away from whether tions, the resistance of previously subjugated or not the multicultural state is possible to the peoples, and persistence of internal cultural and question of how to make it so. regional differences have challenged received Cultural Representation. Debates over multi- ideas of nationhood. Efforts to redefine the state culturalism often grow quickly around the public as multicultiual have in some cases resulted in events and institutions through which a societ)'"s dissension, conflict, bigoti7, and violence. Many culture is represented. Contending interpreta- nations seem to be under a cultmal siege, threat- tions of histoiy, luiderstandings of the present, ened by the unreconstructed cultmal diversity of and visions of the futiue have been subjects for their people. And thus, more and more the ques- debate in these arenas. The bicentennial of Aus- tion is being asked — is a multicultural state pos- tralian settlement in 1988 was a harbinger of the sible? 1992 American (and Iberian) Columbus Quin- According to the former ministers of culture centenary, as issues of the "discoverers" and "the of the republics in the former Soviet Union, the discovered," the glory and the gore, the celebra- answer is no. On the eve of the dissolution of the tion and the commemoradon emerged in Soviet Union, those ministers warned about the exhibits, programs, speeches, television pro- pitfalls of cultural diversity lest it weaken the U.S. grams, demonstrations, and coiuiter-demonstra- in the same way it had undermined the Soviet tions. Japan's ceremonials smrounding the state. installation of the Emperor and the commemo- It was at about the same time that debate on ration of Pearl Harbor are also recent contexts multiculturalism heated up in American public for stud)'ing what Geoff White calls "the politics life. The so-called "culture wars" erupted in the of remembering. media, in national institiuions, and eventually in The ways in which different cultural groups presidential politics. To consenative detractors, are remembered and presented is also being multiculturalism is a highly problematic ideolo- fought oiU in museimi exhibits, textbooks, televi- gy, ethically relativistic and ahistorical. In this sion programs, and magazine advertisements. critical \aew. Western, European, andjudeo- Simply piu, many cultural groups are upset with Christian culture have crystallized in the Ameri- their lack of representation, or the skewed or can historical experience to form a national cul- prejudicial way in which they are represented, ture characterized by civic pride, political stabili- and they are using techniques of political persua-

10 Forums for multicultural encounters will continue to be invented as a way of grappling with social

realities. Here at the 1992 Festival of American Folk-

life, New Mexican participants from various Pueblo and Plains Indian, Hispanic, Anglo, African American, and other backgrounds develop a multicultural way of expressing a new-found

community spirit. Photo by Jeff Tinsley, Smithsonian Institution

sion to do something about it. Public institutions an unprecedented degree seem to represent the are under increased scrutiny to be inclusive and opinion of people across the planet. A more positively value cultural diversity in hiring, pro- imited Europe, whatever the fate of the Maas- gramming, and audience outreach. tricht Treaty, has emerged, and has subsumed While generally accepting the ethic of multi- aspects of sovereignty and national identity in culturalism many scholars in cultural studies favor of shared economic interest. New free have criticized the way its arguments are framed. trade zones proposed in North America and in According to some critics, proponents of multi- other parts of the world are based not on similar- culturalism endorse simplistic and essentialisdc ities in cultural identities, but on participation in notions of cultural groups. Too often, advocates regional and global markets. Indeed, there is, as of culturally articulated groups argue as though Emile Durkheim predicted almost a century ago, they believe themselves to be naturally constitut- the emergence of a global culture tied to the ed — as discrete, unchanging species. Hence, industrial and post-industrial world. Made possi- they unwittinglv accept and replicate scientifical- ble by telecommunication technologies, this new ly unsupportable ideas of race and racial classifi- culture defines distinct codes, networks, and cation. As a social consciousness, this atomistic communities of individuals and institutions, sort of multiculturalism avoids attention to social many, as Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett has systems (such as capitalism and colonialism) and argued, with a shared folklore. social identities (such as those based upon class, But these new, emergent forms of global gender, region, occupation, and religion) which political and economic culture are not so univer- crosscut ethnic groups. It also ignores how indi- sal or so entrenched as to preclude opposition. viduals and communities have juggled, juxta- Often characterized as nativistic though not nec- posed, synthesized, and compartmentalized vari- essarily home grown, some of multiculturalism's ous identities in daily contexts and over the opponents proclaim their own form of universal- course of histoiy. ism. In the United States and in parts of Einope New Syntheses and Alternatives. In spite of some analysts see new forms of Islamic transna- internal difficulties, divisions, and debates, glob- tionalism as alternative global visions and a al institutions like the U.N. have moved in an threat to the new world order. Domestically, unprecedented way to define new global consen- some Christian fimdamentalist groups are seen sus on standards for ethical conduct, himian in the same way, and indeed, they explicitly chal- rights, and environmental policy. These are not lenge the very notion of a new world order based merely agreements among nation-states, but to upon secular economics. How much multicultur-

11 alism Clin the new global framework stand when al policy concerns aroiuid the world over the faced with ahernative, inimical systems? Does the next decade. acceptance of a mvUticnIturalist ethic mean Indigenous Creations. Another aspect of the bringing systems opposed to its ideology into the cultural economy is the international trade in tent? the creations of folk and traditional communities the world over. Popular musicians make millions The Economics of Culture of dollars mining the music of South Africans, As culture has become a political problem, it Cajuns, Latin Americans, and others. A contem- has also been turned into an economic treasure. porary cosmetic company bases its multi-million Cultural knowledge, artifacts, songs, stories, dollar business on folk potions and ethnoaesthet- images, and representations are rapidly and ics. Pharmaceiuical companies work with increasingly being transformed into commodi- shamans and healers to develop new drugs and

ties. Culture, as such, is at the forefront of the treatments. Scholars, writers, and artists make a

global economy. Who is consuming whose cul- healthy living by writing about or appropriating ture for whose economic benefit and at what the wisdom and knowledge of "their" people. cost? Increasingly, folk cultiual knowledge, wisdom, Culture as Tourist Industry. Counting toiuism, and art are going to be repackaged, made and

or at least a good part of it, together with the arts marketed for profit, and distributed far beyond and entertainment, culture is the largest industn- their traditional audiences. The issues invohing in the world. Trillions of dollars a year are spent the kinds and uses of property — intangible and representing and selling culture. tangible, individual and community, ownership Perhaps the largest cultiual enterprise in the and usufruct — continue to emerge as the indus-

United States is the Disney Corporation. Millions trial and post-industrial economy appropriates of Americans learn about world cultiues at Dis- the creativity of traditional cultiues. If the tech- neyland and Disneyworld where they see the nology, knowledge, and networks are made avail- pirate-like people of the Caribbean drinking, able, some of this may occur under the control and pygmies of Africa rising out of a river to aim of the communities that produce this culture. their spears at your body — with knives and forks Cultural Markets. Mass production and mass presumably to follow. Only slightly less dismay- marketing are designed for products that are the

ing is Disney's "Its a Small World After All," a same for all consumers. Making everyone mod-

tableaux of cute, little, formulaically but differen- ern through advertising, propaganda, and other

tially costimied doll-figures meant to represent discursive forms has been a long term goal of

all the world's people singing the same song — industrial economics — whether capitalist or

each in its own language. Ersatz and fakelore socialist. But mass producers are increasingly abound. One French intellectual, intei^viewed aware of cultural diversity in the marketplace. about Euro-Disney, aptly summarized, "they More salsa than ketchup is now eaten in U.S. claim to present our folklore and culture, biu households; Hindi film rentals in New York are a

they have taken it and returned it to us in an big business; a /;«/«/ grocery and butchery are unrecognizable form." Similarly, cultural theme necessaiy institutions in several Detroit-area com- parks, costing millions of dollars, are proliferat- mimities. In their search for new markets, pro- ing — in Japan, hidonesia, China, Western ducers have realized they have to be responsive Africa, the Caribbean, the U.S., and Europe. to local needs. And they may have to compete Can touristic cultural theme parks be orga- with local producers whose niche in the local nized so that their representations do justice to market is cai^ved out by attention to cultural those represented; so that the material benefits needs and aesthetics. The market has at once of tourism are not just exported or used to build become more homogeneous — penetrated by more luxury high rise hotels but actually reach internationally produced goods available every- the people represented; so that such activities do where, and at the same time increasingly cus- not destroy local environments and community tomized for local consumption. Apple and IBM culture? Strategies to meet these goals have been can sell their computers everywhere, but need a developing under the rubrics of eco-toiuism and variety of script and language packages. Market- cultural toiuism. Increased efforts to achieve and ing research, needs assessment, and ethnograph- balance three broadly desirable goals — cultural ic fieldwork are likely to become increasingly consei"vation, economic development, and envi- entwined, as the interpenetration of local and ronmental preservation — will define key cultur- global goods brings cultiually diverse popula-

12 tions together in complex patterns of cultural- those petiple should be flocking to us for knowl- economic exchange. Global businesses will have edge and insight. They, the studied and repre- to become more aware of the culture of their sented, should be coming to our museinns, products, their markets, and their audiences; attending our professional meetings, enrolling local producers will become increasingly sophis- their children in our courses, reading our books, ticated about creating new products and pene- and becoming professionals in oiu^ fields. In the

trating new markets. U.S. this is not happening. The participation of African Americans, American Indians, Hispanics, The Challenge for Cultural Institutions and Asian Americans in the cultiual studies and

What role can public cultural institutions museimi fields is stunningly low. concerned with the study, documentation, and conservation of culture play in this political and Emerging Cultural Policy Needs economic context? What are we going to need for a world in

We face several problems. One concerns oiu^ which increasing weight is put on culture?

own standing and expertise as professionals. I think the future of the cultural field is to Eveiyone knows something about culture, espe- be foimd in a clearer focus on situated scholar- cially one's own. This makes public understand- ship. Research and analysis need to be situated ing of cultural expertise problematic. In Ameri- in contexts — historical and contemporaiy, local

can public discourse it is difficult to separate out and global — and presented to affected polities folk sociology, folk folklore, and folk anthropolo- and institutions. We need research work on gy from their disciplinaiy varieties. Key terms — issues that crosscut disciplines, populations, and such as "'society," culture," "tradition," and "com- genres as we have traditionally defined them. munity" — are used by much of the population, And we need the active involvement and engage- journalists, politicians, and experts with consid- ment of commimity and lay scholars in this effort erable slippage of meaning. — people who can bring to the field new under- Wliile scholarly and scientific studies have standings, assumptions, approaches, and associa- much to contribute, they have generally failed to tions. penetrate public luiderstandings. Popularly, soci- We need research on the midticultiual state,

ology is often reduced to psychology, histoi^y to on comparative cultural politics, on cultural eco-

biography, culture to human nature. The social nomics, on multicultural lives, on transnational sciences, the humanities, and the arts are largely cultural flows, on cultural processes associated marginalized and trivialized in our educational with immigration, acculturation, urbanization, systems, which contintie to be informed by a and the relationship between culture, environ- resilient anti-intellectualism. Disciplinaiy imder- mental preservation, and development. We need

standings, which once held hope of escaping eth- stronger scholarship if it is to stand the scrutiny nocentrism, have been shown to be heavily influ- of the audiences who can actually think about

enced by it. The idea of race in the United and use our work. This means students and pro- States, for example, which should have been fessionals trained in several fields and method-

drastically reformulated in light of social and ologies. And it also means the penetration of cul- natural science findings, nonetheless persists tural work into other disciplines — lawyers who

among the public and its leaders in its 19th cen- work on intellectual and cultural property rights tury form. Lssues need ethnomusicological research to

This is not just a commimication problem. imderstand the creation and ownership of songs; The human studies disciplines have in a reflexive pharmacologists who will work with rainforest moment undercut some of their own legitimacy. healers and shamans need folklore research to They have generally remained aloof from nation- imderstand ethnobotanical knowledge, and so al and international debates on fimdamental cul- on. tural issues. They have failed to work closely with We have to combine research more closely the commimities they study on matters of press- with education and public service. We have ing political and economic concern. major work to do in developing teaching materi- Scholars and museum curators face a fimda- als and upgrading teacher training to reflect the mental challenge. We claim a special empathy complexity' of cultural issues students will face. for, imderstanding of, and ethical relationship We have to use the full range of new media and with the people we study and represent. But if we communicative forms to transmit our ideas so are so intimately and meaningfully involved. that younger and broader publics can entertain

13 Maroon leaders from Jamaica, Suriname, French Guiana, Colombia, and Texas met each other for the first time at the 1992 Festival. Joined here by Rev. Jesse Jackson, the opportunity provided an occasion to discuss the cultural history and continuity of these communities, and their common concerns. Photo by Jeff Tinsley, Smithsonian Institution

them. If kids can sit for hours in front of a video selves will need to become less of an authorita- game tiying to get Mario to save the princess tive monologue, as central institiuions enable from the dragon, we have to figure out ways to dialogue and the increase of knowledge by those engage them with the same intensity in quests formerly seen as peripheral. for cultiual linowledge, understanding, and The federal investment in this process has appreciation. not been made. The resources put toward multi- We need to be more creative aboiU how a culturalism are minute. Public institiuions have diversity of understandings are shared, discussed, failed to connect enshrined ideas of culture — and debated. Grassroots communities through- what it is and whose it is — to an increasingly out the world cannot afford to communicate multicultiual America. Funds and commitments througli Ph.D. dissertations, the meetings of pro- for training people and supporting professionals fessional organizations, or documentaiy films — in the cultiual studies areas are lacking. And yet, the time lag is too long and the audiences too in a changing world, where culture looms larger small and insignificant. Increasingly public cul- and larger in political and economic life, the

tural institiuions themselves will have to become need for this investment is greater. Developing forums for cultural conversations. Museums, America's cultiual economy in a just way and libraries, and universities — in their current developing public understanding of the nation's form, as well as in electronically networked, "vir- cultural life seem not only worthwhile goals, but tual" forms — will have to serve town, national, urgent ones that require swift and decisive and global conversations, if they are to continue action. to merit public support. The conversations them-

14 The Festival of American Folklife: Doing More with Less

Diana Parker

This year's Festival of American Folklife is from Smithsonian trust funds, 20%) from corpo- the 27th since the Smithsonian's annual living rate and foundation sources, and 30% from cultural exhibition began in 1967. We have other governments. The sale of traditional crafts, learned much in these years about how to pre- foods, publications, and beverages at the Festival. sent traditional cultures respectfully and under- which do much to bring the intimate aesthetics standably to a broad audience. We have learned and taste of folk culture to a broad audience, about the products besides the Festival that can also help in a limited way to offset the cost of come from the research done to produce the production. But the current economic climate event. .And we have learned about the ways the has limited the a\ailability of Federal and Smith- labor and the money the event requires can be sonian fimds, and also made it more difficult to used to maximimi effect. raise fimds from the outside. Walking through the Festival, you see the More than 1.2 million people visited the culmination of more than a year of hard work. 1992 Festival. That makes the cost of the Fesdval Before a Festival can happen, themes and cura- about $1.50 per visitor — less than the cost of a tors must be selected, research plans formulated concert or a movie ticket and much less than the and researchers identified, funds raised, field cost of maintaining an artifact-based museum. research documentation reviewed, participants But the economy of the Festival is even greater selected and in\'ited, visas, transportation, hous- when you consider the ways it reaches beyond ing, and meals procured, sites and programs the Mall. designed and produced, signs and program Perhaps the most direct way that the Festival book articles written, supplies located, and more. stretches beyond its temporal and physical Upwards of 100 people have worked closely boundaries is through the media. It is estimated together to create the program on the Mall, and that some 40 million people learn about the over 100 vohmteers a day will add their labor event and the people and themes it presents during the Festival's span. from sources as varied as 'The Today Show," fea- The annual Festival requires a tremendous ture stories in national and local newspapers, concentration and commitment of intellectual, and "Nadonal Public Radio" inteniews with Fes- emotional, spiritual, and physical energ)-. It also tival participants. Public television has produced takes a lot of money. Considering salaries, fees, several documentaries about our programs and transportation, and everything it takes to pro- Festival participants, and aired others made by duce the event. Festivals typically cost between independent producers. Perhaps the best known one and two million dollars, depending on the is The Stone Carvers, produced by Marjorie Hunt size, length, and complexity of the program. and Paul Wagner which won the 1985 Academy In the recent past, the Festival, like the rest Award for best docvmientary. of the Smithsonian, has had to learn to make do Remounting sections of the Festival of Amer- with less. Traditionally, about 25% of the cost of ican Folklife "back home" has proved an effec- the Festival has come from Federal funds, 25% tive way of multiphing the value of the money spent for research and planning by sharing the resources of the Smithsonian with non-Washing- ton audiences. The Fesdval's second life reuses Diana Parker is the Director of the Festival ofAmerican Folk- its research, design, and its museimi-quality life. She has worked on the Festival in a variety of capacities since 1975. signs, banners, and publications; it trains people

15 in various parts of the counti'y in the art of pre- the critically acclaimed Musics of the Soviet Union. senting traditional culture to a broad public These recordings have proved valuable tools in audience; and it increases the much desei"ved the classroom for teaching about traditional cul- honor tradition bearers receive in their own tiue. Their quality is reflected in a Grammy home regions. Award and several nominations. The most recent Recent Festival of American Folklife pro- Festival recording. Roots of Rhythm and Blues: A grams remoimted back home include Michigan Tribute to the Robert Johnson Era, was nominated (1987), Massachusetts (1988), Hawai'i (1989), for a Grammy in the category of best traditional and the U.S. Virgin Islands (1990). Although blues. there was no state or territoiy program at the Eveiy year the Festival generates ancillaiy 1991 Festival, a portion of the Family Farm pro- projects that capitalize on the energy and fimds gram of that year was remounted in the Festival put into it. For instance, the 1984 Black Urban of Michigan Folklife in the fall of 1991. The leg- Expressive Culture from Philadelphia program islature of the state of New Mexico has recently led to a traveling exhibit, an exhibit catalog, a appropriated fimds to remount the successful National Geographic article, and a training pro- 1992 program back home in Las Cruces. Some of gram for young African American documentary these Festival restagings, as in Michigan, have photographers. A 1992 program on White House provided the impetus for year-roimd cultural Workers is being developed into a film and a research, educational, and public programs. traveling exhibit for the presidential libraries; Other restagings, like the one in the U.S. Virgin another 1992 program on Native American

Islands, have led to legislation and the establish- music is being transformed into an exhibit for ment of local cultural institiuions. Generally, the the National Museimi of the American Indian; Smithsonian provides in-kind staff support to and yet another, on Maroon cultural histoiy, will these efforts, which are funded largely by states tour the nation as a future exhibit in the Smith- and private sources. sonian Institiuion Traveling Exhibition Sei"vice. States and territories participating in the Fes- Numerous interns, undergraduate, and post- tival receive complete archival copies of the doctoral fellows have used the Festival and its research done in preparation for the Festival. archives for research and publication. Addition- The Festival has generated significant dociunen- ally, the Center originated a Folklore Summer taiy collections, which are now housed in many Institute which brings together selected lay schol- state archives and universities. This cultural ars from commimities around the countiy for information provides material for books, policy training in research, documentation, and pre- studies, and public programs. sentation of traditional culture, as well as propos- Festival research materials have also been al and grant writing. Coinciding with the Festival, used to prepare educational packets for use in the Institute allows students to use the event as a public schools. Smithsonian and U.S. Virgin laboratoiy and an opportunity to meet other tra- Islands scholars compiled audio, video, and wiit- dition bearers and professionals in the field of ten materials from the 1990 Festival to create traditional culture. The National Park Semce teachers' kits. The kits were used to teach tradi- has held its training program for Native Ameri- tional culture in Senegal and the U.S. Virgin cans, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians in Islands — comparing and contrasting story- Washington during the Festival for the last two telling, foodways, music, and other expressive years for the same reason. forms, and introducing students to the skills Proud as we are of the Festival on the Mall required to research folk culture in their own created by the tradition bearers it honors, we families and communities. think of the event as just the tip of an iceberg.

Other ways have been foimd to share the The effect of the Federal funds expended on it is research done for the Festival with people out- amplified many times over by private, state, and side the Washington area. Numerous Smithson- income-generated fimds that support Festival- ian/Folkways recordings accompanied by exten- inspired cultural education projects around the sive documentary notes have been produced countiy and even around the world. from eveiy Festival since 1988, beginning with

16 U.S. -MEXICO BORDERLANDS United States-Mexico Borderlands/La Frontera

Olivia Cadaval

Dedication

We dedicate the Borderlands program to Don Americo Parades whose

lifelong intellectual, artistic, and social engagement with the border has led

the way in imderstanding borders as distinctive cultural regions. Borders, and in particular the area he has called the Lower Rio Grande Border and fiom which he came, create complex and turbulent environments. These

generate what Don Americo has rightly understood as a culture of conflict,

struggle, and resistance. For Don Americo, it is precisely the generative

power of the struggle that makes border folklore distinctive.

La frontera inarca I'l sitio doiide dos paises sobera- pantes que aportan diferentes perspectivas y tocan nos colindan, creando un drnbito de acercamiento pero diversos temas. tambien de separacion entre culturas y jurisdicciones Finalmente este articulo es una introduccion a los nacionales. La frontera trazada de acuerdo al tratado participantes del programa en el festival, a esas voces de Guadalupe Hidalgo de 1848 entre Mexico y los individuales que viven y crean la cultura de la fron- Estados Unidos invadio tierras indigenas, dividio tera. A traves de sus historias y la presentacion de sus comunidades rnexicanas, y creo una dindmica de opo- habilidades artisticas y creadoras, esperamos apreciar rtunidad, explotacion, y conflicto que ha engendrado la vitalidady riqueza propia de la cultura fronteriza, y una cultura propia fronteriza. entrar en un didlogo con los fronterizos mismos para

Basado en la investigadon, este programa nos mejor entender los problemas y los procesos culturaks y ofrece una muestra de esta adtura fronteriza — sus sociales que se dan en este drnbito transnacional. historias, sus diversas comunidades, identidades locales y regionales, y de su musica, su arte, su arte- Introduction sania, sus costumbres, su comida y su nanativa. El Borderlands have often been the locale of programa se ha realizado gracias a la colaboracion de major folk cultural achievements, from the out- El Cokgio de la Frontera Norte, Texas Folklife law ballads of the Scots-English border to the

Resources, Western Folklife Center de la Biblioleca de la heroic corridas oi ionth Texas. Energized by the

Universidad de Arizona, el Centra de Estudios lives of heroes and others, borderlands continue Regionales de la Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo to spark themes of frontier lawlessness, national

Leon, la Universidad Autonoma de Baja California y pride, rebellion against injustice, and a commu- de investigadores individuals y miembros de varias nity hero's stand against all odds. What is it comunidades de ambos lados. Este articulo es una about a border that triggers these cultural forms introduccion a los ensayos de investigadores partici- and others, such as souvenirs, duty-free liquors.

"United States-Mexico Borderlands " has been made possible with the support and collaboration of the Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes -

El Programa Cultural de las Fronteras, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, Texas Commission on the Arts, Cerveza Tecate - Imported Beer, Texas Folk- life Resources, University of Arizona Library 's Western Foltilore Center, Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon - Centro de Informacion de Historia

Re^onal, Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Gobiemo del Estado de Nuevo Leon, Mexican Cultural Institute, and the recording industries Music Perfonnnnre Trust Funds.

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 17 retaining walls made of automobile tires, and An approach to describing a society con- maquiladora assembly plants? Is the border a par- structed by difference is necessarily many voiced. ticular kind of region or social environment? If Rather than a central, authoritative perspective, so, does the border tend to produce a particular we strive for a de-centered point of view, one kind of culture? And what is the relationship with many authoritative speakers. Of course, this between this environment and its culture? In this is more easily achieved in the Festival, where citi- essay and in this Festival program we explore zens of the border region speak and perform for answers to these questions. themselves and their communities. But even in A line drawn in various ways, a border marks this printed mediiun, through translation and the place where adjacent jurisdictions meet. This transcription, a varietv of authorities are repre- combined conjunction-and-separation of national sented. laws and customs creates a zone in which move- Border society is an abstract concept com- ments of people and goods are greatly regulated, poimded of ideas about the sovereignty of examined, discussed, and hidden. Commerce nation-states, the intensification of commerce attains a higher importance in border society as and social discourse, and strategies of cultural does dialogue about the identities of its peoples. representation. The U.S.-Mexico border can be

Smuggling, the myriad signs in border towns, understood in these terms; and in this it is simi- legal and illegal immigration, and the use of lar to borders like those between the U.S. and unneighborly names between neighbors are parts Canada, East and West Germany, or Kenya and of this picture of accentuated concern with the Tanzania. But a particular history of the U.S.- trade in goods and the flow of people. Mexico bcjrder is expressed in the images,

The border is an environment of opportuni- soimds, discourse genres, and social fcjrmations

ty . Individuals find work enforcing or avoiding discussed below. This particidar historical devel- the laws that regulate movement. Companies use opment has made the border the planet's longest national differences in labor and euNaronmental between a coimtiy characterized by economic regulations to pursue their advantage. Border practices and achievements sometimes known as society thrives on difference, and people and Tirst world" and a countiT whose economv is institutions come there to exploit niches in its environment. Olivia Cadaval is curator of the Festival's United States- Borders are artifacts of histoiy and are subject Mexico Borderlands program. She has conducted research to change over time. Wlien borders shift, lands and collaborated in public programming with the Washing- and peoples are subjected to different sets of ton, D.C. Latino, Latin American, and Caribbean commu- rules; this creates opportunities for exploitation, nities/or over a decade. .She received her Ph.D. from George conditions of hardship, and motivations for revolt. Washington University.

18 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS sometimes characterized as 'third world'. The growth of a capitalist world economy provided the context for the development not only of U.S.-Mexico border culture, but also of other types of cultural processes that incorporate difference — acculturation, creolization, and the growth of various cultural diasporas. Cultural processes which may be opaque and elusive elsewhere become clear at the border.

This is the case, as Dr. Valenzuela points out, in the formation of cultural identitw The border offers a stark context of cultural difference, social inequality, and ever present reminders of governmental power to limit individual opportunity by ascribing national identity. The dominant discourse that assigns low social value to particu-

lar sectors of the population is answered by a creative flood of expressions of identity in music, graphic arts, poetry, and styles of clothing and self presentation.

People speak passionately and often artisti- cally about themselves and others; they regulate exchange and avoid regulation; they struggle to survive in an environment often shaped by the practices of nation-states and a global economv. These human acts are not luiique to borders, but they occur there with a claritv and an urgency that commands our concern.

When her paralysis was cured, Josefina Ollervidez built People at the Border a shrine in her yard in San Antonio, Texas, to Nuestra The region between the Gulf of Mexico and Senora de los Lagos, a patron saint she brought with her Baja California has been inhabited by many from Jalisco in central Mexico. Photo by Kathy Vargas Native ^\merican societies, which first settled and used the land. Spaniards took ownership of these in the western region of the border to groups as lands in grants made by the Spanish crown diverse as Chinese, Mennonites, Molokan Rus- according to a perceived divine right. Mestizos, sians, Black Seminoles, and Kickapoo Indians. whose practices, like their ancestiy, combined Black Seminoles and Kickapoo were welcomed hidian and Hispanic heritage, inhabited the with the stipulation that they defend the territory region. And English-speaking citizens of the against the Apache and Comanche raids. U.S., whose land acquiring and owning practices As Maricela Gonzalez describes in her arti- were informed by principles of commercial capi- cle, Chinese managers and laborers established tal and manifest destiny also settled here. The residence in the towns of Mexicali and Calexico border region is usually thought of as composed at the beginning of the 20th century. The of these principal groups of landowners, fcjrmer damming of the Colorado River converted this landowners, and workers, but its environment of area in the Imperial Valley along the Colorado opportunity has attracted many others, whose River into fertile agricultural land. Anglo successive arrivals continue to transform the landowners leased this land to Chinese entrepre- sociocultural life of the region. neurs from California, who smuggled agricultur- On the Gulf coast, Jewish families from cen- al laborers into Mexico from China. tral Mexico sought refuge from religious perse- The Bracero Program of 1942-1964, first cudon in the 18th century and established busi- negotiated by the U.S. and Mexico as an emer- nesses in Matamoros and along the valley. In the gency measiue during World War II, encouraged latter part of the 19th centui^, a Mexican govern- large migrations of Mexican workers to the U.S.

ment concerned by U.S. expansionism encour- Under its terms, Ameiican agricidtural enterpris- aged settlement and in some cases granted land es could legally bring Mexican contract laborers

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 19 for seasonal work. In the off-season many did not sides of the river along the Rio Grande/Rio return home but settled on the border, often Bravo valley to Laredo/Nuevo Laredo. Eagle selecting a place where people from their home Pass/Piedras Negras and Del Rio/Ciudad Acmia state were already established. began as coalmining towns in the 1800s. In Del The Mixtecos are one of 16 indigenous Rfo, the San Felipe spring feeds a network of groups from Oaxaca who, for at least 30 years, canals, creating a lushness not othei"wise seen in have been migrating to urban and agricultural south Texas and inviting the establishment of areas in Mexico and in the U.S. As Francisco Italian vineyards. Here regional cultiual tradi-

Moreno's article points out, they are not a mono- tit:)ns are shaped by agriculture, cattle ranching, lithic group but have regional linguistic and cul- and mining as much as by the early conflicts tural differences. For them, as for other indige- between the Mexican land-grant settlements and nous migrants in Mexico, the sale of traditional the northern land-grabbers. Labor unions of and tourist crafts has been an economic main- Mexican farmers, semce employees, and oil stay. Today, some of the most popular tourist workers now organize maquila workers at the items sold throughout Mexico are the rag dolls assembly plants that are replacing those older dressed in archetypal peasant garb with no industries on the Mexican side. strong regional identity. Mixteco women vendors The border follows the river through the sell them in Tijuana. They formerly made the rough terrain of the Big Bend and through the dolls but now buy them, along with other tradi- once busy trading posts of Presidio/Ojinaga and tional crafts, from other migrants in Tijuana, on to the El Paso/Ciudad Juarez twins estab- who come from the western Mexican states of lished as the "Pas.sage to the North" between the Jalisco and Guanajuato, and from Guatemala. mountain ranges, "the border's fulcrum, where The traditional and tourist crafts displayed on a the river gives way to the fence and where North Mixteco vendor's cart represent the labor of and South have been horsetrading for centuries"

many cultural groups on the border and the (Weisman 1986:85). El Paso/Ciudad Juarez is a

entrepreneiuial skill of Mixtecos who make a liv- crucible of cultmal identities, in which shared

ing in this market i reatcfi b\ short-distance border personas are created, exported, re- tourism. imported, and transformed. Here the pnrhuco, a Mexican immigrants continue to seek eco- Mexican American, neighorhood identity of the nomic opportunities. Workers have been attract- 1940s and '50s was reforged as the cholo Mexican ed to the border area by the 19til-1965 Mexican and Mexican American yoiuh of today. National Border Economic Development Pro- West of the river a series of straight lines, not gram followed in 1965 by the Industrialization the topography, define the boundai"y. Here the

Program of the Border, which introduced the Sonoran Desert border is home to Yaqui and maquiladora assemblv plants to the region. In O'odham Indians. As noted by Dr. Griffith, there

her article, Maria Eugenia de la O records testi- is in this region a unique cultural interdepen- monies of several inac|uiia workers in Ciudad dence between Native Americans and Mexicans, Juarez. exemplified by the shared celebration of the From the 1980s onward, economic and polit- patron saint, Francisco Xavier, and of the mis- ical refugees from Central America have swelled sionar)' Francisco de Kino (often merged into a

populations at the border and migrations across composite St. Francis along with St. Francis of

it. Individuals, groups, and corporate bodies con- Assisi). Members of these groups share each tinue to be attracted to the border to exploit other's crafts and food at the feast in Magdalena, niches in an environment created by difference 20 miles south of Ambos Nogales (the Two and marginality. Wliat they have constructed, Nogales). In this area, the socioeconomic strug-

appropriated, abandoned, and re-constructed fill gle of the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo region is not as

the social landscape of the border region. dominant a feature of life. Wliereas lower border corridos praise the valor of men who fight for Regions of the Border their rights, corridos in this area celebrate famed While border cultiues share an environmeiU horses that win epic races. created by adjacent jurisdictions and socioeco- The westernmost border area between the

nomic marginality and difference, cultural Caliiornias is veiy different. The original Native expressions do vaiy from one border town or American populations are surroimded and for- region to another. Older, established communi- gotten by the growing urbanization of the early ties populate the string of small towns on both 20th cell tun'. Many have migrated to San Diego

20 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS Most Mixtecos in Tijuana live in the neigborhood l

.**i:

On the Rio Bravo/Rio Grande, a pollero (whose work is to assist undocumented travelers cross the border) floats children from Ciudad Juarez to El Paso on an inner tube raft. Photo by Pete Reiniger

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 21 and l.os Angeles, establishing large communi-

ties. A striking architectural feature in the Tijua- na working class neighborhoods that spread on

the sloping canyons of the city is the use of tires in landscaping. Tires create stairs that lead up to hillside houses, and they are built into retaining walls that keep homes from sliding downhill. Architects have integrated the distinctive tire embankment motif into the cement retaining walls they design for affluent neighborhoods, hi Nogales, street vendors reserve their space on a downtown street with bright yellow half tires lined up like croquet wickets to mark their territory and attract customers. In Laredo and throughout the valley, sculpted and painted tire flowerpots decorate the front yards and yard shrines. And as almost everywhere, border children swing on tires hung from trees in house yards or from metal scaffolds in public play- groiuids.

The Border in History The Mexican and the United States governments settled the location of the border with the

signing of the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty in 1848 Much border crossing is cJone extra-legally because of and the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. But long convenience. Here a grancJmother crosses via a well- before there was a border, Indian commimities traveled route for a day's shopping in the U.S. Photo by had settlements in the areas between the Gulf of David Burckhalter Mexico and the Pacific. In the 17th century, Spanish settlers established the same area as the northern frontier of New Spain and then of Mex- extensive mercantile connections came to domi-

ico after its War of Independence in 1810. In the nate the U.S. -Mexico trade across this Texas river Spanish colonial period, this area was a frontier border. Shortly after their rise, these merchants that attracted the most adventiuesome explorers began to acquire extensive tracts of land in and dedicated missionaries. Texas and to assert dominion over the earlier The eastern region of the border along the Spanish and Mexican settlers. This created an Rio Bravo (later called Rio Grande in the U.S.) environment of cultural and economic conflict was more hospitable and became a focus of that characterizes the border to this day.

regional life as towns grew up along its banks. As Dining the Mexican Revolution, which Dr. Ceballos points out, residents of these towns began in 1910, the border population increased like Laredo felt a strong allegiance to a Mexican significantly as many moved across the border identity. El Paso del Norte, now known as El seeking refuge. Migration patterns were estab- Paso, was the first and largest town built on the lished between particular states in Mexico and river in the early 1600s in the mountain corridor particular regions or towns on the border. For that was called El Paso del Norte, the "Passage to example, refugees from central Mexico who set- the North." Many small towns established before tled in the Texas valley were likely to be joined

the creation of the border still dot the Texas val- later by immigrants from their hometowns. ley. Migrants from the northwestern states of Zacate- The Rio Grande/Rio Bravo, a "symbol of cas, Durango, and Sinaloa regularly traveled to separation" in Texas, constitutes over half of the Ciudad Juarez/El Paso.

length of the border. In the decades following Wlien economic recessions hit the LI.S., the Mexican-Ainerican War (1850s), U.S. cattle efforts mounted to push immigrants back to barons and agricultural opportimists from the Mexico. In 1914-1915, the U.s'side of the Rio East and the Midwest with substantial capital and Grande Valley experienced a winter of violence

22 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS A mural decorates the wall of a workers' neighborhood in Ciudad Juarez. Photo by Lyie Rosbotham

when hundreds of Mexicans, or mejicanos in bor- The extensive use of tires is evidence of eco- der usage, were persecuted and killed by the nomic difference and marginality and of the cul- Texas border patrols. The Great Depression of tiual inventiveness and resilience that exploits the 1930s brought a new wave of deportations in the border environment. But the visible pres- which immigrants who had lived undisturbed in ence of discarded materials is also a reminder of the U.S. for decades were repatriated. the pollution that is imfortunately also prevalent As people from different cultural regions of on the border. The poorly regulated industrial- Mexico have settled on the border, they have ization including that of agricultiue on both evolved a complexly layered cultural and social sides of the border increasingly contaminates the environment that has been created by competi- air, water, and land. Wltile border residents can tion and adaptation for survival. In this struggle, creatively reuse discarded tires, the unchecked border peoples have developed distinctive styles, and growing regional pollution, which seriously social organizations, and local economies. An affects their health as well as the environment, is interesting example of this is the way Mixteco at present beyond their control. vendors in Tijuana appropriate the traditional and tourist handicrafts made by other Mexican The Program migrants to create a market that helps to support Based on research in the rich and dynamic not only their own cultiual identits' biu also that living cultiue of the border, the Borderlands Fes- of the other groups. tival program is designed to provide a glimpse of

Local economies that develop on the Mexi- the border — its histories, its diverse communi- can side capitalize not only on available skills but ties, local and regional identities, and its music, also on available, usually discarded, materials. arts, crafts, healing practices, foodways, and nar- Small businesses trade in secondhand clothes rative. This program has been assembled by the purchased by the poimd and cardboard from the Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Stud- U.S. Some items, like the used tires found eveiy- ies in collaboration with El Colegio de la Fron- where along the border, are made into distinc- tera Norte (a center for studies of the northern tive items that support local economies and Mexican border), Texas Folklife Resources, the define a border stvle. University of Arizona Library's Western Folklife

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 23 the border including confrontation, evasion, violence, and romance, especially as these have been transformed into narrative and other forms of artistic expression. Music performances include emergent forms such as the coujiinto, which grows out of the interaction between different cultural commiuii-

ties; older forms, such as the corrido, which has been used to presei"ve a historical vision in the defense of dispiued territory; and adapted forms such as the string band music now incorporated into the traditional repertoire of the Tohono O'odham Native American commimities. Also featured in the program are five nun al-

ists, whose work reflects the traditions of Mexi- can cholo and United States Chicano muralism. These traditions draw upon the rich histor)' of muralism in the Americas — from wall paintings in pre-Columbian temples and colonial chinch-

es, to popularized images in bars and on commercial facades, to the socially-engaged master- pieces of the Rivera, Orozco, Siqueiros, and Tamayo, to the graphic protest in U.S. cities that has now been re-contextualized on the border. Murals continue to be touchstones of common historical experiences, archaeologies of sociocul- Carolina Samaniego de Leyva shapes rounds of asadero tiual movements, and powerful statements of cheese in her home in El Divisidero, a few miles from Oji- identitv', ethical principles, and community aspi- naga. Chihuahua. This major cattle region of Mexico's rations. northern border is noted for this pliable white cheese The unique fusion of border aesthetics and made from milk curdled with trompillo, a seed from a handcrafted technology is embodied in lowriders local deadly nightshade plant. Photo by Emily Socolov — distinctively customized automobiles — described below by Michael Stone. These low- Center, the Centro de Estudios Regionales of the slung, hopping cars complement the iconogra- Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon, the Uni- phy of murals as statements of cultvnal identity. versidad Autonoma de Baja California, and with Vaqueros of south Texas demonstrate their skills, individual scholars and community members crafts, and foodways associated with their cowboy from both sides of the border. tradition, which dates back to the Spanish colo-

The program is about community-based cul- nial era. A fisherman from the port of

ture. It presents cultural practices foimd on the Brownsville demonstrates shrimping techniques. border and cultural expressions about the bor- A Laredo blacksmith forges stirrups, belt buck- der, and it explores cultiual patterns that seem les, and other implements of vaquero life, along

to be created by the border. It also addresses the with a nimiber of traditional and contemporary cultural heritage, adaptability, and creativity of decorative objects. A ropemaker demonstrates Native Americans and of the Mexican, Hispanic the use of the local fiber called lechugilla (an American, Anglo and other immigrant commu- agave of the amaiyllis family). While fine craft

nities that have played a part in creating the life traditions like guitar- and finnitiue-making are that siuTounds the Mexico-U.S. border — those not specific to the border, craftspeople have

that maintain it, those that cross it, those that are incorporated motifs and instruments native to left behind, and those that dwell in the border the region, like the bajo sexto guitar. Other occu- region. The program explores the processes pational groups characteristic of the border envi- through which the groups create, adapt, and pre- ronment include federal Immigration and Natu- sei've culture to meet the challenges of life on ralization Senace (INS) agents who regulate the border. It seeks to present and imderstand movement across the border: coyotes and polleros, commiuiity codes of behaNaor that evolved on who help migrants evade immigration regula-

24 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS dons; and workers in maquiladorn assembly line Citations and Further Readings industries. Narrative sessions focus on the cul- Carrillo Strong, Arturo. 1990. Coirido de Cocaine: ture of craft and occupation in the context of Inside Stories of Hard Drugs, Big Money and the border. Short. Lives. Tucson; Harbinger House. Aitisans demonstrate crafts used in the Garcia Canclini, Nestor. 1989. Culturas hihridas: home and for special celebrations, including estrategias para entrary salirde la modernidad. quilt-making, flower- and pinata-making, candle- Mexico; Grijalbo. making, and reverse-painted glass. Participants

prepare regional specialties, traditional foods .1989. Tijuana. La casa de toda la gente. sened for fiestas, and offer a sampling of t\'pical Mexico; CONACULTA. vaquero outdoor cooking. Finally, the Festival Clifford, James. 1993. Sites of Crossing; Borders presents members of the Mixteco Indian com- and Diasporas in Late 20th-Centui7 munity in Tijuana, a recent migrant group, Expressive Cultiue. Cultural Cunenls 1 (Jan.). which preserves its cultural identity and con- Graham, Joe, ed. 1991. Hecho en Tejas: Texas tribmes to the economy at the border by main- Mexican Folk Aiis and Crafts. Denton, Texas; taining ties with other Mixteco communities in University of North Texas Press. Oaxaca and California. The United States-Mexico border has had a Herzog, Lawrence. 1990. Where North Meets South:

profoiuid effect on the lives of millions of peo- Cities, space and politics on the United Stales-

ple. The pending free trade agreement is only Mexico border. Austin; University of Texas. the latest in a long line of international socioeco- Miller, Tom. 1981. On the Border: Portraits of nomic arrangements that have wide ranging America 's .Southwestern Frontier. New York; local impacts. Critical attention in Mexico and Harper Row. the U.S. has been increasingly focused on the Montejano, David. 1987. Anglos and Mexicans in historical consciousness created in this border- the Making, 1836-1986. Austin; Univ. of land and on its expression in traditional and Texas. other forms of art. Recognition of the vitality and value of borderland cultiue is growing at the Quintero Ramirez, Cirila. 1992. Sindicalismo margins, among borderland populations, as well tradicional en maquiladoras; El caso de as in the centers of power and opinion in both Matamoros. Rio Bravo, A Bilingual Joiunal of coiuitries. Scholars and political leaders increas- International Studies 1(2);60-71. inglv realize that the cultiual encounters, synthe- Ross, Stanley R., ed. 1978. Views Across the Border: ses, and resistances characteristic of border life The United States and Mexico. Albuquerque, signal similar cultural developments in the larger NM; University of New Mexico Press. societies. This intensifying concern and scrutiny Weisman, Alan. 1986. LaFrontera: The U.S. Border centers on the margin, but can it reduce the with Mexico. San Diego; Harcourt, Grace, marginalit)' in human rights, social dignity, and Jovanovich. economic opportunity at the border? Listening to commimity voices of the border from the Mexican and United States sides can better inform oiu" thinkinsr and decision-making.

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 25 Living on the Border: A Wound That Will Not Heal

Norma E. Cantu

Living in the geographical area where the ly rule these northern lands; and the h^)//('«o per-

U.S. and Mexico meet, the truth is always pre- sonality, customs, rites, and language are testa- sent. It gnaws at one's consciousness like a fear ment to that other native culture, now all but of rabid dogs and coyotes. Beneath every action gone, which survives in vestiges sometimes as lies the context of border life. And one must see vague as an image in the sand, on the wall of a that undergirding for what it is — the pain and cave, or in the lexicon and intonation of a bor- sorrow of daily reminders that here disease runs der native's speech. rampant, here drug crimes take a daily toll, here These lands have always harbcjred transients, infant mortality rates run as high or higher than people moving sometimes north sometimes those in Third World coimtries, here one cannot south. Like birds making their annual trek, drink the water, and here, this land that is our migrant workers board up their homes and pack land — and has been our land for generations things in trucks and off they go with the local

— is not really oms. But one must also see bor- priest's blessing. In Laredo, in Eagle Pass, and der life in the context of its joys, its continuous elsewhere, the matachines celebrate on May 3rd, healing, and its celebration of a life and culture December 12th, or another significant date, and that survives against all odds. For to do othei"wise as they congregate to dance in honor of the holy condemns us to falling into the vortex of pes- cross, the Virgen de Guadalupe, or other local simism and anomie where so many already dwell. devotion, they remember other lands and other Lafrontera: the frontier, the edges, the limits, times. Spanish and English languages both the boundaries, the borders, the cultures, the change along the border — mariachis are floiu" languages, the foods; biU more than that, the tortilla tacos in Laredo and Nuevo Laredo and unity and disunity: es lo mismo y no lo es (it's the within a 50-mile radius of the area; the calo same and it isn't). Chicana novelist Gloria (slang) of the batos locos, lowriders, cholos, or

Anzaldi'ia speaks of this same terrain, this same pachucos maintains its literaiy quality in its exces- geography, but her words are hers; they are not sive use of metaphor all along the stretch, yet mine, not ours, not those of eveiyone living changes from community to community, just as along the border. However similar experiences the names for food and even the foods them- may be they are not the same, for the frontera is selves change. Differences have been there since as varied as the geography from Matamoros/ the settlement of the borderlands in the 17th Brownsville to Tijuana/San Ysidro, and the peo- and 18th centuries, and the changes wrought ple that inhabit this wrinkle in space are as var- upon the border culture have occurred over the ied as the indigenous peoples that first crossed it span of more than 300 years; yet there are other centuries ago and the peoples who continue to changes, as well, ongoing changes that will alter traverse it today. The Aztec pantheon didn't real- the very fabric of borderlands cultiue. The collusion of a myriad of cultures, not just Mexican and LI.S., makes the borderlands

unique. It is a culture forever in transition, Nomia E. Cantu, a natwe oj the borderlands, received a B.S. changing visibly from year to year. popula- from Texas A&I University at Laredo, a Master's from The Texas A&'l at Kingsville, and a Ph.D. from the University tion increases in number and in variety, as Kore- ofNebraska at Lincoln. She is an associate professor ofEng- ans, Indians, and other peoples of non-Euro- lish at Laredo State University. She has published poetny, pean, non-Indigenous, and non-Mestizo origin short fiction, and critical analyses. flow into the region. Because of such an influx, it

26 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS

A migrant worker harvests celery and jokes with the photographer. In an interview conducted as part of the Borderlife Project of the University of Texas-Pan American, Donna Garcia describes part of her life as a Mexican migrant worker.

"For years we had been traveling to west Texas to work the cotton crop. I would hear people always talking about 'Those migrant workers — look how they left this place; they're so dirty. You can't leave anything out while they are around.' I had heard these remarks so often that I thought they were talking of people in trouble with the law. One day my hus-

band was talking of some mishap and I said, 'Oh, it was probably those migrant workers.' He looked at me and asked what I thought migrant workers were, so I told him. When I had finished he told me, 'Mama, we are migrant workers.'" Photo by Lillian M. Salcido

cases make lite easier but in others, nearly intol- people, now retiring from steel mills in Illinois erable. or factories in Detroit, are retiu'ning as retirees Immigration and emigration have shaped and settling in the soiuh Texas border communi- the borderlands. The exodus of Texas border ties they moved from 40 years ago. For many, natives to the metropolitan areas of Houston, like my mother's cousins who moved away and Dallas, and San Antonio or to California or the worked for Bethlehem Steel, Christmas and sum- Midwest during the 1950s was due in large mea- mer vacation were times to visit relatives on the sure to the depressed local economy. But, as emi- border; these days, it is their children who make gration to the north occurred, immigration from the trip down south to visit them. Mexico into the area continued. The luiemploy- Biu in many cases the move was permanent.

ment rates often hovered around the teens and With little to come back to, families settled per- did not noticeably decrea.se, in spite of large manently in places like California, Wisconsin, numbers of families relocating elsewhere, set- and Nebraska. This was the experience of my tling out of the migrant labor stream, in industri- father's cousin who lives in Omaha and who alized areas such as Chicago, or going to work in retired from the upholstering business she other areas of Texas. worked in for over 30 years. She speaks of her In the 1980s and 1990s, some of these same life away and her reasons for leaving with great

28 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS The shrine in the yard of Isidro Ramirez, a Vietnam War veteran who lives in Laredo, commemorates

his participation in the war and expresses gratitude for his safe return. IVlr. Ramirez includes in his religious work traditional objects like candles, flower vases, and images of saints, and also personal offerings that express his patriotism and war experience like the flag of Texas and his military helmet. Photo by Norma Cantu

pain: there were no jobs to be had; political The pain and joy of the borderlands — per- machines controlled the few jobs there were; the haps no greater or lesser than the emotions pay was below the national minimimi wage; the stirred by living anywhere contradictions schools were not good for their kids; and the aboimd, cultures clash and meld, and life is lived streets weren't paved. At least up north, in spite on an edge — come from a woimd that will not of discrimination, language barriers, alien foods, heal and yet is forever healing. These lands have and cold weather, there were jobs; one could always been here; the river of people has flowed dream of a better life. The border population is for centuries. It is only the designation "border" in transition once again as it has been for cen- that is relatively new, and along with the term turies. The healing occurs for but a short time comes the life one lives in this "in-between when the newly formed scab is torn by a new ele- world" that makes us the "other," the marginal- ment, and the process begins anew. ized. But, from our perspective, the "other" is

The border is not homogenous in geography outside, away from, and alien to, the border. or in cidture; there are many borders, resplen- This is oin- reality, and we, especially we Chi- dent in their heterogeneity. We who live in these canes and Chicanas, negotiate it in our daily realities celebrate our day-to-day life with family lives, as we contend with being treated as aliens came asada gatherings; with civic events such as ourselves. This in essence is the greatest wound George Washington's Birthday Celebration with — the constant reminder of our otherness. its numerous border icons like the abrazo (embracing) ceremony and the International Citations and Further Readings Parade; with high school graduations (currently Anzaldtia, Gloria. 1987. Borderlands/La Frontna: attained by aroimd 55% of students), and other The New Mestiza. San Francisco: markers of academic achievement; and with reli- Spinster/Aunt Lute Press. gious events, such as the matachines dance or the annual visit to the city by the image of the "Rio Grande labeled 'virtual cesspool'." The Virgen de San Juan de los Lagos in Mexico, ven- Laredo Morning Times, 21 April 1993. erated on both sides of the border.

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 29 Cultural Identities on the Mexico -United States Border

Jose Manuel Valenzuela Arce

Translated by Hector Antouio Corpordn

La fronterd es In iiilriiiii (juf i'.\/iil/t' tin esrcnario The indigenous communities ot the Mexico- donde confluyen dos adores de una misma obra: capi- United States border region succumbed to vio- ialismo avanzado y drpendencia, intemacionaUzacidn lence, tuberculosis, venereal diseases, and the del proceso productwo y uldizacKni iiUoisiva de juciza catechism. From the era of the K'miais, Cucapas, de trabajo barata y vulnerable; inUinaiionalidad del Yiunas, Apaches, and Yaquis, to the present, mercado de trabajo y disminucion de dereelios labo- there have been a multitude of engagements and ralfs, identidad.es emergentes y profundas, y resistencia misencoimters, fusions and ruptures, innova- cultural. En este espacio se avecina la desigualdad, se tions and oblivions. Cultures in this region con- evidencia la "desnacionalizacion", se transparenta la tinually give shape to themselves through their identidad. interactions and relations and their social organizations, contradictions, and conflicts. Much has been discussed about the dangerous possibility of en treguismo or "surrendering to foreign influence," by the border population in Mexico. But on the contraiy, along that very border we find important sociocultural resistance movements which articulate their goals with verbal symbols, visual images, and reinterpretations of regional history that assert a cultiual identity formed in opposition to the United States. In the intense interactions on the Mexico- United States border one can see important processes of transculturation. These cultural processes are ine\'itable and should not automat- ically be imderstood as the loss of national iden-

tity. To the contrary, because these processes that occtir in northern Mexico and southern United States involve relationships between neighbors across a border, their significance assumes an international dimension — even when they might seem to be local in nature. This point has been amplv explained bv Jorge A. Bus- tamante.

The border is a shopwindow that contains a staged encoimter between two actors in the same play: advanced capitalism and dependency; the A Mexican chola dressed in dark, severely styled clothes internationalization of production processes and and a masculine hat. Her self-created persona embodies the intensive lUilization a defiant attitude towards authoritarianism, subordina- of cheap, vulnerable tion, sub-estimation, and poverty. Mexican cholas tend manpower; a global labor market and a to be more dominated by their patriarchal families than decreased recognition of workers" rights and of their counterparts across the border. P/ioto by Jose indigenous and emerging identities. But in that

Manuel Valenzuela Arce scene in the border shopwindow there is also cul-

30 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS A group, or clica, of cholos pose in their neighborhood in front of a mural that depicts, among other elements, the Virgin of Guadalupe and an idealized cholo and chola. A defensible power space, the neighborhood is at once a nexus of solidarity and an immediate source of conflict. Photo by Jose Manuel Valenzuela Arce

tiiral fusion, re-creation, and resistance. In this On the other side, important sectors of the space suffused by inequality, society becomes Mexican-born population in the United States "dis-nationalized" and the sources of cultural resist emotional and cultural isolation by con- identity become transparent. siuning cultural products made in our country. Beyond faddish styles fashioned on Ameri- Unfortunately, the majorit)' of these products can models particularly for consumption by the offered through film and especially television are younger population, cross-border popular cul- of deplorable quality. Mexicans in the United ture in our coimtr\' is prominently expressed in States are also culturallv strengthened by further coiridos, musica nortena, language, symbols, and immigration of Mexicans to that country and by youth movements. Among the most recent of relationships formed with populations on the these movements to become popular after the border. In these cultural interactions, as in the mid-1970s is el cholismo — the most massive youth consumption of Mexican cultural products, and phenomenon that emerged among the poor in the immigrants' implication in social and population in the northern part of the country. political processes in Mexico or in transnational Cholos represent a major cultural paradox, for processes such as undocumented migration, rela- they import their national symbols from the Chi- tionships between the Mexican and the Chicano cane and Mexican barrios in the United States. Many of these symbols had given voice to cultur- Jose Manuel Valenzuela Arce, a native ofTecate, Baja Cali- al resistance in the Chicano movement and fornia, received his Ph.D. from El Colegio de Mexico. He is youths the among Mexican-born throughout currently a researcher with El Colegio de la Frontera Norte. United States; they were redefined and integrat- He received the Fray Bernardino de Sahagun Award in ed into the speech, graphic arts, and symbolism social anthropology for his book A la brava ese!: cholos, of cholos in Mexico. punks, chavos, banda.

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 31 This mural, an expression of La Raza movement of the 1960s and 1970s, depicts a 1940s pachuco wearing characteristic baggy pants, tattooed with the Mexican Virgin of

Guadalupe, and positioned in front of a lowrider car and crossed Mexican and American flags. Confronted with social stigma, pachucos and their cultural heirs value

boldness, valor, the aesthetic of "cool," and stoicism in confronting racism. Their symbolism reflects the international origins of their culture. Photo by Jose Manuel Valenzuela Arce

eveiyday interactions with the Mexican population in the United States, in characteristic usages of the terms "them" and "us," and in their culttu- al borrowings or reaffirmations of tradition that are the resources of their resistance. Cultural identity on the border often reinforces collective action closely linked to the class situation, as was the case with the Chicano Movement in the '60s; or in a fundamental way, identit)' can define popular youth expressions, as exemplified by pachuquismo and ckolismo.

Further Rmd'mgs

Bustamante, Jorge A, 1988, Identidad, ctiltural nacional y frontera, Amelia Malagamba (comp.). Ettcuentros: los festivaks

internanonidn de Id raza. Mexico: COLEF- CREA. populations in the United States are shaped by what happens south of the border. Malagamba, Amelia. La tdniisiun y su mi/ituio en

In the crucible of the border, culture is sub- la poblacioii iufanlil de Jijiiaua. Tijuana: jected to a process of piuification that refines CEFNOMEX! and redefines the dominant traits of Mexican Monsivais, Carlos. La cultura en la frontera. In national culture and combines them with other Estudios fronlerizos. Mexico: ANUIES. popular forms, regional expressions, and emerg- Valenzuela Arce, Jose Manuel. 1988. A la hrava ing identities. BiU the various collective identities esef: cholos, punks, chavos, haiida. Tijuana, (cholos, Mixtecos, Zapotecos) find themselves B.C., Mexico: El Colegio de la Frontera penetrated and influenced bv proximity of the Norte. United States: an indispensable reference in the culunal analysis of our coimti-y's northern bor- . 1991. Empapados de sereno: el der. The presence of the United States takes vari- movimiento urbano popular en Baja California ous forms, and its cultural products are also (1928-1988). Tijuana, B.C., Mexico: El redefined by the life experience of the social Colegio de la Frontera Norte. groups who use them. , ed. 1992. Entre la magia v la historia: People construct cultinal identities with a tradiciones, mitos y leyendas de la frontera wide range of expressions that associate them Mexico-Estados Unidos. Mexico: El Colegio de with some groups and differentiate them from la Frontera Norte. others. The various collective identities on the

, ed. 1992. Decadencia auge de las border are linked by a common bond of differ- v ideutidades: cultura nacional, identidad cultural, entiation from the United States and of construc- moclernizacidn. Tijuana, tion from sources not bounded by the interna- B.C., Mexico: El Colegio de la Frontera Norte. tional line. They construct their identities in

32 MEXICO BORDERLANDS The Problem of Identity in a Changing Cuhure: Popular Expressions of Culture Conflict Along the Lower Rio Grande Border

Americo Paredes

Excerpted from Folklore and Culture on the Texas- circumstances of their creation. In this respect,

Mexican Border. 1993. Austin: CMAS Books, Cen- the Lower Rio Grande Border was especially suit- terfor Mexican American Studies, University of Texas. ed for smuggling operations. To appreciate this fact, one has only to con- Conflict — cultural, economic, and physical sider that when the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo — has been a way of life along the border officially settled the conflict over territory between Mexico and the United States, and it is between Mexico and the LJnited States, a ver)' in the so-called Niieces-Rio Grande strip where well defined geographic featine — the Rio its patterns were first established. Problems of Grande itself — became the international line. identity also are common to border dwellers, But it was a line that ciU right through the mid- and these problems were first confronted by peo- dle of what had once been the Mexican province ple of Mexican culture as a result of the Texas of Nuevo Santander. Friends and relatives who Revolution. For these reasons, the Lower Rio had been near neighbors — within shouting dis- Grande area also can claim to be the source of tance across a few hundred feet of water — now the more typical elements of what we call the cul- were legally in different countries. If they wanted ture of the Border. to visit each other, the law required that they Life along the border was not alwavs a mat- travel many miles up or down stream, to the ter of conflicting cultures; there was often coop- nearest official crossing place, instead of swim- eration of a sort, between ordinarv people of ming or boating directly across as they used to both cultures, since life had to be lived as an do before. It goes without saying that they paid everyday affair. People most often cooperated in little attention to the requirements of the law. circumventing the excessive regulation of ordi- When they went visiting, they crossed at the most nary intercourse across the border, hi other convenient spot on the river; and, as is ancient words, they regularly were engaged in smug- custom when one goes visiting loved ones, they gling- took gifts with them: farm products from Mexico Borders offer special conditions not only for to Texas, textiles and other manufactined goods smuggling but for the idealization of the smug- from Texas to Mexico. Legally, of course, this gler. This soimds pretty obvious, since, after all, was smuggling, differing from contraband for political boundaries are the obvious places where profit in volinne only. Such a pattern is familiar customs and immigration regulations are to anyone who knows the border, for it still oper- enforced. But we must consider not only the ates, not only along the Lower Rio Grande now existence of such political boimdaries but the but all along the boundary line between Mexico and the United States. Unofficial crossings also disregarded immi- Americo Paredes is Dickson, Allen, and Anderson Centenni- gration laws. Children born on one side of the al Professor Emeritus ofAnthropology and English at the river would be baptized on the other side, and University of Texas at Austin. He received his Ph.D. from the thus appear on church registers as citizens of the University of Texas at Austin, and has taught folklore there other coimtry. This bothered no one since peo- since 1957. In 1989, the National Endowment for the ple sides river Humanities honored Paredes with the illustrious Charles on both of the thought of them- Frankel Prize. In 1 990, the government of Mexico bestowed selves as rnexicanos, but United States officials on him its highest award to citizens of other countries: La were concerned about it. People would come Orden Mexicana del Amila Azteca. across to visit relatives and stay long periods of

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 33 time, and perhaps move inland in search of which the hero defends his rights and those of work. After 1890, the movement in search of other Mexicans against the rinches. The first work was preponderantly from Mexico deep into hero of these corridos is Juan Nepomuceno Texas and beyond. The ease with which the river Cortina, who is celebrated in an 1859 corrido could be crossed and the hospitality of relatives precisely because he helps a fellow Mexican. and friends on either side also was a boon to Other major corrido heroes are Gregorio

, kills two Texas sheriffs after men who got in trouble with the law. It was not Cortez ( 1901 ) who necessary to flee over trackless wastes, with the one of them shoots his brother; Jacinto TreNniio his law hot on one's trail. All it took was a few (1911), who kills several Americans to avenge moments in the water, and one was out of reach brother's death; Rito Garcia (1885), who shoots of his pursuers and in the hands of friends. If several officers who invade his home without a illegal crossings in search of work were mainly in warrant; and Aniceto Pizana and his sediciosos a northerly direction, crossings to escape the law (1915). Some corrido heroes escape across the were for the most part from north to south. By border into Mexico; others, like Gregorio Cortez far, not all the Mexicans fleeing American law and Rito Garcia, are betrayed and captured. were criminals in an ordinai7 sense. Many were They go to prison but they have stood up for victims of cultural conflict, men who had reacted what is right. As the "Corrido de Rito Garcia" violently to assaults on their human dignity or says, their economic rights.

Resulting from the partition of the Lower . . . me I'oy a la penitenda Rio Grande communides was a set of folk atd- /Ml) defender mi derecho. tudes that would in time become general along the United States-Mexican border. There was a ... 1 am going to the penitentiary generally favorable disposition toward the indi- because I defended my rights. vidual who disregarded customs and immigration laws, especially the laws of the United States. The men who smuggled tequila into the The professional smuggler was not a figiue of LInited States during the twenties and early thir- reproach, whether he was engaged in smuggling ties were no apostles of civil rights, nor did the American woven goods into Mexico or Mexican border people think of them as such. But in his tequila into Texas. In folklore there was a ten- acdvities, the tequilero risked his life against the dency to idealize the smuggler, especially the old enemy, the rinche. And, as has been noted,

tequilrro, as a variant of the hero of cultmal con- smuggling had long been part of the border way

flict. The smuggler, the illegal alien looking for of life. Still sung today is "El corrido de Mariano work, and the border-conflict hero became iden- Resendez," about a prominent smuggler of tex- dfied with each other in the popular mind. They tiles into Mexico, circa 1900. So highly respected came into conflict with the same American laws were Resendez and his activities that he was and sometimes with the same individual officers known as "El Contrabandista." Resendez, of of the law, who were all looked upon as rinches — course, violated Mexican laws; and his battles a border-Spanish rendering of "ranger." Men were with Mexican customs officers. The tequi- who were Texas Rangers, for example, during lero and his activides, however, took on an inter- the revenge killings of Mexicans after the Pizana cultural dimension; and they became a kind of uprising of 1915' later were border patrolmen coda to the corridos of border conflict. who engaged in gunbattles with tequileros. So The heaNy-handed and often brutal manner stereotyped did the figine of the rinche become that Anglo lawmen have used in their dealings that Lower Rio Grande Border versions of "La with border Mexicans helped make almost any persecucion de Villa" identify Pershing's soldiers man outside the law a sympathetic figure, with as rinches. the rinche, or Texas Ranger, as the symbol of A mnido [ballad] tradition of intercultiual police brutality. That these symbols still are alive conflict developed along the Rio Grande, in may be seen in the recent Fred Carrasco affair. The border Mexican's tolerance of smuggling does not seem to extend to traffic in drugs. The ' The uprising occurred on the Lower Rio Grande Border few corridos that have been current on the sub- and involved a group of Texas-Mexican rancheros attempung ject, such as "Carga blanca," take a negative view to create a Spanish-speaking republic in South Texas. Pizana of the dope peddler. Yet Carrasco's death in endeavored to appeal to other United States minority groups. [Original Editor's Note] 1976 at the Huntsville (Texas) prison, along with

34 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS Americo Paredes is a folklorist, prize-winning author, and singer of border corridos.

Photo by Jane E. Levine, courtesy Texas Folklife Resources

two women hostages, inspired close to a dozen but the armored vest he was wearing corridos with echoes of the old style. The sensa- did not let the bullets through. tional character of Carrasco's death cannot be discounted, but note should also be taken of the En fin de tarjto invitarle unproved though widely circulated charges that Leandro los acompano; Carrasco was "executed" by a Texas Ranger, who en las lamas de Almiramba allegedly shot him through the head at close file el primero que cayo. range where Carrasco lay wounded. This is a sce- nario familiar to many a piece of folk literature They kept asking him to go, about cultural conflict — corridos and prose nar- imtil Leandro went with them; ratives — the rinche finishing off the wounded in the hills of Almiramba

Mexican with a bullet through the head. It is he was the first one to fall. interesting to compare the following stanzas, the first from one of the Carrasco corridos and the El capitdn de los rinches other two from a tequilero ballad of the thirties. a Silvano se acerco

y en unos cuantos segundos

El capitdn de los rinches Silvano Garcia murio.

fue el primero que cayo

pero el chaleco de malla The captain of the Rangers las balas no traspaso. came up close to Silvano, and in a few seconds The captain of the Rangers Silvano Garcia was dead.

was the first one to fall.

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 35 Similar attitudes are expressed on the Sono- the folksongs of the Border. In 1885, for exam- ra-Aiizona border, for example, when the hard- ple, Rito Garcia protests illegal police entry into case hero of "El corrido de C^ananea" is made to his home by shooting a few officers of Cameron say, County, Texas. He makes it across the river and feels safe, unaware that Porfirio Diaz has an

Me (iganarun los chmfes extradition agreement with the United States.

al eslilo americano, AiTested and returned to Texas, according to the

como al hombre de delito, corrido, he expresses amazement:

todos con jiistola eii mono. Yo niniai huhiera creido The sheriffs caught me que mi pais tirano fuera, in the American style, que Mainew me entregara

as they would a wanted man, a la narion extranjera. all of them pistol in hand.

I never would have thought The partition of Nuevo Santander was also that my countiy would be so unjust, to have political effects, arising from the strong that Mainero would hand me over feeling among the Lower Rio Grande people to a foreign nation. that the land on both sides of the river was equally theirs. This involved feelings on a vei"y local And he adds bitterlv: and personal level, rather than the rhetoric of national politics, and is an attitude occasionally Mexicauos, lui lia\ que jiar exhibited by some old Rio Grande people to this en nuestra propia nacion, day. Driving north along one of todays highways niinea vayan a buscar toward San Antonio, Austin, or Houston, they a Mexieu proleccion. are likely to say as the highway crosses the Nue- ces, "We are now entering Texas." Said in jest, of Mexicans, we can put no trust course, but the jest has its point. Unlike Mexi- in our own nation; cans in California, New Mexico, and the old never go to Mexico colony of Texas, the Rio Grande people experi- asking for protection. enced the dismemberment of Mexico in a ven' immediate way. So the attitude developed, early But the mexieanos to whom he gives this and naturally, that a border Mexican was en su advice are Texas-Mexicans. tiena in Texas even if he had been born in Tamaulipas. Such feelings, of course, were the Special thanks to Victor Guerra, Centerfor Mexican basis for the revolts of Cortina and Pizaha. They American Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. reinforced the borderer's disregard of political and social boundaries. And they lead in a direct Further Readings line to the Chicano movement and its mythic concept of Aztlan. For the Chicano does not Paredes, Americo. 1958. "W'Uh His Fislal in His base his claim to the Southwest on royal land Hand": A Border Ballad and Its Hero. Austin: grants or on a lineage that goes back to the University of Texas Press.

Spanish conquistadores. On the contrary, he is . 1976. A Texas-Mexican Cancionero: more likely to be the child or grandchild of Folksongs of the Lower Border. Chicago: immigrants. He bases his claim to Aztlan on his University of Illinois Press. Mexican culture and his mestizo heritage.

. 1993. Folklore Conversely, the Texas-born Mexican contin- and Culture on the Texas-Mexican Border, ed. Richard Bauniai ued to think of Mexico as "our land" also. That Austin: University of Texas Press. this at times led to problems of identity is seen in

36 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS The Arizona-Sonora Border: Line, Region, Magnet, and Filter

James S. Griffith

The Aiizona-Sonora border was established count!")' illegally de alamhrc — "through the wire." as a resiih of the Gadsden Purchase of 1853. It One who does this is an alambrista — a "wireist." runs through desert and mountain countiy, There are more sophisticated techniques as well. from the western Cliihuahuan Desert over by In 1990, customs officials discovered an elabo- New Mexico through a zone of grassland and rate tunnel leading from a warehouse in Agua oak-covered hills to the classic Sonoran Desert Prieta to a similar structure in Douglas, Aiizona. west of Nogales. The land gets more and more Hydraulic equipment had been installed at arid as one travels west, and the western third of either end, and the whole set-up was capable of the border is essentially devoid of human habita- handling considerable quantities of goods. At tion. It is this stretch of the border, once a major least three roiridos have been written and circu- road to the Colorado River, that has earned and lated about "el Tiinel." kept the title. El Camino del Diablo, "The Devil's The fence sei^ves other, more localized pm- Highway." poses from time to time. During the 1980s, an There are six ports of entry on the Arizona- international volleyball game was regularly held

Sonora border. From east to west these paired near Naco. Each team played in its own country, towns are: Douglas/Agua Prieta, Naco/Naco, with the chain-link fence serving as the net. Nogales/Nogales, Sasabe/Sasabe, Lukevalle/ To the east, in Agua Prieta, match racing has Sonoyta, and San Luis Rio Colorado, which has long been an important form of recreation. In no corresponding town on the Aiizona side. 1957, a horse named Relampago (Lightening) Between these towns stretches the border, for won an important race and became the instant the most part marked by a three-strand barbed target of many challenges. One of the chal- wire fence and a series of monuments. The bor- lengers was Chiltepin (named after the fiery der monuments are spaced so that each one is local wild chile), from Pirtleville, on the U.S. visible from its counter- side. Hoof-and-mouth part to the east and to regulations made it the west. The fence tra- impossible for either verses valleys, moun- horse to cross into the tains, lush thickets, and other's country. The sparse desert shrub- solution: each horse bery. ran on its own side of

Wliere it crosses the fence. Relampago true desert, truly won that one, too. deserted country, it is a The international simple three-strand border creates more barbed wire fence. In than a fence between other stretches it countries. It also cre- Relampago, famed Mexican quarter horse, beats the Ameri- changes to chain-link ates a de-nationalized can Chiltepin in a race which was run on the stretch of the or, as recently between zone, a region extend- border near Douglas. Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora, the to ing for many miles into two Nogaleses, because temporarily imposed health regulations in 1959 did metal strips. not allow either of the horses to cross. Photo courtesy Uni- each nation. In the local Span- versity of Arizona Library's Southwest Folklore Center and I keep being told ish, one enters the Ralph Romero, Jr. that Nogales. Sonora,

MEXICO BORDERLANDS 37 THE AGUA PRIETA TUNNEL By Los Jilgueros del Arroyo

El estadu de Sonom The (Mexican) State of Sonora Ya estd aganando la jama Is stealing the fame away Que tenia Sinaloa that used to belong to Sinaloa

Por la cuestion de la Mafia, Due to the business of the Mafia, Crimenes yfechorias Crimes and acts of villainy

A la Im de la manana. In the broad light of day.

Primew lo de los muertos First there were the bodies

Que afragoso le achacaron. That they blame on the rough order.

Luego sigiiio lo del Tiinel Then there was the tunnel

Que en la linea enrnntrawii. That they discovered on the border.

Pero lo hallaron solito But they came upon it deserted La droga ya habia pasado. The drugs had already passed.

En la jaula ya no caben They no longer fit in the cage

Leones, tigres, y panteras. Lions, tigers, and panthers. Ese desierto estd verde That desert is green

Y el bianco luz a cualquiera. And the white stuff shines for anyone. Quanta droga habrd pasado How much drugs must have passed

g^Por el tunel de Agua Prieta? Through the timnel at Agua Prieta?

"isn't the real Mexico." That is perfectly true, of investors are drawn here, too. It attracts tourists coiuse, just as Nogales, Arizona, "isn't the real from Mexico as well as those in search of eco-

United States." Each is a border commiuiity, nomic opportimities. These may involve the attracting business from the other side of the assembly plants known as maquiladoras on the line. Folks cross the border each day to shop, Sonoran side of the border, or they may lie far- work, and socialize. Each town has taken on ther north in the United States. Many opportu- some of the character of its coimterpart on the nity seekers cross the border illegally. other side of the line. For the traveler from This brings us to another important fimction Michigan, U.S.A., or Michoacan, Mexico, the for- of the border. As well as defining a subregion eign flavor starts long before one arrives at the that is neither one place nor another, as well as border crossing, and reminders of home persist serving as a magnet that draws goods and people long after one has crossed over into the other from both countries, the border is also a barrier. country. It is intended to filter out imdesirable influences The border attracts. Manufactured goods going in both directions. So United States Immi- gravitate to it on their way into Mexico, and gration and Naturalization Service and the Bor- enough vegetables are attracted northwards to der Patrol fight an unceasing and frustrating bat- feed much of the western United States. The tle to ensure that only authorized, docinnented border region attracts tourists and travelers from individuals cross into the United States. On the the United States, seeking just to sample the other side, Mexican Customs fights an equally charms of a foreign countiy, or passing through endless campaign against the importation of on their way farther south into Mexico. An untaxed goods, especially automobiles, into increasing nimiber of businesspeople and Mexico.

Another battle — a war, in fact — is constantly fought across the length and breadth of the border region between drug smugglers and James S. Griffith is Director of the Southwest Folklore Center of the University of Arizona. He is a native of southern Cali- those who woidd prohibit their traffic into the fornia and has called the Pimeria Alta home since the early United States. This war touches the lives of every- 1960s. one living within a hundred miles of the border.

38 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS Jesus Leon, an itinerant puppeteer and craftsman, displays his puppet in his vending booth at the Fiesta de San Francisco In IVIagdalena, Sonora. The late Don Jesus also made tin frames with reverse-painted glass for holy Images, a tradition he

has passed on to his children. Itinerant craftsmen, known as pajareros, usually sell these frames with the holy Image of the regional patron saint, San Francisco de Quino, or of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Photo by David Burckhalter

The chapel of Kohatk village is located In the Tohono O'odham Nation In the Arlzona-Sonora border region. The pictures with reverse-painted glass in tin frames that flank the central cross were made by

Itinerant artisans from Imuris, known as pajareros. Photo by James S. Griffith

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 39 Gloria Moroyoqui carefully gathers cut tissue paper into a flower. In her kitchen workshop she makes paper flowers, pihatas, the decoratecJ, confetti-filled eggshells called cascarones, and other crafts she creates out of available materials like scrap paper, cardboard boxes, popsicle sticks, and straws. Photo by Lyie Rosbotham

while at the same time it remains ahnost com- crossings are not as easy as they once were for pletely invisible. Traces of it may be seen, of the O'odham themselves. course, in newspaper headlines, in robberies by Yaqui Indians live on both sides of the bor- addicts, in the magical spells and prayers to dark der as well. Those living in soiuhern Aiizona powers which show up in displays of religious claim as their homeland the valley of the Rio

articles for sale, and in restrictions on travel to Yaqui, which is 300 miles south of the border. some deserted areas near the border. But many Especially at Easter time, Yaqui ritual musicians border residents shrug, remark that only drug and dancers who live in Mexico travel north with people seem to be involved in the shoot-outs, their necessaiy regalia and instruments, crossing and go on in their everyday way. the border at Nogales and going on to Tucson to The border has touched the region's Native help their kinfolk perform necessary religious Americans in special ways. The Tohono ceremonies in the United States. Their ritual O'odham claim ancestral lands on both sides of equipment has long puzzled some U.S. Customs the border, and many interpret the Gadsden officials, and a booklet was issued around 1980 Purchase agreement as having granted them the to convince government employees, for instance,

right to move freely across the border within that a long string of dried cocoon-husks is a leg

their lands. But O'odham land is being rattle rather than a device for concealing heroin.

encroached upon by Mexican farmers and oth- There is one more important observation to ers in Sonora, and the stretch of the border that be made about the Aiizona-Sonora border, or at

runs through O'odham land is vailnerable to least about its central part. It rims right down the

smugglers. As a result, one needs a permit nowa- middle of what is still, after almost 150 years, a

days to travel along the southern portion of the cultural region in its own right.

Tohono O'odham Nation near the border, and Wiren Eusebio Francisco Kino, S.J. arrived in

40 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERtANDS this region in 1686 as its first permanent Euro- insert a favorite saint's picture or even the por- pean resident, he called the countiy he moved trait of a family member. into "la Pimeria Alta," or "Upper Pima Country." Many of these frames are purchased by This distinguished it fiom regions to the south Tohono O'odham and are taken back across the where Piman languages were also spoken, as well border to the altars of the small chapels which as fiom the lands to the soiuheast and southwest, dot the Tohono O'odham Nation. Others are occupied respectively by Seris and Opatas. To bought by Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and the north of the Pimerfa Alta were lands occu- Yaquis, and used on home altars. Some, however, pied by other peoples, most particularly the are bought by Anglo-Americans, especially in the Apaches. Three hundred years later, the Pimeria past ten years, dining which time the painted Alta is still a cultural region, even though it has frames have been exhibited in Tucson and been divided between two nations that did not Nogales as traditional art. In Mexican and Indian exist in Kino's day. hands, the frames are colorful decorations for The region is unified by several elements. beloved holy pictures or family portraits. In There are still Piman speakers (O'odham in Anglo hands, however, the frames themselves their own language) on both sides of the border. become the icons — symbols of the region and

Also, much the same in both coimtries is Mexi- of its traditions. can ranching culture, many of whose principal In a like way, pitlatas and cascarones (decorat- families straddle the border. The traditional, ed eggshells which have been filled with confetti Jesuit-introduced, folk diet based on wheat, and inoimted on decorated paper cones, and cheese, and beef is consistent throughout the which are broken over party-goers" heads to region, as is the use of the unique tortilla grande increase the festive ambiente oi xhe occasion) are de hanna — the huge wheat flour tortilla that can piuchased by some Anglos for their original, ineasure well over a foot across, and whose lard intended use, by others for use as wall decora- content often renders it translucent. And finally, uons. In this guise they become visible symbols the region is bound together through a strong of the region and statements of their owners" devotion to the composite San Francisco whose sensitivity to the region. By the same token, some statue stands in Magdalena de Kino, Sonora. folk Catholic shrines in Tucson and elsewhere Although the image in Sonora represents St. have become tourist destinations for Anglos Francis Xavier, the day on which the annual fies- wishing to understand regional traditions. ta is celebrated is October 4, the Feast of St. This then, is the Aiizona-Sonora border.

Francis of Assisi in the Roman Catholic calendar. Belonging truly to neither nation, it ser\'es as a

This composite San Francisco is of tremendous kind of cultural buffer zone for both, cultivating regional importance, and his fiesta draws thou- its own culture and traditions. Like other bor- sands of pilgrims from north of the border: Mex- ders, it both attracts and repels. Like them, it is ican Americans, Tohono O'odham, and Yaquis, both barrier and filter. It is above all a sUmulat- with a few Anglos thrown in for good measure. ing cultural enxdronment. After 30 years as a resi-

Among the religious goods offered for sale to pil- dent, I can honestly say that I can think of no grims at the Fiesta de San Francisco are colorful, other place I would rather be. reverse-painted glass frames for holy pictures. These frames are made by several extended families of craftspeople. Each frame consists of a Further Readings sheet of glass which has been painted with geo- Griffith, S. 1988. Southern Arizona Folk Arts. metric or floral motifs on the back. Both opaque James Tucson: University of Arizona and translucent paints are used, and a rectangu- Press. lar is space left undecorated, for the holy card. . 1992. Beliefs and Holy Places: A The glass is then backed, first with a layer of Spiritual Geography of the Pimeria Alta. Tucson: cruinpled tinfoil, and then with either cardboard University of Arizona Press. or tin. The tinfoil gives a wonderful, shimmering Weisman, Alan. 1991. La Frontera: the United States quality to the translucent paint on the glass. Border with Mexico. Tucson: University of While holy pictures are inserted into many of the Ajiizona Press. frames, others are left bare, so the purchaser can

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 41 The Epic Tradition of the Founding of Nuevo Laredo

Manuel Ceballos-Ramirez

Translated by Olivia Cadaval

Perder la tinra, perder la lengua, jwrder las Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, many of its inhabi-

costumbres, es perder el cimiento de la x'ida. tants abandoned their homes and emigrated to

dejar de ser. the other side of the Rio Bravo, where they Pedro Casalddliga founded a settlement they called Nuevo Laredo in memory of their lost home. The tradition En Nuevo Laredo existe una de las tradiciones adds that they disinterred their dead, moved mas significativas que contribuye aforjar la identidad their remains across the river, and reinterred de los habitantes de lafrontera noiie mexicana. Se them in Nuevo Laredo so they would not lie in trata de una tradicion historica que asegura que, en foreign territory. 1848 al perder Mexico la pequena pobladon de Laredo This nationalistic tradition has been repeat- — a causa de lafirma del Tratado de Guadalupe edly cited throughout the history of Nuevo Lare-

Hidalgo entre Mexico y los Estados Unidos — muchos do. In September of 1848 the governor of de los laredenses la abandonaron. Segun la tradicion, Tamaulipas lamented "the deep pains" that the la poblacion de Laredo fue abandonada par sus habi- Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had caused but tantes porque no se resignaron a pertenecer a una recognized the "worthy and faithful Mexicans" nueva nacion y decidieron emigrar a la margen who had moved to the Mexican side and found- derecha del Rio Bravo yfundar otro asentamiento que ed Nuevo Laredo. At the end of the century, bautizaron con el nornbre de Nuevo Laredo, en recuer- Juan E. Richer, author of the first known histoiy do de la poblacion perdida. Ademds, la tradicion ase- of Nuevo Laredo, wrote: gura que, no contentos con trasladarse ellos mismos al lado mexicano, tambien desenterraron a sus muertos, Celebrating the peace of 1848, many of cruzaron sus restos y los reinhumaron en Nuevo Lare- the residents of the lost Laredo, not wanti- do con elfin de que no yacieran en territorio extranjero. ng to lose their nationality, or to form part of a nation whose race, ideas, cus- To lose the earth, to lose the language, to toms, language, and religion were totally

lose the customs, is to lose the foundation different from their own, crossed the river

of life, to stop existing. and established themselves between two

Pedro Casaldaliga small ranches . . .

In Nuevo Laredo there is an historical tradi- The tradition achieved a culminating tion that is central to public expressions of civic moment of glory during Nuevo Laredo's Centen- identity at the border. It is the story of how, in nial Celebration in 1948. It became part of the 1848, when Mexico lost the small town of Laredo official shield of the city, whose motto, "Always to the L'nited States because of the signing of the with the Homeland," refers to the events of foundation. The tradition has also been evoked in sculptures, murals, poems, songs, hymns, street Manuel Ceballos-Ramirez, a native of Laredo, Tamaulipas, names, schools, as well as in political speeches. received his Master's from the Universidad de Monterrey and The civic monimient to "the Foimders" built in his Ph.D. from El Colegio de Mexico. At present, he is Coor- 1958 has the following words inscribed on it: dinator of the regional office ofEl Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Nuevo Laredo, Director of the Municipal Historical Archives, and Professor at the Universidad Autonoma de A city as patriotic and Mexican in its very Taniaulipas. essence as Nuevo Laredo knows that a city

42 U.S. MEXICO BORDERLANDS The mural at the water plant in Nuevo Laredo commemorates the town's epic beginnings. When Laredo became

part of the United States in 1848, the Mexican residents of Laredo, rather than lose their citizenship, crossed the newly-established border and founded Nuevo Laredo, carry- ing with them the disinterred remains of their ancestors. Photo by Luis Barrera

is not only a present and a future, but also Citations and Further Readings a past; in order to settle in this site they Benavides, Manuel. 1941. Nuevo Laredo, brought the revered remains of their Tamaulipas: su historia y sus hombres. Nuevo ancestors, making them part of Mexican Laredo: Imprenta Rfos. history. Ceballos Ramirez, Manuel. 1989. Lafundarion de

Some local historians have questioned the Nuevo Laredo: el£mentos para la interpretacidn de una tradidon epica. Mexico: Universidad accuracy of the narrative because of its lack of historical documentation. But the historical Autonoma de Tamaulipas-Miguel Angel record does include similar exoduses motivated Porri'ia. by similar nationalistic concerns. And in this . 1991. La historia y la epopeya en los light, the stoiy of the founding of Nuevo Laredo origenes de Nuevo Laredo. Nuevo Laredo: Col. appears not only as a documentary problem but Cuadernos de la Facultad Ni'nu. 5, also as a problem in the histoiy of ideas — their Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas. character and their diffusion, persistence and Richer, Juan E. 1958. Resena Historica de Nuevo reproduction. In this sense, the narradve of the Laredo. Nuevo Laredo: Impresos del Norte foundation of Nuevo Laredo can be considered (la. ed. 1901). as an epic and still more as a charter myth. ,\s an Saldivar, Gabriel. 1945. Historia compendiada de epic, it is a deed of historic importance accom- Tamaulipas. Mexico: Editorial Beatriz plished with great effort and difficulty. As a char- de Silva. ter myth, it is a stoiy that informs the conduct of a social group and symbolically expresses its atti- Salinas Dominguez, Manuel L 1981. Los origenes tude in confronting the world. de Nuevo Laredo. Ciudad Victoria: These two ideas, epic poem and origin myth, Universidad Autonoma de Tamaulipas. are immanent in the behavior valorized in tradi- Sosa, Octaviano. 1948. Creadon y denominacion tion about the founding of Nuevo Laredo. On de la Villa de Nuevo Laredo. En Centenario e occasions when their civic identity is in question, Nuevo Laredo. Nuevo Laredo: Comite Pro this tradition roots Nuevo Laredoans and main- Primer Centenario. tains them "always with the homeland." As long Villareal Pena, Ismael. 1986. Seis Villas del Norte. as this city occupies an important geopolitical position on the international border with the Ciudad Victoria: Universidad Autonoma de United States, the foundation myth of Nuevo Tamaulipas. Laredo will be fundamental to the expression of its civic identity.

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 43 Border, Culture, and Maquiladoras: Testimonies of Women Workers

Maria Eugenia de la O

Translated by Olivia Cadaval

Aclnalmciite hi nidmlna iiiiii/iiHatiura de This cultural mosaic tends to be masked by exportacioji represenla lafonna mds conspicua del cap- the daily environment of maquiladora workers, ital extranjero en Mexico. Estas fdbricas tuvieron su which has been shaped to create conformity fiiiir/'n en 1 965 cotno parte de iin proyecto alternativo among workers through the more than 20 years dr indnstrializacidyi para lafrontera norte del pais, of these border industries. The striictiuing of asi como niedida preventiva de empleo para cienlos de worker interactions throughout the border trabajadores inexicanos que retomarian de Estados industrial complex has produced a standardiza- Unidos al termino del Programa de Braceros. tion of experience throughoiu the spheres of La presencia de la industria maquiladora en la labor, family, and neighborhood. The environ- region fronteriza ha generado formas especificas de ment created by work has become the most industrializacion y desarrollo regional, asi como feno- important single factor in the expression of menos sociales tales como la masiva presencia de social identit)' among border workers. mujeres, quienes tradicionahnente se han empleado en Of course, the expression of identity may estas fdbricas, lo que ha estimulado la formanon de also be a point of resistance, a disruptive coun- patrones culturaks especifuos. terstatement to the dominant discourse:

The border iiuKiniladora iiukistiy, the most Here there are many girls that are real

conspiciioiis form of foreign investment in all of cholas . . . but the majority of the women

Mexico, was established in 1965 to absorb the .say they are a disaster. They paint graffiti labor freed up at the end of the Bracero Pro- on doors, walls, and the bathrooms, and gram, under which many Mexican workers they fight too much. They know they served as migrant laborers on U.S. farms. Grant- won't be hired, so they get dressed well, ed special dispensations in taxes, tariffs, and vari- normal like anyone. But once inside, they ous forms of regulation by Mexican and U.S. gov- begin to dress chola. ernments, American-based companies like Gen- eral Electric, RCA, and Kenworth have built Overall, the dominant maquiladora model assembly plants along the border. The presence defines workers as a unique and socially specific of the maquiladoras has generated specific forms group. In this context, then, can we speak of a of industrialization and regional development, unified worker's identity or culture? Several com- unique social phenomena such as the massive plicating factors prevent this: principal among concentration of women workers, and specific them are the cultures of distinct social groups at cultural patterns that have been stimulated by the border, brought there by massive migratoiy these conditions. flows that sen'e the internationalization of pro- The border is a frontier between two differ- ductive processes. Cultural practices at the bor- ent economic and sociocultural worlds. It is also der are thus in constant reformation, reformulat- a place of refuge that shelters migrants from ing and creating border identities. many areas of Mexico. Day by day a great cultur- This complexity should not cause us to lose al mosaic is created by the presence of indige- sight of the fact that for maquiladora workers nous peoples, border crossing guides, and male there are only two formative environments that and female workers including punks and cholos bring together social and cultural life. The first is (a kind of neighborhood youth identity), to the work environment in the maquiladoras. The mention a few of the border identities. second is dailv life in the workers' neighbor-

44 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS Maquiladora workers attach electric harness wires for refrigerators, whose

assembly will be completed in the United States. Mexico's regional industrialization program based on foreign-owned assembly line plants has attracted many migrants from the interior of Mexico to the border. Photo by Olivia Cadaval

hoods of the border, which is increasingly com- though there are no studies. There is only ing under the control of the maquiladora man- one level above your super\'isor, but every- agers. one knows all the posidons and the level

In structuring the work en\ironnient, of performance of everyone else, so it

maquiladoras have always used motivational pro- works out well. . . . They tell us that this grams that combine control, supenision, and place is our place but I don't think so. For the elimination of production problems. This example, there is this person that hires us. type of management achieves its ends by manip- He tells us that we are pure garbage and ulating workers' subjective values with rewards that is why we are here. We have told this and prizes directly related to production. Among to the bosses, but they do nothing. For the prizes commonlv offered bv the maquilado- another example, I talked to one of the ras are holiday trips to the interior of the coim- bosses, and he said I had a bad attitude. try, and hats, jackets, and T-shirts bearing leg- Well, what I had said was, 'Just hear me ends such as those used by RCA: "RCA and I are out. We are taken advantage of all the a team," "I am part of RCA," or "I collaborate time, but however much we complain, we with RCA." According to the workers, these aren't given the power to change any- prizes are awarded thing."

... to achieve higher qualitv. They give us In the world of the maquiladora there are pastry, ice cream, and parties, there in Taxca, or even take the whole production Maria Eugenia de la O Martfnez, cunently a doctoral can- line to eat in Tenampa. Wlien we achieve didate in Sociology at El Colegio de Mexico, is a researcher in good production or rejection ratios, per- the Department of Social Studies at El Cole^o de la Frontera haps 100% or even only 70, we go Mth Norte. Her principal areas of research include restructuring the supendsor, the boss of the work industrial processes in norihem Mexico, women's pariicipa- group, all the operators. ... In Taxca, and tiun in industry, and occupational culture and society on the they know how to value and recognize northern Mexican border. She has a forthcoming publication, quality and their workers. In Taxca, the Innovacion tecnologica y clase obrera. Estudio de caso workers think thev are the best even de la hidustria Maquiladora R.C.A.

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 45 poor working conditions, punishments, and the their imaginations contrasts are sharpened glaring disadvantage of being a woman. between the modern, industrialized ambience of the factoiy and the extreme poverty of workers' — neighborhoods. ... I liave to take two buses, really ioiu- two going and two coming. Sometimes Workers sometimes use company incentives the public bus doesn't meet the factory in their own sin"vival strategies, rotating from

bus and I have to pay. Then we have to one maquila to the next in search of good prizes

be there at six so I have to get up veiy or bonuses for signing on. They seek "good" easier schedules, better trans- early. . . . The work is very hard, veiy dirty. companies, and You work with metals, and all the time you portation benefits. They seek better working are shaking off shaNangs and picking out conditions, and especially look for a fun social they can find all they need splinters. . . . When 1 cut off that finger environment where

they sewed back on, I grabbed it and for their recreation. Networks among the work- pick the best plant. Most work- threw it into my jacket pocket. . . . And ers help one out then there was the supervisor who walked ers have a friend or relatives in one plant or in with a female maintenance worker that another. repaired small things. And after a little Is there a workers' culture on the border? while, he got her pregnant. Although he For more than 20 years workers have shared a set was married, he continued to pursue her. of common experiences of work and life in She already had a girl. When she felt bad maquiladoras, but it is premature to speak of a or needed something, the superx'isor "workers' culture," if we vmderstand by this a authorized her time card. And the office vision of the world defined by class interests. realized he signed her card when she Similarities in the composition of the work force, wasn't there, so they fired them both. in the workers' condition as migrants, and in age are not by themselves sufficient to constitiue a As the border industries developed, compa- culture. Part of workers' culture also resides in ny control spread to the daily life of the workers the family, the neighborhood, and the border- outside the factoiy environment. Workers' free land context in which distinct roles and identi- time is now managed by the maquiladora ties like the pimk, the student, the single moth- through sports, dances, gymnastics, birthday cel- er, and the chola converge. Maquiladora work- ebrations, festivals, and beauty competitions. ers' culture is rather a sector shared by, or According to management these types of activi- accessed through, many larger cultural worlds. ties make workers feel at home. This feeling of As one maquila worker put it: being "in a family," is explicitly mentioned in the invitations to workers and their kin. . . . well, it's veiy difficult. It's not that Workers in the maquiladora in Juarez have there was no other work — it's where one their own nightclub, the Malibu, which has room ends up, the last place you go. If you don't for about 3,000 people and operates when it get something in one place, and there's doesn't conflict with work schedules. Its regulars no way, this leaves going to a maquila. . . . playfully call it the "Maquilu," a border-beach I always said, I am ne\'er going to work in a hybrid, and often party there till dawn. The Mal- maquila, biU yet here I am. ibii nightclub and other similar installations encourage values and needs desired by the Citations and Further Readings maquiladora management. Norma Iglesias De la O, Maria Eugenia. 1992. Sindicalismo quotes workers as saying that before they began y contratacion colectiva en las maquiladoras to work in the maquiladora, they didn't go out to fronterizas. Los casos de Tijuana, Ciudad have a good time, biu preferred to stay at home. Juarez, y Matamoros. Frontera Norte 4 That changed with work at the maquiladora. (Dec). The factory environment does allow many workers to escape, for a time, their poor living Iglesias, Norma. 1985. La flor mas bella de la conditions. They spend a large part of their free maquiladora: Historia de vida de la mujer en time in the plant's recreational facilities, where Tijuana, B.C. Mexico, D.F.: they can meet their friends and even bring their SEP/CEFNOMEX. family to events organized by the company, hi

46 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS ,

The Mixteco Presence in Tijuana

Francisco Javier Moreno B.

Translated by Olivia Cadaval

A mas de 3.000 kilometros de sii higar de origen, Mexico continue to migrate, Mixtecos insist that los mixtecos encontraron en Tijuana, Baja California, they are an accepted and recognized part of un territorio base para asentarse y distribuirse. A esta urban society. At the same time most of them ciudad llegan y se quedan, o bien de esta salen hacia continue to explore their remembered tradi-

San Qiiintin, al sur del estado, o bien hacia el norte, a tional culture. Mixtecos in Tijuana still value

los campos y calles de California. En ese movimiento se this cultural heritage, although they perceive ha ido forjando en Tijuana una comunidad mixteca that in their present lives it is of little use to de mas de 5.000 miembros que se llaman a si mismos them. They still desire aspects of the life in Mix- paisanos, mixtecos o oaxaquenos y que los demds los teca, and they retiun there when they can to cel- nombran inditos, oaxacas, marias, surenos. Se asienta ebrate feasts, to check on land holdings, or for la mayoria de los mixtecos en la colo7iia Obrera, al other family matters. Mixteca remains a focus of suroeste de la ciudad, entre lomas y caiiadas que collective memory.

mucho les recuerda a su natal Mixteca o "pueblo de The Mixtecos have achieved recognition nubes". among ethnic groups in Tijuana for the way they celebrate the Day of the Dead. To this traditional Since 1960, many Mixtecos have migrated feast in the popular religious calendar of Mexi- more than 3,000 kilometers (2,000 miles) from co, Mixtecos have added mysdcism and symbol- their home villages in the state of Oaxaca to ism beyond the common Catholic practices in Tijuana, settling there and using their commimi- Tijuana. Each year members of the Mixteco com- ty as a way station for further migrations south to miuiity are asked to assist in the design and San Quintin or north to California. In Tijuana a preparation of Day of the Dead altars at educa- Mixteco community of more than 5,000 mem- tional and recreational centers. The city's prima- bers call one another paisano (fellow countiy- ry and secondai7 schools hold competitions in man), mixteco, or oaxaqueno (Oaxaca), while oth- Day of the Dead altars, in which Mixteco influ- ers call them inditos (little Indian), oaxacas, ence has become quite evident in expressive marias (term for Indian migrant street vendors) styles not commonly seen in other cides of or surenos (southerner). The majority of the Mix- northern Mexico. tecos have settled in the Obrero district in the In Tijuana Mixtecos speak their own lan- southeast of the city, among hills and narrow guage among themselves but learn Spanish and canyons reminiscent of the landscape in their English for social and economic survival. Each native Mixteca or "country of clouds." region of Mixteca from which migration comes

In the cultural mix of Tijuana, to which has its own dialect, but these sociolinguisdc dif- indigenous and mestizo peoples from all over ferences are minimized in Tijuana. Mixtecos draw social distinctions on the basis

of "having made it" economically, giving prestige Francisco Moreno luas bom in Hermosillo, Sonora, where he to the older and more successful members of the received his B.A. in Education and Sociology. He studied for community, to bilingual Mixteco teachers, and his Master's in Regional Development at El Colegio de la to those with relatives on the other side of the Frontera Norte in Tijuana, Mexico. He has been a researcher border who send support. Mestizos among the of the Department of Cultural Studies at El Colegio de la Frontera Norte addressing themes on traditional culture, oral Mixtecos often distinguish themselves in the eth- tradition of migrant Mixteco groups in Tijuana, and ele- nic slurs they use, the fights they provoke, and mentary education in Mexico. the socioeconomic advantage they take. On their

MEXICO BORDERLANDS 47 Curriculum in the Escuela Bilingue El Pipila includes Mixteco language and culture. Photo by Ricardo Garcia

side, Mixtecos often want to Ijeconie like mesti- existence of individualism. The necessities and zos, speaking Spanish, dressing urbanely, and opportunities they encounter in the city' oblige gaining access to higher levels of consumption — them to adopt this other kind of identit)'. Distinc- although some Mixtecos live better than mestizos tion and stratification are becoming more visible, in the Obrero district of Tijuana. measured in income and expressed in social Among Mixtecos, women have greater con- ostentation. tact with mestizos in the rest of the city, for With all ol this, members of the Mixteco women sell diverse products in the market community in Tijuana aspire to find a better way places. Mixteco men work mostly in the United of life. They honor their cultural heritage, but

.States. A large number of yoimg Mixtecos now finding it not respected and, furthermore, a work in mat/uiladora ?iiisemh\y plants, as domes- cause of discrimination, they continue to lose tics, as masons and construction workers, and as what they value as they confront the need to gardeners. Some have become public employees. search for ways of being coimted in the larger Mixtecos see language as the key to cultural society. At the same time that they demand identity. The permanent flow of migrants to and respect for their rights as citizens, as workers, from Oaxaca has supported the continued use of and as human beings, they are adopting many Mixtecan in Tijuana. And in daily classes, Mixte- aspects of Mexican border cultine. co teachers transmit knowledge and pride in Mixtecos perceive their future in Tijuana is their language, using it to explain and celebrate one of hope and possibility. Confronted with the value of their tradidons, especially foods, fies- returning to the extreme poverty of the Mixteca, tas, songs, and stories. the majority seems ready to remain in Tijuana.

The rinal, ethnic, and commimity based cul- The cost is a change of identity, never being the ture of Mixtecos in Tijuana is undergoing a same again. The benefit is survival. transformadon whose outcome cannot be com- pletely predicted. Many families continue to pre- Furthn Reading serve their culture, while others let traditional Moreno Barrera, Francisco J. 1992. La tradicion pracdces fall by the wayside, for there is no com- oral de los mixtecos en Tijuana. In Entre la munal obligation to keep the faith as there is in magia y la historia: Tradiciones, mitos y leyendas the Mixteca. Most insist the on community basis de lafrontera, ed. M. Valenzuela. Mexico: El of Mixtecan culture, biu also now recognize the Colegio de la Frontera Norte.

48 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS Mixteco Women on the Migration Route

Laura Velasco Ortiz

Translated by Hector Antonio Corpordn

Siguiendo el viaje de algunas mujeres mixtecas day my oldest son said to me, "Look moth- que salieron de su pueblo y se instalaron, hasta ahora er, let's go to Tijuana. They say there is en Tijuana, aparece el dinamismo de la migracion. plenty of help for poor people there." Cambios como la adolescenda, el noviazgo, el And here you have me in Tijuana casamiento o la union, la llegada de los hijos y a veces telling you all this. Go back? No, I won't la muerte, son sucesos tenidos por los vaivenes de la go back. Everything there is very sad. I tell migracion. my children, "If you want to return, go

ahead — to each his own." My life is here.

. . . Una vez que se sale del pueblo la vida cani- Doha Guadalupe Santillan' bia. O se encuentra novio, o se casa, o se tiene

un hijo. Ya no es la misnia que salio . . . The Mixteca region of Oaxaca still maintains Doiia Guadalupe Santilldn the humble beauty of many of Mexico's indigenous regions — and also their poverty, erosion,

Back home it rains hard. That's why uncultivated parcels of land, and old trucks that rivers overflow and bridges fall down. come and go loaded with migrants. Listening to When our house was flattened, everything the stories of Mixteco women who have migrated got soaked, totally destroyed, even the from their community, one sees in their faces birth certificates. the imprint of these landscapes. Doha Santillan's

I was born in San Miguel Aguacate, a departure from home, though less common than

district of Silacayoapan, in the Mixteca that of men, is a familiar indi\adual and cultural

region of Oaxaca. As a child I helped my experience. Mixteco women do domestic work in parents pull the weeds in the field. Other- middle and upper class homes in cities like Mexi-

wise, I looked after the cows. I didn't last co City, Oaxaca, Puebla, and more recently, long in school, because the teacher hit Guadalajara, Nogales, Ciudad Juarez, and Tijua-

me a lot, and I would spend a lot of time na. They also work as street vendors. hiding under chairs. For a long time Mixtecos have been part of

I married at age 13. WTien I turned the labor migrations to agricultural fields in "Ver-

17, I left San Miguel, traveling with my acruz, Morelos, and what could be called the husband to Veracruz and Tres Valles northwestern agricultural strip of Mexico — Potreros to cut sugar cane for Boss Sinaloa, Sonora, and Baja California — and even

Manuel. I used to cut 120 or 125 bundles further to the fields of California, Oregon, Wash- per week, and my husband, 80 or 85. They paid us 50 pesos for our combined 'Xhese testimonies by Mixteco women who settled in the work. Of course, the money was given to border city of Tijuana are not intended to be a unified por- him. He was the man. trait of the female migration from the Mixteca region of Oax- When my parents died, I left that aca. In addition to expressing individual and often imique

man. He beat me a lot. I put up with him experiences, they reflect different sub-regions of Oaxaca. The majority' of the families established in the Obrera neigh- because of my parents. But, "It's over," I borhood of Tijuana are from the Silacayoapan district, espe- told myself — and grabbed my children cially from the towns of Sanjeronimo del Progreso, Santa and moved to Mexico City, and from Maria Natividad, and Nieves Ixpantepec, and in notably less- there to Juarez. Along the way 1 would sell er proporuon from the district of Huajuapan de Leon and peanuts, seeds, candies, and apples. One Juxtlahuaca.

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 49 ington, Aiizona, and occasionally. Idaho. Mixteco became ill, and then there was no choice. women use this route in lesser proportion than I had to return home to care for my the men. and their e.xperience of it differs brother's children and my mother. markedly, for unlike most men. they usually trav- Dona Elisa Hernandez el in the company of a family member.

In migration, one's environment is continu- Although the reasons a woman first migrates ally changing — a picture that emerges in experi- are different in each case, fairly constant factors ences narrated by some of the Mixteco women are her youthfulness and a contact with another who left their towns to settle for the present in migrant that shapes her future. The majority of Tijuana. One's experiences of adolescence, Mixteco women became migrants in their adoles- engagement, marriage, birth, and death, are cence, just like the majority' of all migrants in oiu" shaped by the to-and-fro activities of migration. country. To create their cultiue, Mixteco men and women migrants have combined urban and rural knowl- As far back as I can remember, my edge; they have spanned short and long cultiual parents used to send us to haul water on a distances. In this versatile, regional, migrant cul- donkey from a distant river. In those days tiue, migration is a 'permanent event' that school was not mandatory like nowadays. becomes part of life, not a brief experience that Not at all! One was dedicated to keeping can be told as an adventure. For these migrants, house — getting up early to make tortillas adventure is all of life. In the shortest time, unex- or going to the fields to help plant corn. pected change can happen. That was the life there — corn, cows, and goats. When things went well we harvested

I married at the age of 14. My hus- a lot of corn. Othenvise we sold the ani-

band was 35. I did not love the unfortu- mals.

nate man — I was already too grown up, My mother worked veiy hard. When and he was from another town. But there was a shortage of corn — as we have before, when a man asked for the hand of had in recent months without a good crop a girl and the mother said yes, there was — my father would go to yoke the animal, no question. You had no choice but to while she bought or borrowed corn, carry-

many. ing it on her back for three or four kilo-

I went with him to live in his town, but meters (two to two-and-a-half miles).

not for long because he was killed in the That's how it was until we, the chil-

hills. He used to sell dried pepper that he dren, grew up and began to make it on would bring from Pinotepa Nacional. On our own. My parents had never gone out-

his way back, he was attacked on the road side the town. My brother was the first,

by robbers. So, after 1 1 months I was back and then I followed. He went to Mexico at home. City to work as a bricklayer, and my aunt

I stayed there for a while, and when I got me a job with a lady in her house. I tinned 16 an aunt took me to Mexico Cit)' was able to visit home regularly.

to work. I took care of a woman who lived I finally decided to leave home

alone — I swept, washed, and ironed for because it was vei"y difficult for me. My her. When my oldest brother became wid- mother would have me prepare six or owed he came to get me, but my employer seven kilos (13-15 pounds) of tortillas — offered to raise my wages, and she gave there were aboiu eight of us in the family

him a tip. That's how I ended up staying — for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was

longer with her. But then my mother too much. That's why one day I said, "No,

I won't stay here any longer," and left. Dona Paz Vera Laura Velasco Ortiz received her Master's in Social Psyrhalo- gy at the Universidad Autonoma de Mexico. For tlic last \i.\ In some cases, like that of Dona Paz Vera, years she has been studying Mixteco migration to the north- migration is the alternative of choice, while in west border ofMexico. She is a researcher at the Department of Cultural Studies ofEl Colegio de la Frontera Norte and others it is a result of marriage. author of the articles, "Notas para estudiar los cambios en el com,portamiento migratorio de los mixtecos" and "Migracion At the age of 15 1 met a man of 27. He was " femenina v reprndiircion familiar: los mixtecos en Tijuana. a migrant who traveled to and from the

50 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS After years of struggling for a place to ply their trade, Mixteco vendors cleaned and rebuilt the fountain in the Plaza de Santa

Cecilia. Today it is one of the major craft markets for border tourists in Tijuana. Photo by Laura Velasco Ortiz

Mixteco women vendors arrange their display on their cart in the Plaza de Santa Cecilia in Tijuana. Photo by Laura Velasco Ortiz

fields of Sinaloa . . . We dated for a year I migrated when I was 14 years old, about

before I married him . . . when I was 17 five years ago, now. I left with my father years old, he went to the United States. and a younger brother. My mother could He later returned and said to me, "This not come because she was nursing, and

time we go together" . . . And we went to there was no one else to take care of the

work in San Qiiintin, Baja California. house. It took us a month to reach Tijua- Doiia Natalia Flores na because we left without money. My father would play the saxophone while my

But migration is also sometimes inherited, brother and I passed the hat. I am now the destiny of progeny. For families with a married to a man I met here. He is from migrant tradition, mobility is a fundamental strat- my town back in Oaxaca and works on the egy for survival. Children experience their par- other side, the United States. ents' migration as personal and family destiny, Dona Juana Flores integrating it into their lives as an inevitable part of the future. It could be said paradoxically that change is

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 51 a constant in these women's experience — Constant migration makes 'place of destina- change in residence, life cycle, and historical tion' a relative concept — referring to a month moment. These combine to shape the life of a in Mexico City, another in Culiacan, others on woman who first leaves home under circum- the coast of Hermosillo, afterwards a few years in stances that bring together personal reasons, Tijuana, or many more in the United States. But family ties, and misfortime. the 'final destination' seems to be a Mixteco's own place of origin. This seems the principal Once you leave your hometown, life ethnic feature of this migratoiy movement: the changes. You either find a boyfriend, get constant link with the commimity of origin. married, or have a child. You are not the In this venture women play a notable role.

same one that left. By preserving the home, whether in their Mixte- Dona Guadalupe Santillan ca towns or in intermediate destinations — Mexi-

co City, Ensenada, Tijuana — they make it possi- In the course of migration unforeseen events ble for other members of the family, men and take place. Guadalupe migrated for the first time women, to achieve the mobility necessary for to Mexico City, and later returned to her town, travel on old routes or new ones. Their keeping where she lived for some time. There she gave of the home fires includes not only awaiting and birth to a child and after a period again migrated welcoming, but also supporting family members to agricultural fields in the northwest: who remain at home.

Tijuana is one such migrant home base

After my return home from Mexico City I maintained by women at an intermediate desti- took care of my widowed brother's chil- nation. Its location on the Mexico-United States

dren. I spent seven years raising them border allows cross-border mobility for some

until I luarried my second husband. I family members, especially the men, to travel stayed three years with him and had three between the agricultural fields in northern Mexi- children. My husband migrated regularly co and southwestern United States. Mixteco to Culiacan imtil one day he foimd anoth- women in Tijuana, in domestic roles and as wage

er woman and did not return. I was left earners, support the growth of the largest ethnic alone with my children and my mother, group that settled in Baja ("alifornia.

without anyone to wait for. And so I also went to work in Culiacan. My children

stayed home with my mother. In the fields Further Readings I met another man. I started to live with Ai'izpe, Lomdes. 1979. ludigeuas en la Ciudad de him, and together we went to work in de las "Manas". Mexico: Obregon. Mexico. El caso Setentas Diana. Dona Elisa Hernandez Ayre, L. 1977. La poblacion mixleca en el estado de

Migratoiy routes of Mixteco women are Oaxaca segun el censo de 1970. Mexico: SEP- shaped by events of the life cycle. For example, INAH. marriage in the life of the who young woman Chimal, C. 1990. Movimiento perpetuo: at to domestic in migrated 14 do work Mexico Mixtecos en California. Mexico Indigeua 4 City might cause her to choose a different migra- Oan.). tion alternative, perhaps to northern Mexico with Crummett, M.A. 1986. La Mujer rural la her new husband, or with her children alone y migracion en America Latina: Investigacion, after a separation. The arrival of children coin- politicas perspectivas. In La mujer y la cides with a return to the place of origin. The y politica agraria en America Latina, ed., Leon, growth of the children again changes women's M., et al. Bogota, Colombia: Siglo XXI migrations. Wlien the children reach adoles- y ACEP. cence they usually get married, and then the women seem to stabilize themselves. They settle Yanez, R. 1985. Pimtos de encuentro en una for longer periods, and like their parents, care comunidad mixteca en Tijuana. Migracion for their grandchildren while sons and daughters de los mixtecos de Oaxaca a Baja California. migrate to California or Baja California. Educacion de Adultos 3(2).

52 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS The Texas -Mexican Conjunto

Manuel Pen a

One of the most enduring musical traditions who voiced their disapproval of fandangos, or among Mexicans and Mexican Americans is the "low-class" dances, in the newspapers. For exam- accordion-based ensemble known as conjunto ple, the Corpus Christi Caller and the San Antonio (and as musica nortena outside of Texas). Popular Express on more than one occasion expressed for over 100 years — especially since its commer- Anglos' negative attitudes toward tejano music cialization in the 1920s — this folk ensemble and dance. In one report, the Express equated remains to this day the everyday music of work- music and dancing with idleness and concluded ing-class Texas Mexicans and Mexican norteiios that "these fandangos have become so frequent (northerners). During the course of its long his- they are a great curse to the coimtry" (August 20, toid, the conjunto evolved into a tightly orga- 1881). This topical attitiide developed early on nized style that speaks mtisically for the aesthetic and persisted well into the 20th centuiy. and ideological sentiments of its adherents. In Despite Anglo disapproval, the conjiuito and the process, this music of hiunble beginnings its dances thrived among tejano workers, eventu- along the Texas-Mexico border has spread far ally eclipsing all other forms of music for danc- beyond its original base, gaining a vast audience ing. Yet, popidar as it was, the conjunto in both Mexico and the United States. remained an ad hoc ensemble imtil the 1930s. The diatonic, button accordion that anchors No permanent combination of instrimients had the conjiuito made its first appearance in north- been established prior to that time, perhaps ern Mexico and south Texas sometime in the because creative and material forces had not yet 1860s or '70s. The first accordions were simple ciystalized to spur radical stylistic development. one- or two-row models — quite suitable for the To be sure, some changes had been wrought by musical capabilities of the first norteiio and the 1920s, as the button accordion and the bajo Texas Mexican musicians who experimented sexto by now formed the core of the emerging with the instrument. A strong regional style style, while such common European dances as developed by the turn of the century, as the the redowa had been regionalized and renamed. accordion became increasingly associated with a The redowa itself had been transformed into the imique Mexican guitar known as a bajo sexto. veils bajito. in contrast to the waltz, which was

Another local folk instnmient, the tambora de known as a vals alto. Indeed, most of the reperto- rancho (ranch drimi), also enjoyed prominence ly for the dance, or fandango, was of Eiuopean as a back-up to the accordion. In combination origin and included the polka, mazurka, and with one or both of these instrimients, the accor- schottishe, in addition to the waltz and redowa. dion had become by the 1890s the instnmient of One regional genre from Tamaulipas, Mexico, preference for working-class celebrations on the huapango, rounded out the usual repertoiy both sides of the Texas-Mexico border. of conjiuitos until World War II. In Texas, these celebrations were organized Beginning in the 1930s, an innovative singe frequently — too frequently for some Anglos, rippled through the emerging conjunto tradition, as performers like Narciso Martinez (known as "the father" of the modern conjunto), Manuel Pena is an anthropologist who specializes in Mexi- Santiago Jimenez, Lolo Cavazos, and others can American folklore and music. He is a visiting scholar at the University ofHouston and has an upcoming book, The began to strike out in new stylistic directions. Mexican American Orquesta: Music, Culture and the This new surge of innovation must be attributed, Dialectics of Conflict. at least in part, to the active commercial involve-

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 53 Pedro Ayala was one of the early accordion leaders and innovators in the conjunto tradition. Photo courtesy National Council for the Traditional Arts

ment of the major recording labels in the music and chordal accompaniment to the bajo sexto of of the Hispanic Southwest. From the 1920s, com- his most capable partner, Santiago Almeida. panies such as RCA Victor (Bluebird), Decca, Narciso Martinez's new style became the Brunswick, and Columbia (Okeh) began exploit- hallmark of the surging conjunto, just as Almei- ing the musical traditions in the Hispanic South- da's brisk execution on the bajo sexto created west, hoping to repeat the success they had expe- the standard for future bajistas. Together, the rienced with African American music since the two had given birth to the modern conjunto, a early '20s. Under the commercial impetus of the musical style that would challenge even the for- big labels, which encouraged record and phono- midable mariachi in cultural breadth and depth graph sales, radio programming and, especially, of public acceptance. Indeed, by the 1970s it public dancing (much of it in cantinas, to the could be said that the conjunto, known in the dismay of Anglos and "respectable" Texas Mexi- larger market as milsica noriena, was the most cans), musicians like Narciso Martinez began to powerful musical symbol of working-class cul- experiment. By the end of the 1930s, the conjun- ture. Martinez, however, remained an absolutely to had begun to evolve into the stylistic form the modest folk musician until his death. He never ensemble reached during its mature phase in the laid claim to anything but a desire to please his post-World War II years. public. Yet, as Pedro Ayala, another of the early Without a doubt, the most important change accordion leaders, acknowledged, "after Narciso, came in the 1930s, when Narciso Martinez began what could the rest of us do except follow his his recording career. Searching for a way to lead?" stamp his personal st)'le on the accordion, In the years following World War II younger Martinez abandoned the old, Germanic tech- musicians rose to prominence — la nueva gen- nique by virtually avoiding the bass-chord but- eracion (the new generation), as Martinez himself tons on his two-row accordion, concentrating called the new crop of accordionists. Led by instead on the right hand, treble melody but- Valerio Longoria, who contributed a number of tons. His sound was instantly distinctive and rec- innovations to the rapidly evolving style, the new ognizable. Its brighter, snappier, and cleaner generation quickly brought the conjunto to full tone contrasted with the older sound, in which maturity' after the war. Longoria started his trail- bajo sexto and the accordionist's left hand both blazing career in 1947; however, his greatest con- played bass-and-accompaniment, creating a tributions date from 1949, when he introduced "thicker," drone-like effect. Martinez left bassina the modern trap drums into the ct)njunto. Com-

54 U.S. MEXICO BORDERLANDS bined with the contrabass, introduced in 1936 by not slowed the spread of the music. Thus,

Santiago Jimenez, the drums rounded out the despite its reladve consenatism, the tradition has modern ensemble, which after 1950 consisted of expanded far beyond its original confines along accordion, bajo sexto (sometimes guitar), drums, the Texas-Mexico border. In the last 30 years and contrabass (electric bass after about 1955). the music has taken root in such far-flung places Longoria also is credited with another major con- as Washington, California, and the Midwest, as tribution: he introduced vocals into the ensem- well as in the entire tier of northern Mexican ble, which prior to World War II had restricted border states, and even in such distant places as itself almost exclusively to instrumental music. Michoacan and Sinaloa.

-•Vlter Longoria's move, most of the older genres As it spreads its base in the LInited States, — redowa, schottishe, etc. — were abandoned as norteno conjunto music, especially as synthe- the polka and the vocal, in the form of the can- sized by Los Bravos del Norte and its successors cion ranchera (either in vals or polka time), (e.g., Los Tigres del Norte), continues to articu- became the staples of the modern conjimto. late a Mexican working-class ethos. In its suiistic

Several highly innovative performers fol- simpliciU', its continuing adherence to the can- lowed Valerio Longoria. Among the most notable cion ranchera and working-class themes, and is Tony de la Rosa, who established the most most importantly, in its actualization in weekend ideal conjunto soimd in the mid-1950s — a dances, the conjunto remains the bedrock music slowed-down polka st\le, delivered in a highly for millions of people whose eveiyday culture is staccato technique that was the logical culmina- Mexican at its core. More than that, however, the tion of Narciso Martinez's emphasis on the treble conjunto represents a clear musical and ideologi- end of the accordion. Los Relampagos del Norte, cal alternative to the Americanized forms that a group from across the border (Reynosa), made more acculturated, upwardly-mobile Mexican significant contributions in the 1960s, synthesiz- Americans have come to embrace. Accordionist ing the more modern conjunto from Texas with Paulino Bernal best summarized the musico-ide- the older nortent:) tradition to create a style that ological significance of the conjunto when he reached new^ heights in popularit)', both in Mexi- recalled the sharp status differences that existed co and the U.S. Wlien the leaders of Los Relam- among Mexican Americans of an earlier era: pagos, Cornelio Reyna and Ramon Ayala, went their separate ways, the latter formed another ... at that time there was a division — conjunto, Los Bravos del Norte, and that group that he who liked the orchestra hated the went on to make significant contributions in the conjunto. That's the way it was: "Wlio's

1970s that kept the norteno tradition at its peak. going to plav, a conjunto? Oh no!" Those But perhaps the label of "greatest" belongs to who went with Balde Gonzalez [a middle- a conjunto that had its origins in Kingsrille, class orchestra] were not going to go over Texas, in 1954 — El Conjunto Bernal. Led bv here with a conjunto. (personal inteniew accordionist Paulino Bernal and his brother, bajo with the author) sexto player Elov, El Conjunto Bernal began early on to lift the conjunto style to new heights, as the Thus, although nowadays it is patronized by Bernals' absolute master)' of their instruinents many ethnically sensitive, middle-class Mexican allowed the group to probe the very limits of the Americans, conjunto condnues to represent an conjimto st)ie. Bolstered by some of the finest alternative musical ideolog)', and in this way it singers and drummers within the tradition. El helps to presei"ve a Mexican, working-class cul-

Conjunto Bernal came to be acknowledged as ture wherever it takes root on Ainerican soil. "the greatest of all time." The successes of El Endowed with this kind of symbolic power, con-

Conjunto Bernal's musical experiments, especial- junto has more than held its own against other ly in the 1960s, have never been duplicated. tv'pes of music that appear from time to time to

Since the 1960s, the conjunto has remained challenge its dominance among a vast audience rather static, despite the advent in the 1980s of of working-class people. so-called "progressive" conjuntos, which incorporate newer, synthesized sounds into the basic Finilier Reading style. Neither these newer conjuntos nor those who pursue the older st\ie have succeeded in Peiia, Manuel. 1985. The Texas-Mexican Conjunto: transcending the limits set by El Conjunto History of a Working-Class Music. Austin: Bernal, but this relative lack of innovation has Universitv of Texas Press.

EXICO BORDERLANDS 55 La Onda Bajita: Lowriding in the Borderlands

Michael C. Stone

The term "lowriders" refers to automobiles magazine, together with the music of bands like that have been lowered to within a few inches of War, and the Luis Valdez film, Zoot Suit, evoked the road in the expressive style of la onda bajita, images of social and material realities of barrio "the low wave," or "the low trend." It also refers life in shaping and broadcasting the bajito identi- to the people who craft them and to those who ty and style. As a public forum on Mexican-Amer- own, drive or ride in them. On both sides of the ican identity. Low Rider imgaz'me recast pejora- U.S.-Mexico border and throughout the greater tive stereotypes — the culturally ambiguous Southwest, lowriders and their elaborately craft- pocho-pachuco (Paredes 1978; Valdez 1978; Vil- ed camtos, camichas. or ranflas — other names lareal 1959), the dapper zoot-suiter (Mazon for their vehicles — contribute their particular 1984), the street-wise cholo homeboy, the pinto or style to the rich discourse of regional Mexican- prison veterano, and the wild vato loco (Johansen American identities. Paradoxically expressed in 1978) — as affirmative cultural archetypes automotive design, lowriders" sense of regional emerging from the long shadow of Anglo domi- cultural continuity contribiUes a distinctive social nation. sensibility to the emergent multicultural mosaic The style apparently arose in northern Cali- of late 20th-centui7 North America (Gradante fornia in the late 1930s, but evolved in Los Ange- 1982, 1985; Plascencia 1983; Stone 1990). les, where its innovators responded to Holly- A synthesis of creative imagination and tech- wood's aesthetic and commercial demands. Yet nical master)' pushed to their limits, cars with lowriders also assume a critical stance. They dis- state-of-the-art hydraulic technology perform tinguish "low-and-slow" style by asking, "Whose stiuit hopping, but raise their "ride" for dri\'ing cars are high?" (Trillen and Koren 1980). They clearance. Skid plates shower sparks into the censure hot rodders, "who raise their cars, mak- night when dipped to drag over the pavement, ing all kinds of noise and pollution, racing down while neon art illuminates windows, trunk, and the streets killing themselves, if not others." By tmderchassis. Cultiual and religious icons deco- contrast, lowriding expresses pride in hand rate body and interior in bold murals and etched craftsmanship learned through community glass, as lowrider caravans move slowly across a apprenticeship and mechanical work in the mili- complex southwestern social landscape. tary, auto detail shops, and garages, and pride in Lowriding first drew widespread attention in economy — the pracdcal need to maintain one's the late 1970s, sensationalized in "cruising" films own vehicle inexpensively. like Boulevard Nights, biuiesqued in Cheech and From southern California, migrants trans- Chong's classic. Up in Smoke, and framed as cul- ported the style throughout the Southwest. Cesar tural curiosity in print (King 1981; Trillen and Chavez recalls that by the 1940s, farmworkers Koren 1980). In a more serious vein. Low Rider found cars essential to moving quickly from job to job. Cars also embodied social status: "We

were traveling around. . . . You always wanted to

go into the dance [looking] right . . . [to] come Michael Stone is a doctored laiKliddlf' in Social Antlirop in with good cars — we were migrants and the at the University of Texas at Austin, and liolds an M.A. cars meant quite a bit" (Gutierrez 1980:43). from Stanford University. He has published and has a forth- Texas. coming work in such diverse journals as Studies, Social Sci- Migrants brought lowriding east into

ence and Medicine, Human Organization, and tiie Innovator Richard Salazar says lowriders from Handbook of Texas. Los Angeles foimded an early El Paso club, the

56 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS Gustavo "Sleepy" Grado, a Juarez muralist, etched his car window with traditional lowrider motifs — a figure of Christ and a chain. The steering wheel is welded chain. Photo by Lyie Rosbotham

Imperials. Don Ainerico Paredes recalls that hamburger and chicken fried steak drive- posnvar Ciystal Cit\', Texas, aficionados would in. It had a bilingual jukebox [where] we convene at the Dair)' Queen to see which car was first heard Little Richard and EKis Pres- low enough to knock over a cigarette pack. But ley. No one forced us to choose; we easily lowriding was part of a broader "'car culture" accepted both musical traditions (Romo (Flink 1975) of antique and custom shows, hot 1986:57). rods, stock cars, drag racing, and demolition der- bies. The Nevarez and Salazar brothers, early One veteran explains his nostalgia for bajito creators, first exhibited in national custom "oldies" music, period clothing, and cruising shows that added EI Paso to the circuit in the drive-in movies and burger joints as reminders of

early 1970s. "the best decade of life . . . [my] teen-aged years"

Lowriding selects from the symbols of the (Gradante 1985:73). Another says, "Lowriding is dominant Anglo culture, and asserts counter the Chicano American Graffiti,'" referring to the meanings that express values in Mexican Ameri- popular Anglo "cruising" film. Lowriding rede- can experience. A San Antonio native recalls, fines these prevailing cultmal forms with the fluid, multiple, and often conflicting meanings

Culturally we lived in two worlds. Across of its bicultural world, celebrating a Mexicano

the street from our house on Guadalupe heritage that is also irrevocably American. Street, the jukebox from Julio's Cantina Lowriding also contests the conformity of mass blared out Mexican conidos and conjunto youth cultiue, and softens the hard edge of music. We learned the words to Jorge industrial culture. As El Paso lowrider alumnus Negrete's songs long before we ever George Salazar (now a Justice Department attor- heard of Frank Sinatra. The Malt House ney, drug rehabilitation acti\dst, and Rio Grande

. . . was West San Antonio's most famous Food Bank chairman) obsen'es,

MEXICO BORDERLANDS 3/ The Latin can express his flair for the Mazon, Mauricio. 1984. The Zoot-Suit Riots: The romantic ahnost anywhere, even taking a Psychology of Symbolic Annihilation. Austin: product off a General Motors assembly LIniversity of Texas Press.

line and giving it an identity. Maybe ... as Paredes, Americo. 1976. A Texas-Mexican

more Mexican Americans . . . enter the Cancionero: Folksongs of the Lower Border. governing institutions of our country, the LJrbana: L'niversifv of Illinois Press. same warmth will infect the system. Wliy

. 1978. The Problem of Identity in a not? If we can make something as Ameri- Ghanging (ailtiue: Popular Expressions of can as a car reflect our culture, we can Gultme Gonflict along the Lower Rio probably do it with anything (Weisman Grande Border. In View across the Border: The 19,SC):l()n. United States and Mexico, ed. S. Ross, pp. 68- 94. Albuquerque: L'niversitv of New Mexico Lowriding is a declaration of cultinal pride, Press. a historically resonant expression of contempo- raiT Mexican American identity. Rooted in work- Plascencia, Luis F.B. 1983. Low Riding in the ing class experience, lowriders' hand-crafted Southwest: Gultinal Symbols in the Mexican improvisations upon industrial style are a self- Gommunity. In History, Culture and Society: affirming response to the homogenizing forces Chicano Studies in the 1980s, ed. Mario T. of mass production and Anglo cultural ideals. Garcia, et al., pp. 141-175. Ypsilanti, MI: Bilingual Review Press.

Romo, Ricardo. 1986. An Insider's View of the Westside. In Art Among Us/Arte Entre Nosotros. ('.il(ili(iu\ find Further Readings eds., Pat Jasper and Ivay Turner, pp. 50-58. Fiink, JamesJ. 1975. The Car C.ultiire. Gambiidge, San Antonio, TX: San Antonio Museimi MA: MIT Press. Association.

(iradanic, William. I9

•ukI ( ;ican. Satural I listory 91:28-39. Riding and the Glass of Glass. Studies ni Latin Amerirnn Popular Culture 9:^!^-\2(^. I9.S."). . .\v\ among the Low Riders. In Folk Art in J'exa.s. ed. Francis Edward Trillin, Gahin, and Ed Koren. 1980. Low and Abernethy. Dallas: SMU Press/Texas Slow, Mean and Glean. The New Yorlierv>4:7()- Folklore Society. 74.

Gutierrez, Jess. 1980. Inteniew: Gesar Ghavez. Valdez, Luis. "Once Again, Meet the Zoot LowRider'^(]2)A:^. Suhers." Los Angeles Times, 13 August 1978. lohanseii, jason Carlos. 1978. The Mvth of the Villareal, Jose Antonio. 1959. Pocho. Garden City,

Baio Loco, \iie\tri} 2( 1 1 ):(i-7. New ^'ork: Anchor Books.

King, \Va\ne. "Low Riders Are Becoming Legion Weisman, .\lan. 198(i. La Frontera: The U.S. Border

Among Chicanos." Neiv )orl; I'itncs, 9 May with Mexico. .San Diego: Harcourt. Brace, I98I.' Jovano\'ich.

58 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS Mortars and Metates

Alice Fay Lozano

as told to Ian Hancock

Alice Fay Lozano is one oftlie Mexican Afro-Semi- both groups have adopted newer elements of culture: noles. The Seminoles originally came west from Florida, those of the hontera. norteiia. Ms. Lozano lives most first to Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma in of the time in Nacimiento, sometimes spending time the 1830s, and then to Nacimiento in norihem Mexico with relatives in Del Rio, but prefening the peace and some 12 years later. In both instances, they were dis- spirituality of her home at the foot of the Mexican tancing themselves from slave raids into their settle- ynountains. During an afternoon, talking in her yard ments. In 1870, some of the Nadmiento people came about an African-looking mortar, which sat on the north again into Texas to serve as Scouts for the U.S. ground not farfrom a Mexican grindstone, she com-

Ar)ny, settling in Brackettvilk after' they were dis- mented that the two really represented the Indian and

charged in 1914. The word seminole is a Creek Indi- African heritage of her people. I asked hei' to elaborate. an reinteipretation of the Spanish cimarron, meaning, among other things, 'fugitive. " When the British were using Africans and Native Americans as slaves From the yard around my hacienda in El

in the Crown Colonies during the 1 7th and early 18th Nacimiento de los Negros I can look down across

centuries, a number of those people threw off their yoke the valley to some other homesteads and see of bondage and escaped south into Spanish Florida. men tending their goats and cows, and women Indian Cimarrones, or Seminoles, were not subject to hanging their washing out to diy. Here at the the same harassment as the African Seminoles, and not foot of the Sierra Madre range, an hour's drive

all of them left Florida, though almost all of the from Melchor Miisquiz, Coahuila State's capital African Seminoles did. In Oklahoma, nearly all of the city, everything is hushed and peaceful. Only the Indian Seminoles remained, while the African Semi- wind, and the noise of the animals pushing

noles continued on to Mexico, and subsequently to through the brush, break the silence. Texas. In my yard you'll find a mortar and pestle, Today, the Seminoles in Mexico (known locally as which we call maata en maatastick in oiu' own Muscogosj are fewer than 200, and a similar number speech, and you'll find a grinding stone, in Span-

live in and around Brackettville 30 miles north of the ish called a metate y tejolole. More than anything Texas border. Although there are Afro-Seminole com- else, these two tools for preparing food symbol- munities elsewhere — in Oklahoma, Florida, and the ize the dual heritage of our Black Seminole peo-

Bahamas — the Border Seminoles are differejit. Wliile ple, for one is African, and the other Indian. retaining their language and many of their traditions. The mortar is far too hea\'y for me to lift; it consists of an upright oak log about a foot across and two or three feet high, with a depression cut

Alice is los Fay Lozarw a Black Seminole from Nacimiento de into the top several inches deep. The pestle is Negros, Coahuila. aboiU five feet long, and is also ciU from oak. It is about three inches in diameter except for the Ian Hancock is Professor of Linguistics and English at the last foot on each end, which is wider, and round- Lhuversily of Texas at Austin. His major work has been jiiith ed so that it can crush the dried corn kernels the English-related Creoles and Roniani. His pioneering luork and other things we use it for. The metate is in Brackettville, Texas, brought to light the fact that the about a foot square with four small feet, and is Seminole Maroons of this community have maintained a distinct language, Afro-Seminole Creole, closely related to Gut- carved out of one piece of stone. It has a flat top lah. He earned his Ph.D. from the School of Oriental and which cuiTes inward slightly, and the tejolote, or African Studies at the University of London. grinder, looks like a fat stone cigar and is used

.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 59 Alice "Nina" Fay Lozano enjoys the tranquility of the Sierra Madre mountains that surround the Muscogo community of Nacimien-

to de los Negros in northern Coahuila, Mexico. Photo by David Bosserman

with both hands to mash peppers and other also make and eat chorizo, tamales, and all kinds things on the surface. Sometimes we also use a of other regional foods, which are not exclusive molcajete, which is like a small stone mortar and to the Seminoles. One popular African dish is pestle, and is used with just one hand. sweet potato pudding, which we call tettiih-poon. Things are different now, because some of Some of these we make at any time, while others the homes in Nacimiento have electricity and are for special occasions, such as birthdays or electric blenders, but food processed that way ftmerals or the New Year. doesn't come out the same, and it sure doesn't The Border Seminoles differ in some ways taste as good. Another sign of the changing from Seminole commimities elsewhere, because times can be seen inside the panti^; pro\'isions of our special connection with Mexico. Semi- from Musquiz, or even from Del Rio across the noles in Oklahoma or Florida or the Bahamas border, are our staples now, but it wasn't always for example, don't share that histoiy, and would like that. In the early days, everything we ate we find some of the things we eat untistial. grew and prepared ourselves. In leaner times we Some people think we already spoke Spanish would go up into the Sierra Madre to cut down before we reached Mexico, having learned it first the royal palms growing there, from which we in Florida. But one thing is certain, wherever we could make a floin" called kunteh. We'd mash and learned it: Spanish has taken over as our main soak the fibers, strain them through a fine sieve, language in Nacimiento. Only a handful of older and use their starchy sediment to make tortillas. folk still speak Seminole. The settlement even We don't need to do that any more, but people has more oiUsiders living there today than Semi- in Nacimiento still use the nattiral medicines noles themselves, who have moved out to other that grow all around. Plants in the area are towns, or up to Texas, especially to Brackett\ille. brewed into teas to remedy all kinds of ailments. With the new interest in our people, and the Even the yerba loca is boiled with water as a pain establishment of the Seminole Center and Muse- reliever, especially during childbirth. imi in Del Rio, and the attention the Folklife Fes-

Much of our daily fare is Indian in origin. tival has brought us, our own grandchildren are Some dishes, like suffki (a kind of cornnieal por- beginning to take a renewed interest in their spe- ridge) we brought with us from Florida; its name cial histoiy. Our language and culture, our own is from the Creek language. Others, like toli unique blend of African and Native American (sweetened and spiced cornmeal pudding) or fry and Mexican, may yet suivive to be enjoyed by bread probably come from Mexican Indians. We the generations to come.

60 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERtANDS The Chinese in Baja CaUfornia

Maricela Gonzalez Felix

Translated by Hector Antonio Corpordn

Las incursiom's iniciales de la jwblacion china a from the pro\ance of Canton, who were fleeing

Baja California se suscitaron entre 1860 -y 1880, poverty and war.

cuando los chinos de California inaugiiraron la Bahia Chinese first came to Baja California de San Diego con la industria de la pesca del abulon. between 1860 and 1880. They extended the San Posteriormente los chinos arribaron en mayor numero Diego Bay abalone industiy along the Baja Cali- con la apertura de las tienas a la agticultura en el fornia coast down to Bahia de Tortugas. Chinese Valle de Mexicali en los primeros anos de este siglo. migration from the U.S. to the northern border Luego de haberse iniciado la expropiacion de las tierras states of Mexico was accelerated by a series of

y las dotaciones ejidales a fines de la decada de los anti-Chinese movements in the United States,

treintas, los chinos quedaron excluidos delproceso de culminating in the first Chinese exclusion law in

colonizacion y explotacion de la tierra. Con ello los chi- 1882. Chinese settled primarily in Baja Califor- nos empezawn a concentrarse en las actividades comer- nia, Sonora, Sinaloa, and Tamaulipas. dales y de servidos hasta ese momenta poco desarrol- Chinese later arrived in greater nimibers, ladas, al liempo que sus asentamientos se empezawn a drawn by the land and employment promotions ubicar en la dudad. of various foreign companies during the last decades of the 19th centui^, which were aimed The (Chinese played an important role in the at attracting tenant farmers to this scarcely popu- 19th centui7 development of the California and lated region. At the turn of the centui^y, the Col- Baja California coast and border region. They orado River Land Company built irrigation created the first abalone fishing industry along works and opened the Mexicali Valley for agri- the coast and were a major part of the work force cultural development. that transformed the border region into the pro- Chinese contractors from California provid- ductive Imperial Valley on the California side ed the company with the necessary labor to work and the Mexicali Valley on the Baja California the xdrgin lands of the Mexicali Valley at a low side. Chinese have always lived in separate com- cost. The Colorado River Land Company leased mimities, but their presence has greatly con- the land to independent Chinese contractors, tribiued to defining the culture of the region, who in tiun sub-leased it to Chinese farmers, hi particularly that of Mexicali. this way, the company indirectly controlled the Chinese were attracted to C>alifornia in the different phases of farming production, making middle of the 19th centuiy by the discovery of the Chinese intermediaries for LJnited States gold and the territorial expansion of the United businessmen in the exploitation of Mexican States, which offered job opportimities, high resources. salaries, and possibilities of acquiring farm land. The relationship between United States The majorit)' of the migrants were poor farmers investors, Chinese contractors, and Chinese workers substantially changed after the Mexican government stopped Chinese immigrauon in Maricela Gonzalez received her B.A. in Sodology at the Uni- 192L Other factors contributing to the change versidad Autonoma de Baja California in Mexicali and is a were the government's 1936 expropriation of researcher at the Museo Regional at the Universidad. In 1977, land owned by foreign companies in Baja Cali- she Tvorked in a maquiladora in Mexicali. She is author ofEA proceso de aculturacion de la poblacion de origen fornia and the growth of the Mexican popula- chino en la cuidad de Mexicali, xohich examines the accul- tion in the peninsula. Chinese and other foreign turation process of the Chinese community in Mexicali. groups — Japanese and East Indians — were

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS 61 excluded from the subsequent redistribution of It seems that at that time a group of these lands. As a result, they began to concen- people with vei7 strong interests had trate on commercial and service activities mainly come together, and were devoted to in Mexicali, leaNang their earlier, rural agricultur- harassing the Chinese. That group, if 1 al pattern of settlement. remember correctly, was named the Anti-

Another important movement of Chinese to Chinese Party or something like that — 1 the region occurred dining the 1930s anti-Chi- don't remember the name exactly. And nese movement in Mexico. After the Mexican in spite of the government's knowing of government cancelled Chinese immigration in their activities, it did nothing to stop 1921, various state congresses approved discrimi- their cruelties, like those that are said to natoiy legislation prohibiting marriages between have happened in the state of Coahuila, Chinese and Mexicans, creating special zones to where dozens of Chinese lost their lives isolate the Chinese, and deporting illegal Chi- in confrontations with Mexicans. And in nese immigrants. Ensenada we know that some Chinese Part of the life histoi"y of an elder Chinese connnitted suicide because of that. man from Mexicali illuminates those years of conflict: Today the Mexican Chinese community supports itself through small- and medium-sized

We left Mexico when I was 12 or 13 years commercial activities like restaurants, real estate old, more or less in 1931 or 1932. We left brokerages, money exchange centers, hotels, Mexico City due to the anti-Chinese cam- and a variety of retail stores. Recently arrived paign. In those days almost all the Chi- Chinese usually come with six month residence nese were discriminated against and permits to work in these establishments. Chinese

insulted by Mexicans. I remember that in this western border region have lived for a when we went to school other kids threw long time in a contradictoiy situation of eco- stones and called us chaks. nomic integration and sociocultmal segregation, Although there were many people a condition which continues today, as exchanges who tried to prevent those kids from between Chinese and Mexican populations in bothering us, there were always others the region remain predominantly economic. ready to insult us. So that when some didn't offend us, others were devoted to doing so. They would insult us withoiU Further Readings reason, only because we looked Chinese. Crighton Miller, Stuart. 1969. The Ameriran Image Almost daily we were attacked with of the Chinese, 1785-1882. Berkeley and Los stones, and unfortimately, we lived in Angeles: University of California Press. that situation for more than two years. Gonzalez Felix, Maricela. 1990. Elproceso de The government at that time clearly sought to get the Chinese out of the acidturacion de la poblacion de origen rhino en la cuidad de Mexicali. Mexicali: Universidad counti7, one way or another. As a result, de Baja California, Instituto de many mixed families were broken. A hus- Investigaciones Sociales. band would not be allowed to take his

wife with him, much less his children who Hu de Hart, Evelyn. 1985-1986. The Chinese of were born in Mexico. These things took Baja California Norte 1910-1934. In place in various states of the Republic. Proceedings of Pacific Coast Council on One could not live in that constant Latin American Studies. Volume 12. San harassment. The government of that time Diego: San Diego State University Press. did not want the Chinese in Mexico.

62 U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE Sharing Common Ground: Social Dancing in the U.S.A.

Vivien Chen with Magaly E.Janad and Chan Moly Sam

Dancing is sheer pleasure for socializing, cultiues of nations across the world. The dance exercise, and self-expression. Dancing means cel- program at this year's Festival explores social ebration — people gathering together, with food dancing traditions in five communities — an and drink, at weddings, birthdays, graduations, Appalachian communitv' in soiuhwest Virginia, anniversaries, holidays, block parties, for hoquois communities in upstate New York, and fundraisers, or just at end-of-the-week get-togeth- African American, Bolivian, and Cambodian er parties. These social events take place in a vari- .American communities of Washington, D.C. Tra- ety' of settings, from private homes to public dition-bearers will teach dances in workshops, parks. Dancing brings people together and con- participate in conversations on a variet)' of tinues to play a role in courtship. themes, and demonstrate skills, repertoires, and Most of us learned to dance by going to par- performance styles from their communities. In ties, by observing our elders or peers, or by study- each of these communities, dance is centrally ing the technique of particularly good dancers. important in the expression of cultural identity. More recendy, young people get a lot of their Consider the interplay of dance, community, and "moves" from videos and television. From these identity among two Washington area communi- resources and experiences, we each develop our ties, Bolivian and Cambodian Americans. own style. Music is almost inseparable from social dancing and, for most of us, provides the inspira- Bolivian Dance in Washington, D.C. tion to dance. For recent immigrant communities such as

As an open and adaptive communicative sys- Bolivians in Washington, D.C, dance sustains an tem, social dance is alwavs up-to-date and reflec- important part of their cultural heritage, reaf- tive of its times. Looking closer, one finds that firming shared values in a new and rapidly chang- dances are also stronglv shaped by their commu- ing environment. Music and dance also bring nity expressive traditions and social structures. reminiscences of youth, courtship, and the cultur- Most dance steps and styles derive their moves ally familiar. When away from "home," people from those of earlier dances and movement develop an increased awareness of cultural dis- repertoires. tinctiveness, and actively embrace what was once Dancing brings members of a community' taken for granted. Cultural activities may become together and strengthens cohesiveness by empha- crucial in expressing one's group identity' and in sizing shared ethical and aesthetic values. Per- presenting it to the greater American public. forming a common vocabulaiy of movement, in The Bolivian commimity is one of the largest time to a shared repertoire of music, one partici- Latino communities in the Washington, D.C. pates in a culture. area. A majority of the commimitv' came from the

The United States is blessed with a diversity cities of La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, and of communit)' dance traditions and new dance Orin'o, and are of middle class mestizo back- forms that have developed from interactions groimd. In Bolivia, the population is comprised between commimities. This exciting American of 60% indigenous Aymara and Quechua peo- mix has had a profound impact on the popular ples, 30% mixed Indian and Spanish (mestizo), and 10% European (primarily Spanish). Bolivia

"American Social Dance" has been made possible with sup- was under Spanish colonial rule from 1544 to port from the recording industries Music Peifoitnance Trust 1824 when a republic was established. Bolivia Funds. became a democratic republic with a constitution

AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE 63 Men perform the caporales dance at Elena and Andres

Puna's wedding in Virginia. Photo by Marlon Vasquez

in 1967. There has been ongoing immigration to cultural organization, obser\'es how social life was the U.S. for more than 30 years, as well as fre- a few decades ago: quent comnumication between Washington, D.C. and Bolivia as himdreds of families retiun each Growing up in Bolivia I loved to watch

Februaiy to take part in two-week long Carnival my father doing the cueca, but I wasn't celebrations in Oriiro. allowed to dance it. These dances were Cultural organizations in the Washington looked down upon because they community engage Bolivian youth and families in belonged to the middle and lower class- folkloric dances and other social activities es. The upper class would go to the balls throughout the year. Weekend practice sessions and dance to music from outside the provide opportimities for socializing, and July countiy, from the United States, like 4th, Hispanic, and Chern' Blossom parades down waltzes and rock-and-roll. Constitution Avenue provide public recognition of the Bolivian community and its cultme. As a result of the nationalization of mines in During the past 20 years Washington's Boli- 1952 and agrarian reform in 1953, indigenous vian community has come to include "revived" commimities that were previously kept immobile folk traditions as part of its social dance reper- h\ a feudal-like political economy inigrated to toire to a greater extent than before. Dora Castel- cities and abroad. They introduced their music lon, president of Comite Pro Bolivia, an unil^relhi and dance traditions to a wider society, and indigenous styles of dances such as the huayno were infused into the social dance repertoire. Vivien T.Y. Chen, curalor o) the Ai?ietican Social Dance pro- Huayno and other mestizo dances have since gram at the Festival of American Folklife, has researched, per- become part of the repertoire in the Washington, formed, and taught dancefor several years. She received a D.C. community. Masters degree in Dance and Dance Education from Neiu Sixteen-year-old Andy Lopez participates in York University. dancing as a way of maintaining his Bolivian Magaly E. Jarrad is a dancer, choreogap/ier, scholar, and roots: teacherfrom Oruro, Bolivia. She has received prizes for her choreographies at the Carnival in Oruro. Ms. Jarrad currently In the United States, there are so many dif- directs a children 's ballet theater in Glen Bumie, Maryland. ferent cultures, and everybody seems to Chan Moly Sam is a Cambodian master dancer, choreograph- know where they come from. So since er, and scholar. Her publications include Vl^mer Folk Dance (1987), Khmer Court Dance: A CoiTiprehen,sive school doesn't deal with any part of our Study of Movements, Gestures, and Postures as Applied culture, the only way for us to really find

Techniques (J 987), and Khmer Court Dance: A Perfor- out what our culture is, or just keep our

mance Manual (1989). culture, is for us to dance and stick with it.

64 AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE Angel Quinteros, who devotes his Sundays to Virgin Mary and Archangel Michael to keep the performing and teaching Bohvian dance, devils in their place and to prevent them from explains, "I love doing dances like ca/ximlcs; it harming its miners. The diablada featiues a time makes me feel very powerful." in 2/4 marching time and boimcy steps, jumps, For many members of the Bolivian communi- and kicks while the dancer turns from side to ty, dancing is a passion and an essential ingredi- side. ent at weddings, birthday parties, sweet 15 parties Two dances recall the exploitation of (quinceanera), baptisms. Carnival, and Virgin Maiy enslaved Africans brought by Spaniards to work celebrations. At house parties all generations par- in the mines and plantations dining the colonial ticipate. Seniors are often energetic and talented period. According to some, the morenada repre- dancers, while children experience dance sents the forced march of slaves toward the mines rhythms from infancy. Three clubs in northern of Potosi in the Andes. According to others, it Virginia feature live bands, while social dancing represents the movements of slaves crushing at smaller parties is inspired by record-playing grapes in vineyards in the Xingas tropical planta- deejays. tion area. The dance is said to have been first per-

Dancing at social fimctions includes couple formed by the descendants of slaves. Morenada is and group dances: the cumbia, cueca, morenada, often danced in a circle, with small, slow, side caporales, diablada, taquirari, huayno, camivalito, steps and occasional turns, and is accompanied salsa, merengue, disco, and slow dances. This musically by the matracas, which simulate the dance repertoire is an artifact of the complex cul- sound of chains or of cranks turning the wine tural and social interactions that have taken place presses. over the past 500 years in Bolivia and now in Boli- The caporales, a dance created within the last vian communities in the U.S. It is a record of the 20 years, borrows features from the indigenous inter-relationship of indigenous communities, Aymaran cullaguada (turning steps from one side Einopean immigrants (Spanish, English, French, to the other with frontal jumps and kicks), has a and Germans), enslaved Africans (brought to driving rhythm from negrilos del patador (an Afro- work in mines and plantations) , nationals of Bolivdan regional dance), and combines shoulder neighboring countries and of the United States, movements from the Brazilian samba. Borrowing and the international entertainment industiy. a personage from the morenada dance, the Traditionally, indigenous dances such as dance depicts the harsh treatment of slaves by the those of the Aymara and Quechua feature sepa- caporale (foreman) and his wife on plantations rate lines and circles of women and men, and during the colonial period. Caporales has gained small rimning steps moving from side to side that enormous popularity in recent years and is espe- trace small semicircles, recalling agricultural cially attractive to teenagers, who enjoy the chal- planting movements. Mestizo dances have been lenge of learning and performing it. Gender influenced by European spatial patterns, dance roles are very defined in this dynamic dance. Boys steps such as skips, hops, and jumps, and the phe- and men perform stomping, strong, percussive nomenon of dancing in couples. movements while girls and women perform small- Most Bolivian parties start with a pan-Latin er, flirtatious, and swinging hip movements. dance like the cumbia, a Colombian dance with a The cueca is a popular courting dance for strong African-derived rhythm. In cumbia, couples. Influenced by the Spanish snnllanes in its dancers tiun waists, hips, and shoulders as they spatial pattern, the cueca is done with a polka-like step from side to side. Next come livelier dances step. It has four parts. After an introduction and — morenada, diablada, and caporales — that are saliUe, the man dances behind the woman as they featiued at the pre-Lenten festivity of Carnival. travel in a small circle, he pursuing, she teasing, Although dances for the actual Carnival proces- both twirling handkerchiefs. They meet and sion require much practice, their basic steps can dance side by side in the quimba section, and fin- be fairly easily done as social dances. ish together in the zapateo with fast tapping foot- The diablada dance represents the symbolic work. Drinks are often offered to the dancers struggle between good and evil. According to tra- before the dance is repeated. ditional belief, the mines in cities like Oruro and In internationally popular dances such as

Potosi, where much of the popidation earns a liv- merengue and lambada, couples dance apart or ing, are inhabited by Supay, owner of the miner- in a closed position. Originally from the Domini- als. Supay was later interpreted by Evnopeans as can Republic, the merengue seems to have result- the diablo, or devil. The commimity prays to the ed from a confluence of European contra dance

AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE 65 and an African style of movement. Its rhythm is hand movements, two of the four basic gestures fast, and when danced in a closed position, part- of classical dance: tendril (chanol), leaf (/crtrj, ners move as one by taking little side steps as they flower (chip), and fruit (kuong). These represent turn. the cycle of fertility and were performed ritually After a few slow dances like bolero, parties to visualize the creative spirit of plants and flow- traditionally close with a carnivalito or hiiayno, ers. Vuthy Kheav, 30, who grew up on a farm in during which everyone joins in or is pulled from Siem Reap province, remembers dancing the ram their seats. These are joyous dances in fast, 2/4 voug, raw kbaih, and lam lean in the rice fields at time featuring small rimning, stomping, hopping, the completion of planting and hai-vest, to the and jumping movements. The hiiayiio begins as a accompaniment of the tro, a two-string fiddle, and couple dance with partners holding hands or skordai, a hand drum. Sochietah Ung, 35, learned linking arms. As momentum gathers lines are to dance at seasonal festivals that featured free formed, and dancers wind around the room in movies and social dancing in the evenings. Chan circular, zig-zag, or intersecting patterns. Often Moly Sam recalls that "Evei"y New Year celebra- the bandleader or deejay will give directions such tion in Phnom Penh, you heard the pattern of as "pull the ears" or "hands on hips," "do turns," the drum from dust to dawn, or sometimes

"dance on one foot," or "slow down." It is not throughout the night, for three days." imcommon for women to dance with each other Ram \'ong is always the first dance at any in these dances. Using a variety of cultural social event, often followed by ram kbach and resources, Bolivians in the D.C. area enjoy each lam leav. These are all circle dances done in cou- other's company and dance out rich identities to ples in a coiniterclockwise direction in 4/4 time. themselves, to each other, and to their neighbors. In ram vong the female leads while the male pur- sues her, traveling from side to side, seeking eye Cambodian American Dance contact. Ram kbach, a slow, graceful dance that in Washington, D.C. conveys harmony, is performed with one leg Among the Cambodian communirv in the crossing in front of the other as the body inclines Washington area, social dancing helps to bring diagonally from one side to the other. In lam individuals and families together at weddings. leav, a courtship dance from Stung Treng New Year's, birthdays, graduations, and fundrais- province, the partners move in intenvoven pat- ers. The selection of dances and the way they are terns. fJimer leu, from the northern provinces, danced at parties reflect distinctive cultinal histo- features a three-count wiist movement. In sara- r-y, aesthetics, and ethical ideas as well as recent x'tiiiu, partners face each other, moving their arms influences of an American context. riivthmically, raising and lowering them, opening The roots of Cambodian dance span millenia and closing them like the wings of a bird. The in Southeast Asia. Throughout its 2,000-year his- dances allow participants the freedom to do varia- tory, Cambodian culture has had a fertile inter- tions and improvisations. For example, in time to change with the cultures of India, China, and the rhythmic pattern of saravann music, a skillful

Indonesia. From the 9th to the 1 5th centuries, couple can travel foi'wards, backwards, or side- the Angkor Empire fostered a subtle intermin- wards to elaborate on the image of a bird rising gling of Indian and indigenous elements to pro- into the air, soaring, and landing. These dances duce a culture regarded by many scholars as embody the value of attentiveness in male and among the richest and most creative in Southeast female relationships, and they are an important Asia. At its largest, the Pilimer Empire ranged part of courtship. from the border of China into present-day Thai- The dances also express the value of balance land, Laos, and southern Vietnam. Cambodia and harmony. Dancers cultivate internal balance became a French protectorate in 1863 and as their gestures flow rhythmically with the music. gained independence in 1953. Since 1975, after Symmetrical movements alternate from one side the fall of Cambodia to Khmer Rouge forces, the to the other. Moderation is valued; one should Cambodian commimity in Washington, D.C. has not overdo or neglect movements. steadily grown to about 15,000. While many immi- Many Cambodians are equally at ease with grated from urban Phnom Penh, a significant European-derived dances. Popular western music number also caine from more riual areas in the and social dances were introduced to Cambodi- provinces of Battambang, Siem Reap, and Ki\m- ans by Filipinos and the French. In the early pong Thom. 1900s, the Cambodian court received the gift of a Cambodian social dance uses leaf and flower large band in residence from the Philippines.

66 AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE Nara and Sambonn Lek and friends dance the ram vong, a traditional

Cambodian circle dance. Photo by Sambonn Lek

The Filipino musicians taught marching music to steps. Dances like the cha-cha-cha and madison Cambodian royal and symphonic bands, partici- are interpreted with deft and subtle hip, back, pated in court ensembles, and performed in jazz and foot movements. bands at nightclubs. The musicians introduced At social events in Cambodia, dance Latin rhythms into Cambodian dance, founding expressed social relationships and values, and the big bands that played at ballroom dances. They dance floor often became an arena of gestural developed a kind of music that came to be called eloquence. Traditionally, yoimg men and women phkng manila, or Filipino ensemble music. This were only allowed to socialize with each other at musical innovation greatly expanded the Cambo- New Year's, which provided a rare and important dian repertoire. opportunity to meet, dance, and talk. Women Mr. Lek Chhan, a distinguished dancer now would sit together on one side of the room while in his seventies, learned European dances — the the men sat on the other. A man would offer sam- tango, Boston, cha-cha-cha, rumba, foxtrot, waltz peah, a greeting of respect performed to invite a — from his French professor in Phnom Penh. young woman to dance and to take his leave on Fellow students also taught each other with parting. There was no physical contact in tradi- recordings and attended nightclubs and bars. tional Cambodian dances. Western music was also disseminated by French Traditionally, yoimg women were kept close high school teachers; and in some militaiy acade- to the family. As they reached their middle teens mies, high ranking officers received formal train- they entered c/iaul mlob, or "went into shadow," ing in European-derived dances. The madison meaning they were not to be seen in public, espe- was in vogue by the 1950s, and the twist intro- cially by young men. Young men were freer in duced by the popular entertainer Chum Kem comparison and were encouraged to explore the upon his return from France in the early 1960s. outside world and society. At parties in the Washington area, musicians Wliile women were encoinaged to show usually play dances in pairs, juxtaposing fast and interest in the court dance traditions, men were slow tempos. Contemporai-y bands usually featme groomed to be good social dancers. In an older male and female vocalists, lead, rhythm, and bass generadon, men danced a flamboyant expressive guitars, and a drimi set or synthesizer. In adopt- role compared with women's modest one. Her ing European-derived dance music such as cha- execution of social dances was not expected to be cha-cha or tango, Cambodians retained the as creative or as varied as her partner's. Members rhythms and composed Klimer melodies and of older generations expected that at social lyrics to each song; they simplified the dance events, behavior was performed and evaluated

AMERICAN SOCIAt DANCE 67 and everyone was watching. A young man seeking by relatives, friends, and home videos. Marco a young lady chose his movements carefully, with Castellon added some football moves to caporales an eye to impressing her family members present and brought it down to Oriuo, Bolivia, where he at the event. Moderation and attentiveness were traded steps and videos with students there. highly valued, while wild and self-involved move- (They showed him a new version of caporales ments were looked upon with disfavor. While the that incorporates a freeze, taking inspiration separation of the sexes is no longer practiced in from hip-hop.) Lashmi Sam brought the newest the AjTierican context, the connotations of move- Cambodian American dance "Hai-vesting the ment still persist. Shrimp" from Seattle and is teaching it to neigh- At wedding receptions, the bride and groom bors in Reston. and their parents initiate the celebration with the Thr iiiilliiiy. ii'niil In lliinik muiix dinuns /mm ihe Bolivian ami ram vong. As revered elders, the parents are the Cambodia II lommuiiiliesjut \lianng llieir knowledge and wisdom first to give blessings to the new couple through with us, including Adela Baldarrama, Hugo Carillo, Phavann and dance. At other functions, the host or another Natalie Chhuan, Gonzalo Gutierrez, Katherine Guzman, Jhanina prominent person leads the circle dances. Herbas, Vuthy Kheav, Leh Chhan, Sambonn and Nara Lek, Andy In the Washington cominunity, seniors par- Lopez, Maria Lopez, Melina Mendez, Jhonny Meneses, Sesane Ouk, Shirley Pena, Nelson Perez, Angel Quinteros, Sam-Ang Sam, Rithy ticipate in social dancing but only minimally in Sok, Sokhon Soum, Samnang Sun, Sody Teh, Rady and Saroeum fast genres like the twist, disco, and rock. Young- Tes, Sochietnh Ung, Chinary Ung, Jugo and Alex Urresty, Luis sters have free range of the floor, often dancing Villarroel. Maria Villrgas, and Danett Zepeda. in separate groupings of boys and of girls. Community members note that while dance movements have remained essentially the same, Furlher Ri'tidings there have been changes in gender roles. Influ- Heredia, Augusto Beltran. 1962. The Histoiy the enced by the role of women in Ainerican society, of Camivale. Oruro, Boli\ia: The Department of Cambodian women have become less confined, Folklore. more assertive, and more nearly equal as dance partners. Many people feel that the dancing is Nash, June. 1979. We Eat the Mines and the Mines better now with opportunity for more fun. Eat Us: Dependency and Exploitation in Bolivian Phavann Chhuan talks about the importance Tin Mines. New York: C'olumbia University of dance and commiuiity for young people sort- Press. ing out their identity: Pin, Chap. 1962. Danses Populaire au Cambodge. Phnom Penh: Institut Bouddhique. We get the kids to social functions as Prado, Benjamin Torrico. 1971. Indigenous in the often as we can, to expose them to Heart America. La Paz, Bolivia: Los Aniigos Khmer cultiue, to give them both views. of Maybe through peer pressure or group del Libro.

participation they'll see that it's accept- Sam, Sam-Ang, and Patricia Campbell. 1991. able to do Cambodian dance as well as Silent Temples, Songful Hearts: Traditional Music

include other dances with it. We want to of Cambodia. DanbiuT, ConnecticiU: World bring them up in an environment where Music Press. people accept different cultures, where the kids will not forget their heritage. Suggested Listening

Cambodian Traditional Music, Vo\. 1. Shaped by traditional ideas of beaiUv, order, Smithsonian/Folkways 4081. and the individual, social dance is a rich and Cambodian Traditional deep language for communicating ideas and Music, Vol. 2. Smithsonian/Folkways 4082. identities. Like a language it is a formal set of cat- egories and transformaUons that keeps us in Instruments and Music of Bolivia. touch with centuries of meaning. Yet it is always Smithsonian/Folkways 4012. open to change to serve the needs of the Word of Love. Sann Huy Film 'Video Production, moment. It is a tool for living that enables us to CD 2. comprehend the voices and actions of others, respond to them, and make them our own. Souvenirs Klimer Air Lines. Chlangden Productions, 034. Washington social dance repertoires contin- CD ue to evolve and grow as new dances are taught Dream of You. Preah Vihear Production, CD 2.

68 AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE -

Generations of African American Social Dance in Washington, D.C.: Hand Dancing, Hip-Hop, and Go-Go

LeeEllen Friedland

Wliat do the Motown sound and hip-hop Like popular dance styles before and after it, music have in common? Each is the musical hand dancing soon became a favorite pastime inspiration for a vital dance tradition that thrives for teenagers and young adults. It largely in the African American communitv of Washing- eclipsed the older st)'les at house parties, ton, D.C. cabarets, and clubs in Washington's Black com- And these two st)les of Black dance — the mimity. Deejays provided the music for dance smooth partner coordination and intricate turns events and built reputations on the breadth of of "hand dancing" performed to Motown clas- their record collections and their skill in crafting sics, and the rhythmic steps and weight shifts song sequences. with elaborate, syncopated arm and torso ges- Local television shows such as the "Teenara- tures done to the rhythmic polyphony of hip-hop ma Dance Show," which ran from 1963-67, fea- music — what do they have in comnion? Each tured local teenagers and put hand dancing in serves as a generation's prime marker of identity the spotlight. Indiwdual dancers cultivated dis- and vehicle for artistic expression. Together with tinctive styles, often incorporating regional varia- a third style, go-go, they provide artistic alterna- tions that developed within the cit). Just by the tives to people of different ages and aesthetic way they danced, hand dancers could be recog- sensibilities. nized as hailing from Southeast, Southwest, or Northeast Washington. This intra-city variation, Hand Dancing and the markedly contrasting dance styles seen Hand dancing was born and bred in Wash- on nationally broadcast shows like "American ington, D.C, during the Motown era, which Bandstand," helped to fortifS' local opinion that began in the late 1950s. It is essentially a smooth hand dancing was imique to Washington, D.C.^ version of the Lindy Hop that features almost As the Motown era faded into funk and disco constant hand holding and tinning between in the 1970s, however, hand dancing was largely partners, and several step patterns used to keep replaced by "free dancing" styles, in which part- time.' As musical tempos increased through the ners do not hold hands. Most of the Black 1960s, with successive Motown hits by groups teenagers who had grown up hand dancing in such as the Supremes, Foin- Tops, and Tempta- Washington made an easy transition to the new tions, hand dancing stsle developed to suit the free dancing st)ies, and kept pace as young fast beat and new rhythms. adidts with the new trends in popular Black cu\-

Some version of tlie Lindy Hop. also known as swing or the Jitterbug, was popular from the 1920s through most of the 1950s.

Dance historians consider African American dancers t]ie primary innovators of the Lindy form. See Stearns (1964) . Arthur Murray's 1954 dance manual describes single, double, and triple Lindy Hop steps. Variations of these steps are among those performed by Washington-area hand dancers.

~ I am indebted to Washington deejay Robert Frye. "Captain Fly," for insight into tlie relationship between Motown music and hand dancing. Captain Fly chronicles the progression of popular musical style through the 1950s and 1960s on his radio show, "Oldies House Party," every Saturday on Washington-area station WPFW (89.3 FM). Along with otlier deejays devoted to the "oldies but goodies" format, he is a dedicated historian of oldies music and an inveterate record collector.

^ I am grateful to many veteran hand dancers for sharing their knowledge with me, including Florence Barber, Jerome Bettis. Phil Clark. Bobby L. Conwav. Lewis Fountain, Althia Harris. Ron Patterson, Preston Walker, and Wayiie Williams.

AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE 69 Hand dancing partners improvise an elaborate arm gesture between turns. Photo by LeeEllen Friedland

Veteran deejay Captain

Fly (Robert Frye) is host of the "Oldies House Party" radio program on WPFW-FM. Photo by LeeEllen Friedland

70 AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE ture. Sometime in the mid-1980s, however, as nearly eveiyone that participates in hip-hop does rap became more commonly heard on the radio social dancing. and hip-hop grew into a major cultiual move- Dancing generally happens at clubs, ment, hand dancers — by this time mostly in cabarets, and parties that featiue hip-hop music. their forties and fifties — began to revive their But it can also erupt spontaneously in response generation's "own" music and dance. This to music in schoolyards, neighborhood streets, return to artistic roots planted firmly in the and homes. Often these informal performances Motown era led to a revival of "oldies but good- are interspersed with mimicry and acrobatics. ies" music at Washington-area clubs, cabarets, Deejays are the favored source of music for and radio stations that is still going strong. hip-hop dance events. Like those in older generations in the Black commvmity, hip-hop deejays

Hip-Hop are valued for their skill in gauging the fit

Hip-hop is not just a dance style; it is a multi- between the music and the dancers" mood, for faceted world of expression that includes dance, their ability to string together inspiring musical music, a deejay's skilled mix of live and recorded sequences, and for their collections of soimd sounds, verbal art (including rapping and other recordings and equipment that allows the great- forms), visual arts (such as graffiti), clothing, est range of musical creativity. Most hip-hop dee- body adornment, and social attitude. Hip-hop is jays are also adept at "mixing," a range of music- shared by yoimg people of different cultural making skills including such techniques as "cut- backgroiuids throughout the United States, bin ting" and "scratching" that involves the manual its basic aesthetic ideas are deeply rooted in manipulation of discs on multiple turntables and African American culture. the interpolation of additional soimds generated In Washington's Black commimity, hip-hop by synthesizers, electronic rhythm machines, includes social dancing, done by couples (who pre-recorded tapes, verbal art performed by the do not hold hands); and exhibition dancing, deejay or others, and a variety of percussion done by individuals or sets of dancers who do instruments. their most impressive moves and choreographed routines to demonstrate their prowess. Go-Go

Hip-hop dancing is done to any type of hip- Though hip-hop culture proxddes the frame- hop music — rapping, singing, or instrumental work for much of the music and dance among — with an appropriate beat and tempo. This can yoimg people in the Black community, another also be imadorned rhythm playing, such as a syn- style, one unique to Washington, D.C., provides thesized drum track or an impromptu beat an artistic alternative for many teenagers: go-go. poimded out by hands or with sticks. Social Unlike hip-hop, which except for a deejay's mix- dancing is most often based on relatively simple ing uses pre-recorded music, go-go is danced to patterns of stepping and weight shifting, which live bands that generally include multiple per- are overlaid with multiple rhythmic layers of ges- cussionists (playing a trap set, congas, and a vari- tures done with the arms, head, and segments of ety of small, hand-held instruments) and a mix the torso. of keyboard synthesizers, bass, horns, guitars,

Exhibition dancing can include any move and vocalists. This "big band" sound is especially used in social dancing, biu it features a wider well-suited for large public venues such as clubs. repertoire of fancy stepping patterns; body waves The music is fimk-derived and incorporates ele- and isolated movements of body parts (as in ments of Afro-Cuban and jazz styles.'* "popping"); gestures, facial expressions, and Go-go dancing has the same basic structure other forms of mimicry; acrobatic tumbling, as hip-hop social dancing — stepping and weight splits, jiuTips, and spins; and choreographed rou- shift patterns overlaid with multi-rhythmic arm. tines that combine any niunber of different elements. Not all dancers choose to develop the extraordinary skills of exhibition dancing, but * My thanks to Michael Licht of the D.C. Commission on the Alts and Humanities for an overview of go-go activities in Washington, D.C. The Arts Commission regularly includes Folklorist LeeEllen Friedland has studied European- and go-go in its cultural programming and currently co-sponsors African-derived social dance traditions in the United Stales (with the Malcolm X Cultural Educauon Center) a Cio-go since 1975. She is director Ethnologica. a Washington, of HoUine that lists local go-go events {202 543-GOGO). The D.C., consultingfirm that specializes infolklife and cultural Arts Commission has also published a pamphlet on go-go, heritage research. "What's the Time?"

AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE 71 V SI

^ r\i

*»• ft

^ Brian, iVlil

head, and torso gestures — but it is adapted to George, Nelson, Sally Banes, Susan Flinker, and the slower beat and distinctive go-go rhytlims. Patt)' Romanowski. 1985. Fresh: Hip Hop Don't Though go-go and hip-hop dancing both draw Stop. New York: Random House. on the same fundamental African American Hager, Steven. 1984. Hip Hop: The Illustrated movement repertoire, go-go dancing has its dis- History of Break Dancing, Rap Music, and tinctive patterns and frequently uses mimicry like Graffiti. New York: St. Martin's Press. that in movement play and exhibition dancing to Hazzard-Gordon, Katrina. \990. Jooki)/': The Rise generate new dances. Though go-go is veiy popular with teenagers in Washington's Black commu- of Social Dance Formations in African-American Culture. Philadelphia: University nity, it has generally coexisted with hip-hop Temple Press. rather than replaced it altogether. Teenagers" interest in go-go appears to fade as they near Jones, Bessie, and Bess Lomax Hawes. 1972. Step their twenties and return to the artistic frame of It Down: Games, Plays, Songs, and Stories from hip-hop. the Afro-American Heritage. New York: Harper and Row.

Further Readim^s Stearns, Marshall, and Jean Stearns. 1964. Jazz Dance: The Story of American Vernacnlar Dance. Friedland, LeeEllen. 1983. Disco: Afro-American New York: Schirmer. Vernacular Performance. Dance Research Journal lE,{2):27-35. Thompson, Robert Farris. 1974. African Art in Motion. Berkeley: Universit)' of California 1984. Street Dancing, 'Rapping' and Press. DJ Mixing: Traditional African-American

Performance and Contemporary Urban . 1983. Flash of the Spirit: African and Afro-American Art and Philosophy. York: Culture, hi Smithsonian Festival ofAmerican New Random House. Folklife Program, ed. Thomas Vennum, Jr., pp. 43-45. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian histitiuion.

72 AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE Hip-Hop Dance

Anthony Hovington

Hip-liop culture sprang from the hearts of the ground, comes back up to his feet, and young African Americans and Latinos as a way to then lowers himself again while maintaining his

express themseh'es in the inner cities of New spin. Although there is structure to their rou-

York. Beginning around 1973, it became a pow- tines, many times the best performances are the erful influence on popular culture across the ones that happen instantaneously in a moment globe. of creativity.

To put the dancing being done today in per- There is a tradition inxolved with hip-hop

spective, I intenaewed members of the Rock dancing. Older generations continuously pass

Stead}- Crew, one of the first b-boy crews to on what they've learned to younger genera-

emerge with hip-hop. The term "b-boy" was tions. Almost all the dancers agreed that they coined by DJ Kool Here. It means break-boy. The learned to dance by going to parties or by get- dance was done to the "break" of the record, the ting together with peers when they were funkiest part, the part that was mostly a hard-dri- yoimger. Little kids learn by watching their ving beat. An example of a "break" would be a elders dance then going home to practice. Pee- drum solo in a James Brown record. The Rock Wee Dance studies st)'les that are similar but

Stead\- C.rew still performs and a.spires to make came before, namely buck dancing and the hip-hop dancing an accepted art form, like ballet Lindy Hop. He frequents the Schomburg Cen- and tap dancing. ter in New York to research and to keep his "Crazy Legs," of the Rock Steady Crew in mind focused on the tradition of hip-hop danc- New York, said that hip-hop dancing started as a ing. This style of dancing dates back to Africa way out of violence. It kept young people out of because there is one common thread — the

trouble. Due to the influence of hip-hop, gang music. The music is percussive. It is based on members began to settle their differences by the beat. African communities used the drum dancing rather than fighting. as a primaiy form of communication and mod- Opinions vaiy on the importance of names ern-day dancers rely on the beat as well. in hip-hop dancing. Pee-Wee Dance of the Rock Hip-hop dancing needs to be nurtured and

Stead\- Crew says the crew is named that because accepted by those within the communities that "we steady be rockin." Crazy Legs got his name hip-hop comes from, places like New York,

because he is quite bowlegged and does some Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Detroit, and

unique things with those legs. Pee-Wee Dance is Miami, that have large concentrations of

named for his diminutive stature. Also, he is 32 African Americans. As inner city youth strive for years old, so he is called "the dance that won't something to call their own, hip-hop dancing is die." one way to pro\ide them with the means to Some dancers name their moves as well. control their own energies and to display them Break dancing gave us the "continuous back- at will. Therefore, hip-hop culture and its spin," "windmill," and the "whirl." Crazy Legs dances will continue to influence popular cul- invented the continuous backspin while Pee-Wee ture in the years to come. Dance invented the whirl. The continuous backspin was a method of using one's legs to contin- Aiilhony Hovington received his B.A. in African American ue spinning when the dancer would otherwise Studies from Duke University. He works as a Database Man-

have come to a stop. Pee-Wee Dance describes ager at the National Endowment for the Arts. He is Vice-Pres- the whirl as a move where he spins while low to ident of the Washington Chapter of the Zulu Nation.

AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE 73 Iroquois Social Dances: A Life of Dance in the Dance of Life

Lin ley Logan

In traciitional communities of the Iroquois, and may even be done oiUside Iroquois commu- more properly the Haudenosaunee (People of nities, as at this year's Festival. the Longhouse), introduction to dance comes at The Iroquois word for social dances — an early age. Expectant mothers participating in guyno,so,ohn anndwadek, note,gawdoe — literally dance introduce the developing infant to the means "a group of songs for entertainment pur- rhythmic movements and melodies. As newborns poses." Social dance events, or socials, are for and infants, children are passed among proud, everyone's participation within the commimity dancing relatives, accustoming them to the feel- and always held in the evening to avoid interfer- ing of dance and the lifelong socialization ing with the day's responsibilities. In addition to process one embraces through it. Strengthening providing entertainment, socials may honor par- commimity solidarity, social dances continue to ticular events, welcome guests, or raise fimds to provide an entertaining enxdronment that binds meet an emergency need. Social dances are people together in friendship, courtship, and sometimes presented oiuside of their communi- social identity'. ties and are a useful, educational, and entertain- The world is sustained by a continuous ing way of presenting Iroquois culture. renewal of cycles, a balance of life's positive and The Longhouse is central to Iroquois cul- negative energies. The Ongweh-ohweh-kah (real ture. Originally developed as the structure for people), as the Haudenosaimee refer to them- extended matriarchal clan family life among the selves in ceremony, understand this and the Iroquois, the Longhouse was the place for all importance of paying tribtite to it. Among the commimal activities. At present the Longhouse people of the Longhouse, ceremonial dances continues to fimction in tradidonal communities express respect in ritual for the po,sitive energies as the center for activities such as socials, cere- of renewal in nature. Ceremonial prayer, song, monies, meetings, condolences, weddings, and and dance, reinforce each other's significance in fimerals. The Longhouse is a himible environ- the people's expression of gratitude for the life- ment. It has an entrance facing east welcoming sustaining gifts from the Creator. In the ceremo- the sun, and most Longhouses have separate nial Great Feather Dance, for example, young entrances for men and women. Traditionally, people are encouraged to dance real hard and families or clans sit together in the double row of young men are told to "yell out in happiness so benches along the walls. All Longhouses are the Creator will look down to see, hear, and heated by woodstoves, and the fire plays an inte- know your joy." Social dance events, like ceremo- gral role in the observances that are part of the nial events, open with an address recognizing the dance. The singers who provide music for the life-sustaining gifts from the Creator. In both, dances usually sit at the center or heart of the the importance of all life forms in the natural activities. world is acknowledged, starting with that closest All Iroquois commimities have socials even to the Mother Earth and continuing on to that though not all commimities have Longhouses. In in the male realm of the sky. Social dances, unlike ceremonials, are not Linley B. Logan, an enrolled member of the Cattaraugus confined behind the doors of Longhouse com- Seneca community, greiu up in the Tonawanda Seneca communities. They may fulfill their purpose of enter- munity's Longhouse. He is Program Assistant in the Office tainment within a context of ceremonial activi- of Public Programs of the National Museum of the American fies but they may also be held as their own event. Indian.

74 AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H^ ^^ij^H beans, and squash) in a procession called "Givers gomds, or snapping tmtle shells. Ceremonial of Life." Women's social dance, the Women's drinns are larger than those used for social Shuffle, done to a different set of songs, express- dances. Ceremonial instrimients are never used es gratitude for the fertility of Mother Earth for other purposes, and in 1974 the Onondaga through fmrowing, massaging movements. Council of Chiefs of the Iroquois Confederacy The cycles of life and renewal are embraced passed a resolution forbidding the sale of reli- in the Corn, Robin, and Pigeon dances. Corn is gious objects, expresslv inc luding ceremonial lat- an essential fact of Iroquois life and its dance is tles. performed in a double line that symbolizes plant- Protecting cultural interests for the secmit)' ed rows. The Pigeon Dance, done in remem- of the Seventh generation (seven generations brance of the passenger pigeon, recalls imbal- into the futme), is integral to cultural identity. ance, loss of life, and the importance of recogniz- Through joyous movement, dance expresses the ing and acknowledging the cycles of life. strength and pride in identity that emanate from Approximately a third of the Iroquois social a relationship of respecltul coexistence with the dance repertoire results from a willingness to natural world. Children are encomaged to expe- share with other cultures. The Alligator, Friend- rience the joy in dance at an early age, as oiu" ship, Rabbit, Roimd, Snake, and the Delaware elders, watching our children learning to dance, Skin dances are not of Iroquois origin. The Rab- become proudly encomaged about the future of bit Dance, acquired from Western cultural the Seventh generation. groups, is a partner's choice dance in which women can choose a male partner. Partners hold Furlher Readings hands, with the male on the inside of the circle. Buck, Hubert Sr., and Sadie Buck. 1990. Askanye. Other adopted dances that differ from tradition- Brantford, Ontario: Soimd of the Drinn, al Iroquois norms include the Alligator Dance, Woodland Cultural Center. borrowed from the Seminoles and Miccasukees from the far Southeast, in which, in a manner Conklin, Harold C and William Sturtevant. similar to the Rabbit Dance, partners lock arms 1953. Seneca Indian Singing Tools at and proceed with the male in the interior of the Coldsprings Longhouse. Proceedings of the circle. American Philosophical Society 91: 262-290. The instrmnents that accompauN' social Cronk, Michael Sam. 1989. Writing While dance songs are the water drimi played by the They're Singing: A Conversation about lead singer and cow horn rattles played by the Longhouse Social Dance Songs. New York back-up singers. The water drum is hollowed oiU, Folklore \ 4 {?,-i):49-m. traditionally, but not always, from a single piece Crouse, William Sr. 1986. Ga'noh go:h, gasto se'sha- of wood approximately five to seven inches in sho'oh [Dnims and Rattles]. Coloring book. diameter. Individuals have been known to make Salamanca, New York. them with small, manufactiued wooden casks or

PVC pliuubing pipe. The hollow vessel is covered Jamieson, Wilma. 1942. Music life of the Six with a stretched piece of leather, which is Nations. In Six Nations Indians Yesterday and secured with a cloth- or leather-wrapped hoop of Today. Six Nations Agricultiual Society. ash wood. Water is poured into the hollow body, Lafrance, Ron. 1992. Inside the Longhotise: and the drum is set upside down, allowing the Dances of the Haudenosaunee. In Native leather to soak. The wet leather is then stretched American Dance Ceremonies and Social tighter to produce the proper resonance. Water Traditions. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian brings the drum to life. Institution National Museiun of the Rattles used for instrumental accompani- American Indian. ment originally were made of elm bark, biu Logan, Linlev. 1992. Dancing the Cycles of Life. European contact and introduction of the cow In Native American Dance Ceremonies and Social has lead to rattles made of cow horn. The rattle's Traditions. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian soimd comes from lead shot, beebees, beads, or Institiuion National of the any combination of these placed inside. Musemu American Indian. Ceremonial instruments differ from their social counterparts in use, material, size, and Social Dances and their Origins. Onkwehonwe ownership. The ceremonial rattles, depending neha (Iroquoian Institute Newsletter) #7 on their application, are made from squash, (Spring 1990).

/6 AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE "Circle up Four on the Old Dance Floor": Old-Time Dancing in Chilhowie, Virginia

Susan Eike Spalding

A circle of 50 or more smiling dancers com- dancing, Scottish and Irish reels, .\frican ring pletely rings the dance floor, holding hands. At plays, and Native American social dances. Some the first notes of the fiddle, they begin a resilient believe that from coimtiy dancing came "sets" or bounce downward in time with the music, and coordinated group patterns; from reels came some dancers clog, setting up a group rhythm couples traveling in paths around each other in that can be seen, heard, and felt. The caller says, groups of foiu"; from ring dances came the circle "All join hands and circle to your left," and the which begins and often ends the old-time square old-time square dance begins at the congenial dance. From all the above-mentioned traditions

Chilhowie Lions" Club in southwest Virginia as it came the expressi\'e indi\idual footwork known always does on Friday nights. At the caller's com- variously as flatfooting, clogging, or buck danc- mands, the dancers weave patterns that involve ing. Along the way, old-time square dancing has the whole group, as they drop back to change taken in elements of the popular dances of the partners or take hands in a "right hand chain" — times, such as African American Charleston steps right hand to the partner, left hand to the next and rhyming calls of western club square dance person all the way around the circle. Wlien the figiues. In this centvuT, old-time dancing has caller says "circle up four," the dancers form sets been a regular recreation for European Ameri- of two couples each on the periphery of the cir- cans, African Americans, and Native Americans cle. They make designs together by taking hands, in the central Appalachian region. It has evolved going under each other's arms, or changing to its present form over a period of 300 years of places, all at the caller's command. They circle interaction among these groups. up four again and again, each time making new Each area has its own characteristic style, designs, imtil the caller finally directs them into and people from one region can tell where several concluding patterns that involve every- another dancer comes from by the way he or she one, as indi\'iduals and couples travel in lines dances. North Carolina, Kentucky, and Virginia down the dance floor and join with friends to dancers have distinct movement styles and incor- build a community by ones, twos, and fours. porate different elements in their square dances. Throughout, the sounds of dancing feet keep Even within southwest Virginia, each area has its time with the bluegrass, countiy, or old-time own particular qualities. The stylistic choices music played by the band. made by dancers over generations have been influenced by a variety of factors, including poli-

Old-Time Dancing History tics, economics, and patterns of migration. For

Old-time square dancing probably has its example, old-time dancers in the coalfields roots in several kinds of dance: English coimtn' region have chosen to include many African- American elements in their dance because of their historical experience. During the first third Susan Spalding, a Certified Movement Anahst and member of the 20th centuiy many African American of the board of directors of the Congress on Research in southerners were brought in to work in the Dance, recently completed her Doctorate in Dance at Temple mines, and interethnic solidarity' was forged by University. She has co-edited a book ofpapers from two con- oppressive living working conditions. In ferences she coordinated, entitled Communities in Motion: and Dance, Tradition and Community. Her video donimen- common dance halls provided by the coal com- tary Step Back Cindy: Old Time Dancing in Southwest panies people of both groups coidd see each Virginia appeared on PBS in 1991. other's dancing and trade ideas. As a result, the

AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE 77 local dancing became more percussive, and old-time dance establishments on Saturday night more angular in appearance than the dancing of and one or two nights during the week. Some get other areas such as the Blue Ridge. together on Mondays to practice new forms such In Chilhowie, dancing has been influenced as coimtiy-western line dancing or western club in part by its location in the southern portion of square dancing. "The Great Valley" of Virginia, east of the coal- Even though they may be lifetime area resi- fields and west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It dents whose parents danced, some dancers at stands on a major traffic corridor rimning from the Chilhowie Lions' Club have learned only Pennsylvania to Tennessee which has continually within the last 15 years due to the local renewal brought new residents and new ideas to the Val- of interest in old-time dancing. Chilhowie resi- ley since pre-Columbian times. Valley residents dent Evelyn Stiugill theorizes that this cultinal have developed a love of variety, which is evident revitalization is part of a growth in regional self- in the many different kinds of dances enjoyed in esteem. "We have learned to appreciate all the an evening, in the frequent changes within each things we were ashamed of We get out our old square dance, in dancers' desire to learn and quilts and things we used to make. We have had practice new steps, in the varieties of music used a revival of appreciation of our heritage." for old-time dancing, and in the several callers Dancing has become the primaiy form of who share the microphone at Chilhowie. Eveiy recreation for many Lions' Club dancers. As Friday night at the Lions' Club, along with old- Gene and Jane Salyers responded when asked time square dancing, dancers do clogging, in about other recreation, "I don't know what we which each person improvises footwork in time did do before we danced!" Dancing is said to be a with the music. Each evening also includes sever- source of fellowship, and a commimity of al waltz and two-step tunes and at least one dancers has developed as a result of seeing each mixer, such as a Paul Jones or a Broom Dance. other several times weekly at dances and lessons. In addition to gathering on Friday nights, many Dancer and musician Bill McCall, remembering dancers attend one of the area's several other the unexpected condolences sent by dancers on

Two girls observe and learn clogging techniques from more experienced dancers in Chilhowie, Virginia. Photo by French Sturgill

78 AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE .

the death of his mother, says, "I think people are tion and teamwork in the many small and large

as congenial as they ever were. I think the reason patterns. Old-time dancing is still, above all,

we don't show it is because we don't visit [as we inclusive rather than exclusive, encouraging

once did]. I think this [dancing] has sort of over- everyone to participate, and seasoned dancers come some of that." Care is taken that everyone are always ready to teach newcomers. has an opportimity to dance. Caller Kirby Smith says, "If don't have someone to dance with, yon Fuiiher Readings come on your own. We'll make sure you get somebody." Abrahams, Roger. 1992. Singing the Master: The Emergence ofAfrican-American Culture in the Chilhowie's Old-Time Dancing: Plantation South. New York: Pantheon Books. Form and Style Feintuch, Burt. 1981. Dancing to the Music: By the beginning of this centuiy, old-time Domestic Square Dances and Community in square dancing had reached its present form. Southcentral Kentucky (1880-1940). /ouma/ Louise Widener, born in 1899, describes most of of the Folklore Institute 18:49-68. the figines danced today as having been done in Friedland, LeeEllen. Forthcoming. Square countiT homes in her youth; a whole circle Dance. In The International Encylopedia of would break into small circles of foin-, and all the Dance, ed. Selma Jeanne Cohen. Berkeley: small circles would dance at the same time, University of California Press 1983. "making puzzles" by holding hands and going Hall, Frank. 1984-85. Improvisation and Fixed under each other's arms. Composition in Clogging. Journalfor the Today, each square dance includes an initial Anthropological Study Human Movement circle left and right, swing, promenade, and a of 3:200-217. large group pattern such as right hand chain, followed by at least six different two couple pat- Matthews, Gail V.S. 1983. Cutting A Dido: A terns, and, finally, two to four large group pat- Dancer's-Eye View of Mountain Dance in terns. Many people keep clogging steps going Haywood Coimt)', N.C. Master's Thesis, throughoiu, so that the group rhythm on which Indiana University.

the dance depends is audible, and the downward Szwed, John, and Morton Marks. 1988. The Afro- pulse of the whole group on each beat is \isible. American Transfonnation of Emopean Set At the direction of the caller everyone works Dances and Dance Suites. Dance Research together in pairs, in groups of four, and in the Journal 20:29-36. group as a whole to produce clear designs and Wliisnant, David E. 1980. Finding the synchronized dancing. Way Between the Old and the New: The In the first half of this centuiT. old-time Mountain Dance and Folk Festival and dancing in the valley surroiuiding Chilhowie was Bascom Lamar Lunsford's Work as a Citizen. primarily a rural, home-centered recreation. In Appalachian Journal 7 {\-2) some communities dances were held every night in different homes for two weeks around Christ- Woodside, Jane, and Susan Spalding, eds. mas. In others they were held more or less week- Forthcoming. Communities in Motion: Dance, ly in homes year-round, as well as in conjunction Community and Tradition. with cooperative work parties, such as quiltings, corn shuckings, and barn raisings. A fiddle usual- Suggested Viewing ly provided the music, soinetimes accompanied by banjo, guitar, and bass. At home among Johnson, Anne, and Susan Spalding. 1990. Step friends, everyone could take part. Back Cindy: Old Time Dancing in Southwest

Today's old-time dancing, though it now Virginia. Video documentaiy including

occms in public places, still inspires individual Chilhowie Lions' Club dancers. Wliitesburg, expression in the footwork and group coopera- Kentucky: Appalshop, Inc.

AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE 79 METRO MUSIC Music in Metropolitan Washington

Phyllis M. May-Machunda

Washington, the capital cirs\ has long been dependent residential communities located on known for its official culture and public celebra- the banks of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers. tions such as presidential inaugurations. Inde- Evolving as a center designed to meet the needs pendence Day pageantry, military band concerts, of national politics and government, the city nei- state funerals, and embassy receptions. Yet it has ther developed a culture based on a manufactur- another reality, one sometimes hidden behind ing economy nor drew a large European immi- official functions. Washington, the residential grant populadon as did New York and Baltimore. city, burgeons with cultures transplanted from Instead, it developed a strong workforce geared beyond urban, state, and national boundaries as to service and government. The metropolitan well as hybrid traditions newly rooted in an area has been enriched by a continual influx of urban environment. people from the South and, more recently, immi- Metropolitan Washington, with over four grants from Central America, the Caribbean, million residents, is cinrently home to more than Southeast Asia and the Horn of Africa. For thou- one million African Americans, 250, OOO Hispanic sands who have moved to the area, the city has Americans, nearly 250,000 Asian/Pacific Ameri- been a focal point of ardent dreams, expanding cans, and thousands of other peoples from hopes, and magnificent intentions. Viewing the around the world. Unique forces have shaped city as an environment of distinctly American the cultural development of the distinct yet inter- possibilities, people have flocked to Washington

throughout its 200-year histoiy, in search of

refuge, a better life, and greater opportunities

"Metw Music" lias been iiKiilr jiossible ivil/i llie supporl of llie for freedom, education, power, respect, employ- reroiding iniliisliies Miisie I'ei/iiiiiitiiiee Iriisl I'iiiiils. ment, and financial security. While some have

The D.C. Harmoneers sing at a Gospel program

in Washington. The Har-

moneers, founded in 1952, are one of nearly 80 gospel quartets active

in the D.C. area. Photo courtesy D.C. Commis- sion on the Arts

80 METRO MUSIC come with abundant wealth, others have brought support traditional performance. Such communi- little more than themselves, their values, and ty institutions not only disseminate information their traditions to sustain themselves in their about the traditions but also may offer a place to transition to a new situation. construct, rehearse, transmit, and present it as

Music is among the most vital of these intan- well. gible traditional resources that help to support Music is a central part of festive occasions these Washingtonians. To luiderstand the tradi- and celebrations as well as an integral featine of tional musics of Washington, we may first look at everyday life. People mark what they feel is dis- the variety of communities that create and carry tinctive and valuable through the use of music, on these traditions. frequently accompanied by dance and ritual. For Urban dwellers characteristically belong to instance, various Asian communities of Washing- multiple communities svich as those based on ton have maintained some of the seasonal cere- occupational, religious, residential, social/recre- monies of their homelands, such as Lao or Chi- ational, familial, and ethnic affiliations. A mem- nese New Year's celebrations. These elaborate ber of a community may or may not share mem- and colorful ceremonial events incorporate bership with the people who participate in the music, costumes, parades, food, and dance and various areas of his or her daily life. For example, draw community members from the entire east- some Korean Americans in Washington may live, ern seaboard. work, and socialize together, but many middle- Washington has long been a center of gospel class African Americans in Washington typically music. Gospel music thrives in a variety of forms do not. The people with whom African Ameri- in this city, ranging from the harmonies of tradi- cans work may not be the same people who live tional quartet groups to the sounds of more con- in their neighborhoods or with whom they social- temporaiy soloists, ensembles, and choirs, some ize on a regtilar basis. of which blend classical techniques with more tra- Each community has developed particular ditional African Ainerican gospel music. African institutions and networks of support facilitating Ainerican churches have served as a primary con- social interaction and exchange of information. duit for the transmission of musical aesthetics, Some of these communities are defined by geo- even for those who have studied music privately. graphical boimdaries, such as a neighborhood, Hundreds of churches support numerous choirs, and traditions may emerge out of that experi- smaller family groups, and other ensembles and ence. Other communities may lack geographic soloists who provide their memberships with definition biU share common characteristics such gospel music. They have offered sympathetic and as age, ethnicity, occupation, social interests, or nurturing performance environments for those even family relationship. The sharing of values, who have directed their skills to the glorification perspectives, and experience creates a basis for of the Lord. Gospel music is central to a variety the existence and growth of tradition. Music pro- of community events in addition to regular ser- vides a channel for the expression of community- vices: for example, pastor, choir, and church based values. anniversary celebrations, as well as funerals are In large cities such as Washington, traditional filled with gospel music. Some churches regularly communities find economical and efficient ways house rehearsals and sponsor concerts by com- to disseminate information about their activities. munity artists oiUside of their own membership. Washington has dozens of ethnic and neighbor- These activities and frequent performances at hood newspapers, bilingual and special interest other churches in and out of the city provide radio and television programs, church bulletins, opportunities for mutual exchanges of ideas, flyers, and multi-colored posters announcing news, and repertoire. upcoming community events not mentioned by Some of the newest and most intense secular mainstream media. Churches, neighborhood musical performances in Washington arise from schools, restaurants, community centers, and African American youth. Go-go, a dance music local festivals are a few of the institutions that tradition born in this city, is usually performed by small bands. Layered rhythmic patterns are blended with call-and-response, percussive instru- Phyllis May-Machunda is an AssistanI Professor of Human- mental riffs, and quotations from familiar ities and Multicultural Studies at Moorhead State University with rap in Moorhead, Minnesota. She was formerly on staff in the melodies, frequently overlayered and Office ofFolklife Programs as afolklorist and ethnomusicolo- accompanied by coordinated movement. Less gislfrom 1985-1989. complex in their multi-layered structures but

METRO MUSIC 81 THE MUSIC PERFORMANCE TRUST FUNDS

Each year since the 1970s, the Music Perfor- known musicians receive at these performances mance Trust Funds (MPTF) have generously improves the chances that they will be offered supported musicians performing at the Festival recording contracts. When musicians already of American Folklife. have recordings on the market, the perfor- The MPTF was founded in 1948. At that time mances stimulate increased sales. The events also new technology had made long-playing phono- help raise the level of understanding for a wider graph recordings possible. But sound recordings range of music and build greater audience initially caused performers to lose employment appreciation for live performance. and income, since people could listen to these To date, the MPTF has spent more than recordings over and over again without payment $340 million on its projects. MPTF has enabled to the musicians. Negotiations between the the Smithsonian to research and present rich tal- recording industry and the musicians' union ent at the Festival every year for two decades. It established a pool of funds to compensate per- has been crucial in oiu" ability to offer many rela- formers. The recording industiy contribiUes tively unknown musicians "equal time" with money to MPTF from the sales of LP, cassette, established career musicians. Many of today's and CD albums. well-known artists in fact had their first introduc- MPTF support of free, live, public perfor- tion to the commercial world when they played mances like those at the Festival has many impor- together with professional musicians on MPTF- tant benefits. The exposure that reiativelv little- fiuided projects.

related in their uses of rhytiimic patterns, repeti- Morgan have been forced to focus on other tradition, and call-and-response structures are several tions similar to their own. This sharing of tradi- other forms that have dominated many of the tions has resulted in a synthesis or pan-ethnic expressive and competitive play energies of style, celebrating a multicultural heritage. In this D.C.'s youth, including female activities such as urban milieu Hispanic, Caribbean, and African cheering, double dutch (a form of jump roping musicians constantly create new urban perfor- incorporating multiple ropes), and collegiate mance forms by drawing fragments from known performance genres such as stepping, a type of repertoires and styles and transforming them fraternal "cheer." into new expressions through the use of new har- The urban environment offers special oppor- monies, updated texts, and changes in tempo, tunities for cultural contact and exchange among rhythmic configurations, or performance style. a variety of communities and ethnic groups. One These traditional musicians often learn to play in example is in the Adams Morgan and Mt. Pleas- a variety of musical styles from outside their own ant neighborhoods, long recognized as the cen- cultures in order to satisfy the tastes of their ter of cultural actixaty in the city for Hispanic and diverse audiences. The events for which they per- African people from the U.S., Central and South form are rarely attended solely bv their own eth- American, the Caribbean, and Africa. The His- nic communities. The musicians are able to panic population in this part of the city consists switch musical styles as easily as others switch predominately of refugees from Guatemala and dialects within a language to commimicate to El Salvador, with smaller numbers from Mexico, their chosen audiences.

Puerto Rico, and Cuba. Some groups, such as Music is ephemeral, yet enduring. It embod- Cubans, arrived in more than one wave of migra- ies the values and aesthetics of a culture through tion, each from a different social class and carry- words and restructuring of soimd. It is flexible ing a different set of cultural traditions. Many of enough to incorporate melodies or poetiy him- these commimities celebrate select traditions par- dreds of years old, yet able to address the most ticular to their own cultures. However, in other contemporaiy issues with relative ease. An inte- cases, where fewer community members can pass gral part of living, traditional culture thrives in on specific traditions, many residents of Adams urban Washington, D.C., through music.

82 METRO MUSIC Suggested Listening

Adams, Tom. Right Hand Mom. Rounder 0282.

Ganga: Live from Berlin. International Management.

Jackson, John. Don't Let Your Deal Go Down. Arhoolie 378.

The Johnson Mountain Boys. Blue Diamond. Rounder 0293.

Kouyate, Djimo. West African Kora Music. Music of the World TlOl.

Mulvihill, Brendan and Donna Long. The Morning DeiiK Green Linnet 1128.

Oboade. Kpanlogo Party. Lyricord 7251.

Hasan Mohammed, originally from Ethiopia, performs at the Twins Restaurant in Washington. Photo by Balsha Gebretsadik, courtesy D.C. Commission on the Arts

Li Tian Xiong is a jinghu player with the Han Sheng Chinese Opera Institute. The troupe was founded in 1977 by David Lee to promote Peking Opera in the

Washington area. Photo by Wei-Ye Jia, courtesy D.C. Commission on the Arts.

METRO MUSIC 83 KIDS' STUFF Kids' Stuff: Children's Traditions of Play and Performance in Metropolitan D.C.

Diana Baird N'Diaye

Nowhere is the essence of childhood So it is somewhat paradoxical that many of the revealed more authentically than in play. A viva- clapping games and songs featured in the pro- cious and expressive play culture is still created gram hark back many centinies, and even the rel- and shared by children within the Washington, atively new plav traditions presented have been D.C. metropolitan area despite TV, Nintendo, invented dining the past few generations. Forms other toys and entertainment manufactured by of play are tenaciously long-lasting as each new adults, and in the face of ever more difficult real- generation claims ownership. In a painting com- ities of growing up in the city. The 1993 Smith- pleted in the 16th centiuy, Dutch painter Pieter sonian Festival of American Folklife highlights Bruegel (the Elder) documented a great variety some of these traditions of children's play and of children's games played in his native city of performance. The Festival presents forms that Amsterdam. It is remarkable how many of the invite participation by the whole group such as games that he depicted can be recognized on clapping games, ring plays, call-and-response playgroimds in and around Washington, D.C. singing, and double dutch. Also presented are today. genres, such as rhythmic bucket brigades, that In the Washington metro area, as elsewhere, are consciously created for an audience. local street play traditions are taught mainly by The program explores the ways children in children to other children. Some remain local each generation create, learn, and breathe and specific to the commimities in which they are renewed vitality into forms of play and expressive created and performed. Others travel by word of tiaditions and the ways they teach them to their mouth, observation, and imitation through peers and to yoiuiger friends and siblings. Chil- neighborhoods and towns, across state and dren in metro D.C. accimiulate extensive knowl- national borders, and sometimes even across con- edge and master skills while engaged in creative tinents. The demographics of the metro region play shaped by tradition on city streets, in subur- guarantee a large and diverse children's culture. ban backyards, at recreation centers, at Saturday The cultiual composition of the city is reflect- and Sunday schools organized by ethnic commu- ed in the neighborhood traditions that children nities, and in school playgrounds. bring to the Festival. Some children are African Many people think of a tradition bearer as American and have parents and grandparents an elder who has acciunulated knowledge and who are long-term residents in the metro area or acquired expertise in a long lifetime of practice. have migrated from states fiuther south. Other But children's traditions are learned, performed, children and their families hail from different and passed on within a very short time span, parts of the Spanish-speaking Americas, while among people who have yet to live two decades. more recent immigrants from coimtries in Africa and Asia bring games from their homelands. European traditions in music and play songs,

" Curator "Kids ' Sliilj. Dniiin Ban/I NDiaye h an anlhro- of transmitted informally and through institutional- potogist on the sill 1 nf ihr Sniilh\(iiii/iii iiiilcr for Folklife 1 ized play in nurseiy schools and kindergarten Programs and Ciillimil Sliidit's mid llic jiairnl of two kids, classrooms, can also be foimd at the Festival. Alhouri, 14, and Mame N 'Gone. 12, who have provided Longtime residents of the metro area lament valuable expertise for this project. Ms. Baird N'Diaye contin- the fragility of childhood and the increasingly ues to be involved in issues of educational outreach at the .Smithsonian and educational reform in the metropolitan dangerous tiun of children's games. The nightly Washington area. newscasts too often remind us that for many chil-

84 KIDS' STUFF Members of the championship fifth grade double dutch team at Seaton Elementary School in the District of Columbia show some deft moves on Easter Monday's traditional African American family event at the National Zoo. Photo by Diana Baird N'Diaye

dren growing up in the cit}', giin-play and pre- Cole, Joanne. 1989. Anna Banana: 101 Jump Rope tend games of gangster have tinned all too real Rhymes. New York: Morrow Junior Books. with deadly consequences. Schwartz, AlNin. 1989. I Saw You in the Bathtub Children's culture has always reflected the and Other Folk Rliymes. New York: I Can Read circumstances of its creation, and those times Books, HarperCollins Publishers. and places have rarely been idyllic for inany chil- Walker, Barbara K. 1992. Laughing Together: dren. Rhymes and games such as "Ring Around a Gi^ks and Grins from Around the Globe. Rosey" that seem so innocuous today represent Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing. children's experience of the epidemics of bubon- ic plague that ravaged Europe. The words do not Warren Mattox, Cheryl. 1989. Shake It to the One seem threatening because the situation they com- that You Love the Best. El Sobrante, CA: ment on is far away. Yet there are modern-day Warren Mattox Productions. examples. In the 1950s the dangers of contracting polio may have been reflected in children's Suggested Listening use of "cooties." And some scholars have pointed Cabral, Len. Nho Lobo and Other Stories. Story to the cinrent children's game of booger tag or Soimd Productions 101. booger touch as reflecting anxiety over contract- Cabral, Len. Anansi Stories and Others. Story ing AIDS. The tales told by contemporary city Sound Productions 102. children may not always be palatable to adults but they both reflect and provide a way of deal- Harley, Bill. Dinosaurs Never Say Pkase. Roimd ing with the situations of real life. In this play of River Records 103. the imagination children seek control over the Harley, Bill. Cool in School. Roimd Ri\er Records conditions they meet every day. In these forms 104. they sometimes gain the powers of eloquent Harley, Bill. Come On Out and Play. Round River expression and cultural transcendence. Records 107. Kids' Stuff encourages participation and dialogue as well as demonstration and observation. Harley, Bill. Groiiniups are Strange. Roimd River You are invited, young and old, to join in this cel- Records 106. ebration of children's play and performance. Jenkins, Ella. Littlejohnny Brown. Smithsonian/Folkways C-SF 45026.

Paz, Suni. Can dories para el Recreo/Children's Songs for the Playground. Smithsonian/Folkways C- Further Readings SF 45013.'^ Babcock, W.H. 1888. Games of Washington Seeger, Pete. American Game and Activity Songs for Children. American Anthropologist\o\ 1: 243- Children. Smithsonian/Folkways C-SF 45025. 284.

KIDS' STUFF 85 City Play

Amanda Dargan Cf Steven Zeitlin

This essay is adapti'd from the authors ' recent hook City with human values, associations, and memories.

Play. Copyright © 1 990 by Rutgeys, The Stale Univer- Play is one of the ways we develop a sense of sity. Reprinted by permission of Rutgers University neighborhood in a large city. Play is one of the Press. ways a city street becomes "oiu" block." Barging out of doors with play on their When John Jacob Rascob and his partners minds, city children confront stoops, hydrants, transformed the New York skyline by erecting telephone poles, lampposts, cars, brick walls, the Empire State Building, they probably never concrete sidewalks, and asphalt streets. Children considered that beneath the tower's express ele- leaping froin the dooi-ways as He-Man and vators the old Siinfish Creek had once formed a Sheera, or Captain Blood, Superinan, or the natural swimming hole: nor did they imagine Knights of the Round Table, have at their dispos- that, across the East River in Queens, children al an array of swords and shields, which to the would use the switching on of the building's iminitiated more closely resemble dented lights to tell the time for coming in from play. garbage can lids and discarded imibrellas. For Indeed, the architects of American cities did not the would-be circus performer or ballet dancer, design stoops for ballgames or sidewalks for the stoop provides the perfect stage. Those with jumping rope, and no one considered the haz- ball in hand have manhole covers, cars, hydrants, ard to kites when they put up telephone wires. and lampposts to define a playing field. Jumping Yet as a result of countless design decisions like off ledges, using discarded mattresses and box these, a yoimg person's experience of New York springs as trampolines, or riding bikes up ramps gradually changed — as streets were paved, made from scrap wood, they enjoy the dizzying buildings grew upward, cars pushed children thrills of vertigo. Each kind of play — vertigo, from the streets, rowhouses filled once vacant mimicry, chance, physical skill, and strategy — lots, and the increasing density led to rooftop has its own city settings and variants. games and cellar clubs. In the crowded, paved-over city, urban We begin with the idea that we can under- dwellers joyfully locate play by incorporating fea- stand a place — in this case New York City — by tures of the urban landscape into their games; exploring the traditional activities that give it they transform the detritus of luban life into meaning. These highly localized and repeated homemade playthings and costimies; and they activities shape our experience of the city. exert control over their environment, creating Through play, harsh and imposing city objects and passionately defending private spaces. often made of metal and concrete are imbued In his essay "Fun in Games," Ei"ving Goffman speaks of play as "focused interaction," in which

rules of pla)^!^ transformation tell players how Amanda Dargan is the director of the Folk Arts Program at the real world will be modified inside the the Queens Council on the Arts in New York. She is the author of several books and articks on family folklore and encounter. With the outside world held at bay, children 's play traditions. players create a new world within. A kind of membrane forms aroimd them. They often expe- Steven Zeitlin is the director and co-founder of City Lore, an rience a sense of intimacy, the closeness of shar- organization dedicated to the preservation ofNew York City 's ing a world apart. living cultural heritage. He is the co-author of a number of Certain kinds of action outside the books on American folk culture including A. Celebration of game American Family Folklore. such as an ambulance going by or a building

KIDS' STUFF ffi IT'.

Girls perform "cheers" at the

Marcy Projects in Bedford- Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Photo by Steven Zeitlin, courtesy Queens Council on the Arts

manager yelling out the window can cause the order prevails. Hydrants, curbs, and cornices of play scene to "flood out," bursting the mem- the city become a gameboard. The castoffs of city brane. Wlien we think of playing fields, we think living — bottle caps, broomsticks, and tin cans — perhaps of diamonds, gridirons, courts, and play- become playing pieces. "The older kids," writes grounds, but a playing field can in fact be any- Sam Levenson, "taught the younger ones the arts where. It is more akin to an energy field that and crafts of the street." Growing up in an East

repels forces oiuside its domain of interest and Harlem tenement, he recalls how envelops the players with a force as powerful as their concentration. ashcan covers were converted into

Within play worlds, time has its own mea- Roman shields, oatmeal boxes into tele- sures: "We played until it got too dark to see," phones, combs covered with tissue paper many people told us. Children play while the last into kazoos ... a chicken gullet into reflection of twilight in the sky still dimly silhou- Robin Hood's horn, candlesticks into ettes a flying ball; they will play while hunger is trumpets, orange crates into store coun- still possible to ignore. "The heat of day, the chill ters, peanuts into eariings, hatboxes into of rain, even the pangs of hunger," wiites Bar- drums, clothespins into pistols, and bara Biber, "are not sufficient to intrude on the lumps of sugar into dice. absorption of a child at play." Play time is measured not according to minutes and hours but Street toys are not "found objects"; they are according to the rules and structures of play; searched for. A great deal of effort often goes time often goes by in a "split second," metered into locaUng and shaping precisely the right by the turning of a rope or the rhythm of a object for play. In Bedford-Stuyvesant, for rhyme; "Doctor, doctor will I die? / Yes, my instance, prized caps for the sidewalk game of child, and so will I. / How many moments will I skelly were fashioned by filing a Moosehead Ale ." live? / One, two, three, four . . bottleneck on the curb to produce a glass ring In play, rules and boundaries are defined by smooth enough to glide along concrete. In Asto- the players themselves. This is first base — and ria, the best skelly pieces were the plastic caps on so it is. This sidewalk square is jail, this broken the feet of school desks. antenna is a ray gun — and through the magic Neighborhoods provide different raw mate- of play, they are. Transformation is the process rials. In Chinatown, mothers who work in the of recasting the rules, the boundaries, the garment industiy provide sought-after items. images, the characters of the real world within Jacks are often made from buttons — each "but- the boundaries of play. This is at the heart of ton jack" consisting of a set of five or six buttons play; taking a space or an object and devising a sewn together. Children use rubberbands new use for it, thereby making it one's own. hooked together to create a "Chinese jump

As they transform the cit)' for play, children rope." The elastic is stretched between the feet manifest a remarkable imagination. A playful of two girls while a third does cat's cradle-like

KIDS' STUFF 87 carded refrigerator box, "We're just kids! I am

five and he is three and we rule eveiything!" The scholarly interest in children's folklore in the United States dates from the work of William Wells Newell, who helped to found the American Folklore Society in 1888. Like many of the scholars who docimiented children's games after him, Newell was primarily interested in traditional games and rhymes which had sin-\'ived across generations of children. Collecting from both adults and children in Boston, New York, and Philadelphia, Newell believed that the "quaint" rhymes of children were "sin"\'ivals" and "relics" of ancient song and poeti^. Contemporaiy folklorists believe that children's rhymes and games are more interesting because of the way they comment on the present rather than the past. Nonetheless, through a cen- tuiT of collecting, scholars have emphasized traditional rhymes and games, transmitted through the generations in fixed phrases. The rhymes and games gathered in these works echo one another, and their texts affirm the consenatism of children, who pass on rhymes with small variations from one generation to the next. In New York, some of the rhymes have a distinctive urban flavor:

I won't go to Macy's any more, A boy plays with stilts in the Lower East Side of Manhat- more, more. tan, York. Photo by Martha Cooper, City Lore New There's a big fat policeman at the door, door, door. stiuits with her legs. Sometimes, the ropes are He'll grab you by the collar and make fashioned from white elastic bands which moth- you pay a dollar. ers bring home from the factories. I won't go to Macy's any more, "Play," writes Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, more, more.

"is an arena of choice in many contexts where life options are limited." In a crowded city with I should wony, I should care, its contested arenas, the freedom to play is hard- I should many a millionaire. ly regarded as a basic human right. In some parts He should die, I should ciy, of the city where space is uncontested, a child I should many another guy. can mark the boundaries of a play space with a piece of chalk, and nothing more is needed; chil- Flat to rent, inquire within, dren can "frame" their play space with boimd- A lady got put out for drinking gin. aries based on mutual agreement. More often, If she promises to drink no more however, the task of establishing play spaces Here's the key to 's front door. takes on a different character as young and old battle for autonomy and control. Perhaps the Bin though scholars and laypeople have a toughness sometimes perceived in city children longstanding interest in the consei-vatism of tra- may come from the himian battles they fight to ditional rhymes and games, improxasation has earn and maintain the right to playfully trans- always played a major role in children's play. form some autonomous space in the city. Bess Lomax Hawes writes about the "apparently

Through it all, children strive to gain control paradoxical co-existence of rules and innovation over their play worlds. As Alissa Duffy chanted as within play." She obsei-ved children playing a she and a friend jimiped up and down on a dis- game whose object was to step on all the sidewalk

88 KIDS' STUFF A boy plays skelly in the neighborhood of Sunnyside in Queens, New York. Photo by Steven Zeitlin, courtesy Queens Council on the Arts

cracks, an exact inversion of another popular tutions and spaces controlled by the neighborhood game, "step on a crack, break powers that be, players transform the your mother's back." She suggests that "only mundane into an adventure by means of those cultural items which are susceptible to vari- a rope, a ball, a dance or a haircut in ation have much chance of survival." Yet, though spaces occupied for the moment. Those

scholars have noted the impro\isatory qualit\' in adventures lead in many directions. . . . children's lore, this kind of play has rarely been

thoroughly documented, nor has it received the Further Readings kind of attention paid to traditional children's Bronner, Simon 1988. American Children's games. J. Folklore. Little Rock, Arkansas: August House. Our work emphasizes the improvisatory side of children's lore; children may be jimiping to Dargan, Amanda, and Steven Zeitlin. 1990. City the same rhymes, and playing the same games, Play. New Brimswick, New Jersey: Rutgers but they are impro\'ising with the materials, University Press. negotiating the rules, and imaginatively fitting Hale, Ethel, and Oliver Hale. 1938. "From them into various cit)' spaces. After all, before a Sidewalk, Gutter and Stoop: Being a game can be played, the players must agree Chronicle of Children's Play and Game upon the rules; and in the city, figiuing out the Activity." Manuscript, 2 packages. New York rules — deciding just how an abstract set of regu- Public Libran'. lations will apply to this space at this moment — Hawes, Bess Lomax, and Bessie Jones. 1972. Step is as important as the game itself. Traditional It Down: Games, Plays, Songs, and Stories from games and rhymes are testaments to the conser- the Afro-American Heritage. New York: Harper vatism of children; but the ways the games are and Row. actually played at any given moment, the ways they are adapted to particular urban settings, Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Barbara. 1983. The and the ways they are improvised upon reveals a FiUure of Folklore Studies in America: The creativity that is no less important to the legacy. Urban Frontier. Folklore Forum 16: 175-233.

"Play as a medium of adventure infuses all Mergen, Bernard. 1982. Play and Playthings: A aspects of city life," notes Barbara Kirshenblatt- Reference Guide. Westport, Connecticut: Gimblett. Greenwood Press.

Nasaw, David. 1985. Children the City: At Work As 'poets of their own acts,' players in of and at Play, 1900-1920. New York: the city occupy space temporarily: they Doubleday. seize the moment to play as the opportunity arises, inserting the game into the Opie, lona, and Peter Opie. 1969. Children's interstices of the city's grid and sched- Games in Street and Playground. Oxford:

ule. . . . Wliile lacking the kinds of insti- Clarendon Press.

KIDS' STUFF 89 FESTIVAL RESEARCH REPORT The Jerusalem Festival Project

Amy Horoxvitz

Once, I was sitting on the steps by a For reasons that Mr. Amichai and IVIs. Jab-

gate at David's Tower. I had placed my bour's words make clear, the Jerusalem Festival two heavy baskets at my side. A group of project — begim in the summer of 1992 by the tourists was standing aroimd their guide Center for Folklife Programs and Cultural Stud-

and I became their target marker. ies to produce a living exhibition at the Festival "You see that man with the baskets? of American Folklife — has a complicated and

Just to the right of his head there's an difficult task. Its goal is to document and present arch from the Roman period — just to the cultural expression of the people who live in the right of his head!" this ancient city. And accomplishing this means

"But he's moving, he's moving," I resisting the magnetic pull of the historic sites said to myself. Redeinption will only and addressing the realities of the people them- come when their guide tells them, "You selves who dwell in Jerusalem in 1993. In the see that arch from the Roman period? August heat, they pause to reflect and catch their

It's not important. But next to it, to the breath in a city that has captured imaginations

left and down a bit, there sits a man for millennia.

who's bought fruit and vegetables for his Like many urban centers, Jerusalem is a city family." of cities. Israelis, mainly Jews, live in West Yehuda Amichai, 1987 Jerusalem. Palestinians, with a Sunni Muslim majority and a sizable Christian minority, live in

I wonder, Leah, what would it take East Jerusalem. There are exceptions to these for two women ripened by age, experi- generalities, and as politics constantly reshape ence, and heartache to build a bridge of the socio-geographical landscape, lives are pro- peace rather than a fortress of war? foundly affected. You become aware of

I do not stretch out my hand to you immarked cleavages in the city by the color of in strength. This kind of strength means the municipal buses, by the languages spoken on

victory at war and I do not wish for any the stieet and written on signs, by the clothes

more wars for either of us. Nor do I people wear, and by the music spilling out of car

stretch it out in weakness, for weakness radios. The boundaries between Jewish and Arab

is succumbing to the status quo and I Jerusalem are never really forgotten in the

won't accept that. Let us both stretch course of daily life. out our hands in equality and acknowl- Over 40 Jewish ethnic groups live in West edge each other's humanity and rights. Jerusalem; in East Jerusalem Muslims live togeth-

I ask you to please extend a special er with Christian neighbors belonging to some of salute to the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem, more than 15 Orthodox and Western churches

The Street of Sorrow. It is a road that represented throughout the city. In both East

you and I have been traveling for a long and West Jerusalem, residents with roots in Asia, time. Can we take fate into om^ own hands and say, "Enough!" Field research for theJerusalem Festival project has been made Wliat will it really take? possible by the generous support of the Nathan Cummings Foundation, Ruth Mott Foundation, Miaosoft Corporatioti, Hala Deeb Jabbour, 1986 and David Schoenhach.

90 RESEARCH REPORT In this map (1580), the world is seen as a clover leaf, and Jerusalem is its center, surrounded by Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Africa, Europe, and America interact with people came because of a job, a spouse, a college eckica- who can trace their roots for generations in this tion. For those arriving from war and oppression city. elsewhere Jerusalem is a refuge, for those unable

Who are the women, men, and children of to return she is a longing.

Jerusalem? How do they earn the money it takes The Jerusalem Festival project has asked to rent an apartment, buy winter olives, and pay these people to share their knowledge with us taxes? How do they stitch together the traditions and with the American people. In response they that they learned from their parents with the invited us into their homes and taught us about demands and tensions of contemporan- life in the way they live their lives, the problems they Jerusalem? How do they hand this cultural legacy face, the traditions they teach their children, over to their children? the songs they sing, the fabrics they embroider, Each Jerusalemite has his or her own reasons the stories they heard from their grandparents, for living in the city. For some, it is where their the prayers they know by heart, the foods they forbears have always lived; for others where their eat, the Jobs they do, the jokes they tell, the ritu- forbears have always prayed to live. Still others als that accompany birth, adulthood, and death. In July of 1992, two parallel research teams, one Israeli and one Palestinian, agreed to participate with oiu" Center in a research project direct- Amy Horowitz is Curator of theJenisakm Festival project at ed by Dr. Galit Hasan Rokem, a folklorist from the Centerfor Folklife Programs and Cultural Studies at the Smithsonian Institution. She holds an M.A. inJewish Stud- Hebrew University, and Dr. Suad Amii'y, an archi- ies from New York University and is a doctoral candidate at tect from Bir Zeit University. Together we the Department ofFolklore at the University ofPennsylvania. designed a plan by which 40 Palestinian and She has been Artist Representative for the African American Israeli scholars, students, and community mem- acapella group, Sivecl Honey In The Rock for 16 years. bers would help us explore the diversity of cultur-

RESEARCH REPORT 91 Local community members ancJ scholars jointly carried out research for the Jerusalem Festival project. Serene HIeleh interviews a Palestinian oud player, Abu Ghranam at his home. Photo by Yacub Arefheh

al life in Jerusalem with an eye to presenting a calls to prayer and the calls to action. selection of the flndings at the Festival of Ameri- As we listened we began to imderstand some- can Folklife. thing about how people try to live ordinary lives The two research teams worked over the past under extraordinaiy conditions. Daily existence year on different terrains and imder different in Jerusalem is franted by war and conflict, heroic conditions to discover and document their con- devotion and unquestioning conviction, check- temporaiy cultural traditions. Like any road to pciints and strikes, and the relentless cameras, Jerusalem, their joiuneys were filled with imex- expectations, assumptions, and interruptions of pected twists and turns and constant negotiations outsiders who claim to have the answers to sup- to overcome obstacles. These scholars dug port their version of the truth about Jerusalem. beneath the CNN soundbites and their own pre- The aesthetic cultural expressions that conceived notions. They confronted their own emerge in contemporai")'Jerusalem are as com- feelings about their ancient heritages and uncer- plexly layered as those of any heterogeneous tain futures as they walked between sunbaked urban en\'ironment in which people create an stones. They recorded tales and memories of artistic dialogue between traditional repertoires. local residents colored by time and by re-telling Unlikely combinations of aesthetics and cultural across generations and continents. They gath- ideas are brought together by modern technolo- ered accounts of pilgrims who made the journey gies like cassettes, faxes, 747's, and microwaves.

to Jewish, Christian, and Moslem holy places for The result is folklore in motion; Hebrew prayers thousands of years, and they documented pre- vocalized in Greek and Turkish melodies change sent-day tourists who walk those paths today. to Qtiranic recitations amplified in Arabic from They examined cultural aspects of headlines, local minarets and then again to Armenian folk

punch lines, demonstration lines, and bus lines. poetry sinig to a western rock beat. The result is They looked at holidays, soccer games, and the contact culture; French croissants laced with a sounds of sellers in the market. They recorded local herb called zaiar. Eastern Etiropean gefilte

92 RESEARCH REPORT School girls stop for a moment from play In the Nachlaot neighborhood. West Jerusalem is made up of over 40 Jewish ethnic groups including communities from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Photo by Amy Horowitz

fish sei'ved next to Middle Eastern dumplings Cultural Sketches from called kubbeh. a Work in Progress

Cultural expression in Jerusalem is often a discourse of conflict: jokes about the Hebrew or ^alatimo's small pastiy shop is a renowned Arabic dialects spoken by various ethnic or landmark in Jerusalem's Old City for local Pales- urban groups, songs about the 1967 war as a vic- tinians and Arabs throughout the Middle East. toiy and about the same war as the beginning of The store is tucked slightly back from one of the occupation. Kurdish Jews in Jerusalem sing bal- main streets, Bab Khan Ezzeit, crowded with lads to their old friends in Iraq. Palestinian evei7 kind of small market shop. As we duck into Christians combine lyrics about Christ and the the shop we can hear the bells chiming nearby in intifada in Palm Sunday hymns. the Holy Sepulchre. The Jerusalem Festival project searched Zalatimo is bending over little balls of dough amidst the monuments and ancient inscriptions which he .swiftly rolls out into circles. He pauses for the human beings inhabiting the city today. and welcomes us in Arabic, Salam Aleikum, In our research, we tried to guard against devel- (peace be with you). Then he tosses the dough oping a romantic picture of ancient stone and in the air, stretches and lays it out, and fills it olive tree that omits the daily conflicts, television with nuts. In an instant the pastry is ready to be antennas, laundry lines, and soda bottles sharing baked in the old stone oven. the landscape with holy sites. We encouraged Zalatimo's father, Daoiid Zalafimo, came to ourselves to record the scene complete with Jerusalem from Beirut in 1860 and opened up a laundry flapping and women scrubbing walkways family business. Today, his sons and grandsons clean of relentless Jerusalem dust. We also tried help him prepare the traditional pastry called to avoid romanticizing our approach, our schol- mutabak. The family tradition is so renowned that arly clarity, and our own attempts at deconstruc- people often say "let's go to the Old City and tion lest our cultural vocabulary be taken as a have a Zalatimo." new icon or an authority in itself. Ours is to be a Zalatimo works almost without pause. Soon picture, not //(f picture. trays of pastiy sit cooling in the back room

RESEARCH REPORT 93 It takes Bashir more than a month to complete a window. He carves designs manu- ally using hand tools and occasionally an

electric drill, carefully slanting the angle to allow light to pass through. Photo by Joan Wolbier

between ancient pillars that have stood there We find Bashir Musa AJ Muaswis, the only since the Roman period. local craftsman of plaster-cai'ved stained-glass windows, intensely focused in his studio in the In 1917 ten Ainienian craftsmen were Haram (the Muslim Holy Shrine which includes brought from Turkey to Jerusalem to help the Dome of the Rock and AJ Aqsa Mosque). restore the ceramic tiles in the Dome of the Working in a tradition practiced in the Muslim

Rock. Armenians were enduring persecution and world since the 12th centuiy, he is helping to Stefan and Berge Karkashian's father was chosen restore the stained-glass windows of these holy and took refuge in the Armenian Quarter of the monuments. The windows create a diffused and Old City. In Jerusalem, they established a thriv- spiritual light that reflects on the richly colored ing ceramic industry and became integrated into 7th century floral mosaic inside the Mosque. the cultural life of the Palestinian community. These designs decorate the interior space since

Today potteiy adorned with exquisite human and animal imagery is forbidden by the regional designs — symmetrical Islamic patterns, traditions of Islam. The task of carving the plas- floral arabesques, and Armenian Christian and ter is painstakingly slow. The angle of the cut has

Persian themes — is displayed in their shop on to be just right in order to catch the light cor- Via Dolorosa along with plaques designed by rectly. Palestinian artist Kamal Boulatta and others Today, the month-long Muslim celebration inscribed with Jewish prayers and astrological of Ramadan is drawing to a close. In the ninth signs. All the painted brush work is hand done month of the Islamic calendar, Muslims fast dur- by Palestinian women each with a special style. ing the daylight hotus to commemorate the Their artistry helps to make this potteiy unique divine gifts of the Qiuan and the Prophet Muh- amongst the crafts of the Old City. Stefan says ammad. Soon Mtisa will join with thousands of that he feels his father's shadow and memory neighbors as the Haram fills with daily prayers. behind each ceramic piece in the shop. Musa learned this craft from a family friend.

94 RESEARCH REPORT Workers prepare the traditional challah dough on Thursday at Motti Lendner's bakery in Beit Yisrael. Photo by Pete Reiniger

Dawoud Abdeen, who had carved some of the are secrets to braiding the dough, special touch- earlier plaster windows at Al Aqsa Mosque. Wlien es that insure that the loaves will be knackedig the Mosque was damaged by arson fire in 1969, (Yiddish for crispy), making a cracking noise the Waqf (Muslim Endowment) searched for when you bite into it. artisans who could assist in the restoration. They Motti and the other bakers talk with us located Abdeen when they noticed that he had amidst mounds of dough: "The verse in Genesis: signed his name in 1920 on one of the windows 'thou shalt earn your bread with your own sweat' that had been burned in the fire. By now an old is said exactly about this bakery," Motti declares.

man, he asked Musa's father for assistance. "This is truly hard work . . . the neighbors here Musa, then a yoimg boy, accompanied his father pray for my health and hope I'll keep their sup- and soon began helping out. He tells us that he ply of challahs until the Messiah will come." "stole the secrets of the craft with his eyes." Shmuel Shmueli is a Jewish healer who was Yiddish speech and Hasidic dress dominate born in Jerusalem. For generations his family the narrow streets in Beit Israel, the neighbor- passed down the mystical wisdom of Kabbalah (a hood where Motti Lendner's grandfather, hav- tradition that originated in the Middle Ages). ing arrived from Rimiania, started a bakery at Shmueli draws on this spiritual knowledge when the turn of the century. Motti, a third generation he prays at the Kotel (the "Western" or "Wailing baker, says that today the Orthodox Jewish resi- Wall"), the most sacred ofJewish sites, and leads dents come on Thursday afternoons to buy the special pilgrimages to the tombs of holy sages.

challah that is his trademark, hi his rolled up And he incorporates his family's healing and shirtsleeves he labors evei7 day alongside his mystical traditions when he builds and decorates workers. His bakery produces only specially his sukkah, a festive booth where people gather braided challah bread eaten as part of the Friday evei7 atitumn to celebrate the holiday of Sukkot night Sabbath ritual. Motti explains that there (Festival of the Tabernacles). According to one

RESEARCH REPORT 95 Pvabbalistic belief, Lhhpizin, guests seated in the iar garb and tried to say "I am not siikkah are joined by Biblical patriarchs who each Kurdi!" Bin there were those who wept represent a different quality of the divine spirit. A secretly. Then a few began somewhat special chair and candle are placed in their embarrassedly to dance the old Kurdish honor. dances again. Shmiieli decorates his sukkah walls with spe-

cial blessings and pictures of sages from different Their repertoire is sung in Hebrew, Arabic,

generations. The picture of his own spiritual and ^Aramaic and accompanied by the zorneli, a leader, the Rav Sharabi, hangs next to the traditional double reed instrimient with a pierc- medieval philosopher and physician Maimonides, ing and captivating voice. Group member Miri-

whose medicinal system he uses in his own heal- am Yehoshua is out of breath after the last song: ing work. Only we the elders who came from Kur- 1 hoiisands of Kurdish Jews came to distan know what to dance when the

Jerusalem in 1951 after living for generations in zorneh plays. If they ask me how, I'll say Kurdistan. Their jotnney to Jerusalem was one of the same way you imderstand Tchai- greater cultinal distance than aeronautic miles. kovsky, my feet imderstand the zorneh. At home they kept their ancient traditions of praying in Aramaic, cooking Kurdish foods, and Wlien people weave art and food, song and observing special rituals like Saharatia — a cele- prayer in a conflicted city their expressions are bration of the Torah. At the same tiine they loomed on the intricate and tense realities of raised their children as Hebrew-speaking Israelis. their daily lives, the weight of histoi-y and the In the 1970s an ethnic revival inovement longing for a more seciue futine. The cultural inspired some of the old-timers to formalize their creations ofJerusalem's people present a pre- weekly song and dance get-togethers into an cious opening through which to see and appreci- ensemble called Sheva Aliayot. Yaacov Yaakov, a ate the himian faces of this enigmatic city. We commimity leader, explains: hope to provide future Festival goers with a

unique opportimity to enter this doorway and lis- The 1950s were years of cultural denial ten and talk to Jerusalemites on the Natit)nal and great shame. We took off our famil- Mall in Washington.

96 RESEARCH REPORT SMITHSOKTIAN INSTITUTION

1993 Festival of American Folklife

July 1 -July 5 General Information

Festival Hours Restrooms/Telephones Services for Visitors Opening ceremonies for the There arc outdoor facilities tt>r with Disabilities Festixal will be held on the Main the public and visitors with To make the Festival more Dance Stage in the American disabilities located near all of the accessible to visitors who are deaf Social Dance area at 11:00 a.m.. program areas on the Mall. or hard of hearing, an audio loop facilities are Thin sday, July 1st. Thereafter, Additional restroom is installed in the American Social Festival hours will be 11:00 a.m. to available in each of the museum Dance tent. Four sign language 5:30 p.m. daily, with dance parties buildings during visiung hours. interpreters are on site eveiy day at every evening from 5:30 to 7:00 Public telephones are available the Festival. Check the printed p.m., and evening concerts from on the site, opposite the Museums schedule and signs for interpreted History and Natural interpreters are 7:00 to 9:00 ij^^m. of American programs. Oral Histor)', and inside the museimis. available for individuals if a request

Sales is made three full days in advaiKe.

) 786-24 1 (TTY) or • Traditional food from the U.S.- Lost and Found/Lost Call ( 202 4 Mexico border region, ethnic Children and Parents (202) 786-2942 (voice). copies of the daily Indian food from me,tropolitan Lost items may be turned in or Large^print African schedule and audiocassette D.C..._ and southern retrieved at the Volunteer tent in

\ of the program book and American barbecue will be sold. the Administration area. Lost versions are available at Festival _ See the site map for locations. family members may be claimed at schedule information kiosks and the A variety of crafts, books, and the Volunteer tent also. We advise Smithsonian/Folkways recordings putting a name tag on youngsters. Volunteer tent. relating to the 1993 Festival will be Wlieelchairs are available at the Shop area on Festival Volunteer tent. Volunteers sold in the Museimi Metro Stations the Festival site. are on call to assist wheelchair - Metro trains will be running users and to giiide visitors with__ evei7 day of the Festival. The Press visual impairments. There are a Festival site is easily accessible to Visiting members of the press few designated parking spaces for the Smithsonian and Federal should register at the Festival Press visitois with disabilities along both Triangle stations on the Blue and tent on the Mall near Madison Mall drives. These spaces have Oiange lines. Drive and I'ith Street. three hour time restrictions. Evening Dance Parties First Aid Concerts A first aid station will be and Traditional dance music is available near the Administration- evet)' evening, 5:30-7:00 area on the Mall. The Health Units played p.m., at the Main Dance Stage in in the Museums of .American Social Dance area. Histoid and Natural History are the American open from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Come dance. An evening concert feati^ring groups from the Metro Music program will follow the dance party from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Informacion General

Horario del Festival Servlclos Higienicos y Conjuntos del programa de Musica Metropolitana continuaran l.a ceremonia de apertura al Telefonos con conciertos desde las 7:00 hasta Festival se celebrara en el Habra facilidades para uso del principal del Pabellon de las 9:00 p.m. escenario pi'iblico y \isitantes con Baile Social, el l*"'" de julio a las impedimentos-eerca de todas las 1 1:00 a.m. A partir de ese dia, las areas de los diferentes programas Servicios para Visitantes horas del Festival seran de 1 1 :00 en la Explanada. Ademas, podra con Impedimentos a.m. a 5:30 p.m. diariamente con utilizar los banos de los museos Para hacer el Festival mas fiestas bailables cada noche de 5:30 — durante las horas d^ visita. accesible a visitantes con impedi- a 7:00 p.m.y conciertos de 7:00 a Telefonos publicos se mentos del oido, un recodo de 9:00 p.m. encuentran en la Explanada^ amplificacion de sonido sera enfrente de los museos de Historia instalado dentro del Pabellon de Veritas Norteamericana y de Historia Baile Social. Habra comida tipica de la Natural, y adentro de los museos. Todos los dias se encontraran Mexico-Estados Unidos, frontera en el lugar del Festival cuatro la comimidad comida etnica de Personas y Objetos interpretes dactilologicos. Consulte India del area metropolitana de Extraviados el horario y los letreros en cada Washington, D.C., y barbacoa siid- area para ver.su localizacion. Las personas que esten africana americana a la venta. verbales seran extraviadas o que hayan extraviado Interpretes el del Festival para Consulte mapa proveidos si son solicitados con a sus familiares, pueden pasar por localizar los puestos de comida. ima semana de anticipacion. Por el Puesto de Voluntarios, en el area variedad Se podra comprar ima favor llame al (202) 786-2414 de la Administracion, para de artesanfas, libros, y discos 786-2942 (voz). encontrarse con su grupo. (TTY) o (202) relacionados con los programas del Para el beneficio de visitantes Recomendamos que los ninos Festival de 1993 en la carpa con impedimentos de la vista, Ueven puestas tarjetas con sus designada Tiehda del Museo, copias del itinerario imprimidas en nombres. Los objetos extra\'iados o localizada en la Explanada grabaciones del encontrados podran entregarse o letra grande y Nacional. programa estaran disponibles en reclamarse en el mismo puesto. los kioscos de informacion y en el Prensa Puesto de Voluntarios. Estaclones del Metro Los miembros de la prensa que Sillaide ruedasy voluntarios Los trenes del Metro estaran visiteii el FestivaJ deberan estaran disponibles en el Puesto de funcionando diariamente dmante inscribirse en la carpa destinada Voluntarios para asistir a personas el Festival. Puede Uegar a la para la prensa en el Festival que usen silla de ruedas y para Explanada Nacional facilmente si localizada en Madison Drive y la guiar a los visitantes que tienen toma el Metro hasta las estaciones calle 12.' impedimentos de la vista. Los Smithsonian o Federal Triangle en visitantes con impedimentos las li'neas azul o naranja. Primeros Auxllios podran estacionarse en los Una unidad de la Cruz Roja espacios reservados para estos Actividades Bailables Americana se instalara en ima casos que estan localizados a carpa cerca del area de la Nocturnas ambos lados de la Explanada Administracion. Las unidades de Todas las noches habra mi'isica Nacional. Estos estacionamientos salud en los museos de Historia bailable tradicional en el escenario tienen un li'mite de uso de tres Norteamericana y de Historia principal del Pabellon de Baile horas. Natural estaran abiertos desde las Social desde las 5:30 hasta las 7:00 10:00 a.m. hasta las 5:30 p.m. p.m. Lo invitamos a que venga a bailar. Participants in the 1993 Festival of American Folklife

San Simon Village, Arizona Tucson, Arizona

U.S. -MEXICO Tohuno O'odhrim Sinng Band Reynaldo B. Hernandez - INS BORDERLANDS Blaine W.Juan - violin, dancer border patrol, storyteller Joseph Alonzo Garcia - violin, Arturo Carrillo Strong - author, dancer oral historian Tijuana, Baja California Frank N. Pedro - guitar Olga Lidia Cortes - Mixteca hat Los Hermanos Cuatro - Yaqui and basket maker Victor Augustine Garcia - violin Norteno Band - Guadalupe Isabel Flores de Estrada Nacho J. Feleys snare drum Jesus Juan Yucupicio - electric bass - Mixteca altar maker, cook Mike L. Francisco - bass drum, Albert M. Yucupicio - accordion Juvencio Extrada Maceda - Mixteco dancer storyteller, oral historian, Angel M. Yucupicio - drums candlemaker Lupe Lopez - Tohono O'odham Peter S. Yucupicio - hajo sexto

Gloria Lopez Lopez - Mixteca basket maker vendor, altar maker, cook Marie Leon -Tohono O'odham Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua

Elia Hilda Maceda Flores - Mixteca basket maker Brigada por La Paz altar maker, cook Alonso Encina Herrera - muralist

Ofelia Santos Lopez - Mixteca Nogales, Sonora Jesus Alberto "Pee Wee" Rodriguez vendor, oral historian, hat and Maria Gloria Moroyoqui de Medina - muralist basket maker, altar maker, cook, Roques - Yaqui cook, piiiata and Gustavo "Sleepy" Grado Tiscareho - weaver flower maker, herbalist muralist Francisco Paulino Sierra Cruz - Mixteco school teacher Imuris, Sonora

Anastasio Leon - birdcage and Cathedral City, California " frame maker

Carmen Moreno - guitarist, singer Francisco Silva - birdcage and frame maker

Sailta Catarina, Baja California Magdalena, Sonora Benito Peralta Gonzalez - Pai Pai storyteller, oral historian Felipe de Jesus Valenzuela - regional historian Tecate, Baja California Tumacacori, Arizona Jose Luis Lee Sandoval - furniture maker Maria Rodriguf z - tortilla maker, flower maker, cook

Mexicali, Baja California

Tfilln Uuii'nsitarid d<- Teatro Angel Norzagaray Norzagaray Heriberto Norzagaray Norzagaray Loreto Ramon Tamayo Rosas

Alejandra Rioseco de la Peiia Andres Garcia Moreno Pedro Gabriel Gonzalez Castro . "

Miguel Angel "El Tandy" Sandoval Hebbronville, Texas French Sturgill - Chilhowie Lira - muralist Omar Galvan - vaquero, Barbara Vance - Chilhowie Oscar - guitar maker ropemaker, cook, stoi"yteller Ramirez James Vance - Chilhowie

Los Akgres del Norte - Norteno Band Kingsville, Texas Southern Country Band Flores Cordova - accordion Mendietta - Jose foe O. vaquero Howard Burchette - mandolin, Diego Hidalgo Alvarez - bajo sexto horsehair braider fiddle, guitar, vocals - Abingdon Emilio Chairez Muiioz - lololoche Barton Fritts - bass - Mountain City, San Diego, Texas Tennessee

El Paso, Texas Canuto Soliz - vaquero, William C. Kelly - fiddle - Agustin Castillo - woodcarver, leathenvorker, storyteller, Chilhowie furniture maker ' guitarist AJ Lambert - guitar, mandolin, Carlos Callejo - muralist Chicano banjo, vocals - Abingdon Frias - Elsa, Texas Romiilo lowrider. William H. McCall - guitar, vocals - Los Hermanos Layton - Conjunto Abingdon Band El Divisidero, Chihuahua Steve Starnes - mandolin - Antonio V. Layton - guitar, vocals Guadalupe Carrasco Leyva - Abingdon quilter, cook Rene Layton - drums Norfilia Layton Gonzalez - vocals Cambodian American Dancers

- Paso de Lajitas, Chihuahua Gilbert Gonzalez bass guitar Phavann Chliuan - Rockville, Baltazar Rodriguez Puentes - ^ Benigno Layton - accordion, vocals Maiyland

ranching crafts Chhomanath Chhuan - Rockville, Brownsville, Texas Maryland

Lajitas, Texas Julius Collins - shrimper, John Kheav - Ft. Washington, \ Adolfo O. Rodriguez - ranching netmaker, cook Maryland

crafts Vuthy Kheav - Ft, Washington, Maryland

Presidio, Texas Sesane Ouk - Sterling, Virginia

- Richard Mark Bernholz INS Sorabe Phann - Bel Air, Maiyland border patrol, storyteller AMERICAN SOCIAL DANCE Chan Moly Sarn - Reston, Virginia Phillip Rithy Sok - Sterling, Nacimiento, Chihuahua Virginia Gertrude Factor Vasquez - oral Square Dancers from Nareine Sokhon - Potomac, Southwest Virginia historian, cook, herbalist Maryland Alice Fay Lozano - oral historian, Lois B. Buchanan - Glade Spring Sareth C. Sokhon - Potomac, cook, herbalist Richard C. Buchanan - Glade Maryland Spring Soum Sokhon - Potomac, Maryland Del Rio, Texas Carl Farris - CViilhowie Jammy Samnung Sun - Herndon, Ethel I. Warrior - oral historian, Virginia Lee Farris - Chilhowie Virginia cook Ernest French - Meadowview Nadin Samnung Sun - Herndon, William F. Warrior - oral historian, Nancy Haworth - Abingdon Virginia storyteller - William R. Haworth Abingdon Nady Samnung Sun - Herndon,

Mildred Holley - Chilhowie Virginia Laredo, Texas Glenn Orfield - Meadowview Sody T. Tek - Alexandria, Virginia Aiinando Flores - blacksmith Sandra Orfield - Meadowview Rady Tes - Ft. Washington, Maria Paredes de Solis - quilter George V. Owens - Meadowview , Maiyland

Mai7 D. Owens - Meadowview Sochietah Ung - Washington, B.C. Monterrey, Mexico David E. Salyer - Abingdon El Palom.o y el Gorrion - Norteno Kagnol Band Band Janie Salyer - Abingdon Kagnol Mol - leader, guitar, organ - Cirilo "El Palomo" Luna Franco - Kirby Smith - caller - Abingdon Chantilly, Virginia accordion, composer Jack Stevens - Meadowview Hamany Mol - manager - Chantilly, Miguel "El Gorrion" Luna Franco - Lala Stevens - Meadowview Virginia drums, composer, vocals Evelyn W. Sturgill - Chilhowie Sophy L. Hoeung - vocals - Moises Garcia - guitar Alexandria, Virginia -

Coiy Long - vocals - Silver Spring, Alex Urresty - Gaithersburg, Hand Dancers Maryland Maryland Florence K. Barber - Washington,

- D.C. Mony Ouv- guitar - Woodbridge, Jugo Urresty Gaithersburg, Virginia Maryland Lawrence Bradford - Washington, DC.

New Hello Baud Geneiacion Luz Kenny Cheeks - Foresrville,

- - Maryland Samnang Sim - leader, lj.eyboards Charlie Barrionirevo keyboards, Herndon, Virginia vocals - Falls Church, Virginia William H. Eley - Hyattsville,

- - Maryland Vutha Pao - lead guitar - Falls Fermin Barrionuevo keyboards Church, Virginia Falls Church, Virginia Robert "Captain Fly" Frye - deejay -

- Maryland Phal Soeung - vocals - Herndon, Mairricio Barrionuevo director, Lanham, Virginia percussion, vocals - Leroy Green - Capitol Heights, ' Springfield, Virginia Farom Tan - guitar - Woodbridge, Maryland Virginia Jiran Carlos Cueto - guitar, vocals - Cynthia Jefferson - C.apitol Heights, Aiiington, Virginia Maiyland Chhin Bim Yan - vocals - Herndon, - Virginia Lelis Cueto - percussion Addie Robinson - Washington, Arlington, Virginia DC.

Bolivian Dancers Raul Monterrosa - piano - Cynthia Shelton - Hyattsville.

Arlington, Virginia . Maryland Juan Leonardo Alanes - Riverdale. Maryland Julio Robles - bass, vocals - Luvenia Shelton - Washington, Arlington, Virginia Adela Baldarrama - Silver Spring, D.C. Maiyland ' Howard Watkins - Fort Ollantay Maryland Carlos Ballesteros - Arlington, Washington, Virginia Enriqire Coria - rharango- Alexandria, Virginia Melody Ballesteros - Aiiington, Virginia Jose Raiil Dirran - chamngo, flute - Silver Spring, Maryland Nancy Ballesteros - Arlington, Virginia Jose Raiil Gonzalez- chamngo Alexandria, Virginia Marco A. Castellon - Silver Spring, Mar)'land Boris Torrico - flirte - Aiiington, Virginia Paola Castellon - Silver Spring, Maiyland Rodolfo Tonico - percussion - Arlington, Virginia Luis H. Fuentes - .Alexandria, Virginia ' Iroquois Dancers Luz Fuentes - Alexandria, V/irginia Bi ad Bonaparte - MohaVvk Nation, Magaly Jarrad - Glen Biunie, * Maryland Akwesasne Sadie Buck - Seneca, Six Nadons Andy Lopez - Gaithersburg, Mar)land Norman B. Hill, Jr. - Casaiga, Tonawanda Jhonny V. Meneses - .Alexandria, Virginia Sue Jacobs - Cayuga, Six Nations

Maria Teresa Mojica - Oakton, LuAnn Jamieson - Seneca, Virginia J Tonawanda

Angel F. Quinteros - Arlington, Scott Logan - Seneca, Tonawanda

Virginia Mite McDonald - Mohawk Nation,

Leslie Quinteros - Arlington, Akwesasne

Virginia Robert Shenandoah - Onondaga

Lillian Quinteros - Aiiington, Nation

Virginia Keith Shenandoah - Onondaga Giovani Ricaldez -Arlington, Nation Virginia Sherri L. Waterman-Hopper -

Rosemaiy L. Sejas - Aj lington, Onondaga Nation Virginia . , -

Hip-Hop Stephania Gomez Chinese Shuttlecock:

Authony Hoxington - Silver Spring, Carole Green Ivy Chen - teacher

Maiyland Porgha Harrell Wilson Lin ,, John "Super Cool" Mackey - deejay Cristine Holt Peter Schwartz - Morningside, Maryland Yolanda Hughes Albert Tsou Denise Richards - Washington, Georgette Jones D.C. Grace Kelly Bucket Brigade

Candice Kemier Barnett W'illiams - percus.sionist, The Nasty Boys Kathr\'n Kot) presenter Rosetta Fultz-Mackey - Hyatts\il.le, Crystal Little Maryland Draper African Drummers - Alicia Middletbn D.C. Brian Robinson - Temple Hills, Washington, Maiyland Tamisha Miller James Barber

Chuck Sanders - Washington, D.C. Olslani Oyezbola Reginald Bell

Kimberty Simpson - District Olushola Pyne James Dudley Heights, Manland Kimberlee Roate Javon Miles Michael Smith -Washington, D.C. Kelia Speight Lorenzo Neil

Tyrone Thornton - Washington, Wendy Thomas D.C. Daphne Vassor Neighborhood Cheel^

Marie Williams Charles Barrett Reneation Center Cherell Wilson Alexandria, Virginia

Maurisette Daniels - cheerleading KIDS' STUFF Raymond Elementary School - coordinator D.C. Washington, Vanessa Williams - assistant'coach Playground Traditions - presenter. Dorothy Walker Lynique Scott - captain facilitator Bailey's Elementary School- Falls LaToya Pittman - co-captain Church, Virginia Idyis Alexander Lany Tolliver - mascot Boatwright-Bacon - LaTasha Anderson Carmen Kellv Amolegbe preseViter, facilitator Tikia Anderson Tamika Brooks . Linh Air Dominique Brown Cliawmia Dowdy Herber Hernandez Aisha Clark Bridget Dupree Jacqueline Machado Malika Fateen Cassandra Fountain Linda Mak Shawn te Johnson Tamar Green Carol Ovando Antoinette Titter Quiana Huff Srey Saing Stephanie W'illiams LaToya Johnson Liiis Valencia Tadana Wright Tamika Moore Other Bailey's students Tasha Washington Chinese Yo-Yo and Shuttlecock Dalecia Williams^ - Brightwood Elemenlaiy School Washington School of Chinese I Washhigton, D.C. Language and Culture- Rockville, Mt. Vernon Recreation Center Jean Alexander -presenter, Maiyland Cheerleaders - PAex3.nAT\.2i, Virginia facilitator Lily Liu Chow - principal Misty Copeland - coach Brooke Andrews-Bondgiee Chinese Yo-yo: Naila Alexander - coach Li Nida Blake Bor-Shan Zhu - teacher, facilitator Shanta Baker Melissa Carrera Hong Yong Chow - teacher - Nanah Bangura- Mykia Carroll Tom Chi Yonnie Ihedioha Michelle Davis - Cathy K. Chow Tahnia Martin Carmen Douglas James Rung Destiny Porter Gioria Douglas Elain Szu Shereva Pretty Leslie Eustaquio Mike Wang Latresa Randolph V'ictoria Fashoto Anita Wu Camille Reed Dottve Gav Leonard Wu Jacob Yeh - - -

Michelle Ross Shantay Fair Chu Me Yi Evern Sharpe Lisa Nock Ann Yim Jamie Shipp Rhashelia Outing Jum Bok Yim Jessica Southall Tomika Yoimg Natalia Spinner The Country Gentlemen - Bluegrass Kimberly Stewart Seaton Elementary School Charlie Waller - guitar, vocals - Washington, D.C. Gordons\ille, Virginia Marcellena Thornton Montez Delaney - presenter, coach Jimmy Bowen - mandolin, vocals - Nashville, Tennessee Nannie Lee Recreation Center Shirley Williams - assistant coach - Cheerleaders - A\eyi2t.ndT\?L, Virginia Greg Corbett 5-string banjo, vocals - Troy, North Carolina Tonya Banks - coach Team A (5th Grade) Ronnie Davis - upright bass, vocals - Christina Copeland Memuna Fofana Charlottesville, Virginia Laresa Dean Christina Johnson Rashanda Grimes Crystal McClaiy Ganga - Bengali Folk Music Danielle Hawkins Jennifer McCleland Hitabrata Roy - dotara - Falls Ivona Hawkins Church, Virginia Johnson B (6th Grade) Tina Team Minati B. Roy - khmak - Falls Tysheea Johnson Haja Fofana Church, Virginia

Carlita Reed Jovannajoyner Broto Roy - tabla - Falls C>hurch, Laquita Wliite LaShonda Lucas Virginia

Racha White LaKesha Simmons Ivi ishnakali Roy - ghungar- Falls (;hinxh, Virginia

Double Dutch Jump Rope Team C (5th Grade) Gospel Pearls D.C. Metropolitan Police Boys and Beatrice Brooks Beatrice Cooper- Washington, Girls Club, Greater Washington Area Kitea Lewis D.C. Double Dutch League LaQUanda Morgan Paulette Goodin - Capitol Heights, Montgomei"y Gardner - presenter, Regina Williams Maniand facilitator Brenda Little - Washington, D.C. Officer Zenobia Mack - presenter, Storytelling and Narratives of Verna Locus - Washington, D.C. facilitator Childhood Connie Monroe - Washington, Len Cabral - Cranston, Rhode Garrison Elementary School DC. Island Washington, D.C. Bill Harley - Seekonk, Rebecca Herndon - presenter, Massachusetts Sam Hubbard and "Reverb"- Gospel coach Sam Hubbard - Washington, D.C. Mendel Denise Service - Sheila Pickett - assistant coach Washington, D.C. Steve Langley- Washington, D.C.

Reginald Moore - Washington, Team A (4th Grade) b.c.

Larrissa Campbell Bruce O'Neal - Washington, D.C.

Cherri Starks METRO MUSIC Victor Pinkney - Clinton, Mainland Angelina Watkins Baltimore Korean Dancers John Jackson - Piedmont blues Eiin Team B (5th Grade) Ji Ahn guitar - Fairfax Station, Virginia Jennifer Cole Soon Hee Ahn Octavia Freeman Ayang By Chi Johnson Mountain Boys- Bluegrass

Eboni McPherson Nanhui Kang Tom Adams - banjo - Gettysburg, LaKetha Welcher Eiui Soo Kim Pennsylvania •Hvimijoo Kim Dudley Connell - guitar, vocals - P.R. Harris Educational Center Jung Sook Lee German town, Maryland Washington, D.C. Hye Sook Lim Dave McLaughlin - mandolin - Winchester, Virginia Charlene Jones - presenter, coach hmcr Sook Park Eddie Stubbs - fiddle - Alfredo Mojica and His Orchestra - Irish Music & Dance

Gaithersburg, Maryland Latin Dance Music Winifted Horan - dancer - New Earl Yager - bass - Spring Grove, Alfredo Mojica, Sr. - band leader - York, Neyv York Silver Pennsylvania Spring, Maryland Donna Long - piano - Baltimore, Ralph Eskenazy - keyboards - Maryland

Djimo Kouyate - Senegalese griot WTieaton, Maryland Brendan MuKihill - fiddle - Washington-, D.C. Adrianne Galler Lastra - bass - Alexandria, Virginia ^Wlieaton, Maiyland

Utile Bit A Blues - - Jose Lopez percussion Odadaa - Ghanaian Music & Dance Warner Williams - guitar - Gaithersbiug, Maryland Yacub Addy - master drummer - Gaithersburg, Maryland Heather McKay - guitar - Potomac, Alexandria, Virginia Jay Simierour - harmonica - Manland

Poolsville, - Maryland Alfi'edo Mojica, Jr. - percussion Siboney - Cuban Music .\ndy Vorhees - bass - Poolsville, Bethesda, Maryland Nelson Rodriguez - director - Maryland Eugene Okonsky - piano - Silver Washington, D.C Spring, Maryland

Scott Young - saxophone - Veltones - Doo Wop Wheaton, Maryland Joe Herdon - Washington, D.C. Larry Jordan - Washington, D.C. Sunny Payton -Washington, D.C.

George Spann - Washington, D.C.

Moe Warren - Bladensburg, Maryland Thursday, July 1 AMERICAN METRO SOCIAL DANCE MUSIC

Dance Narrative 11:00 Stage Stage 11:00

Opt-ning

12:00 Cultura

Square t;ontaci i Dance Dancing fron Southwest-

Vrrginia ^ Popula 1:00

Hand Dancing Memories from

the '50s &: 'fiOs 2:00

Daive &

( :c>mnuiniti

Hand Dancini 3:00 fioni Washington, Strutting \,: DC. StuB

MaJe & Female 4:00 Identities in

Canibodiar American

Motown I.i\es: The Hand Dance Revival 5:00

Irocjuois The Bohviaii

Dances x Carnival

5:30-7:00 Dance Party

Acappella 7:00-9:00 Voices: Sam Evening Concert Hubbard with Reverb/ Vellones^sr Friday, July 2 AMERICAN METRO SOCIAL DANCE MUSIC

Dance Narrative 11:00 Stage Stage 11:00

DJ.s. Callers.

Sc Singers: Inspiring the Bolivian Dance Dance's 12:00 "Hip-Hop. \o Don't Stop"

Cielebrating 1:00 Life's Passages Iroqnciis Dances

Dam ing Wlio We .\re; Dance & Identirv 2:00

Male & Fen Hip-Hop: Identities DC. Snie

3:00

Through Square Generations Dancing from Southwest Virffinia Free Staling with Rhythm, 4:00 Breaking Down the Beat

Canib()clian American Dances 5:00 Striuting Your Stutl

5:30-7:00 Los Hern Dance Party Lavtoi

Bluegras: 7:00-9:00 the Ma

Evening Concert Mountain Boys/Country Saturday, July 3 AMERICAN METRO SOCIAL DANCE MUSIC

Dance Narrative 11:00 Stage Stage 11:00

D.j.s, Callers,

.i: Singers: Caiiibodiaii Inspiring the American Dance Dances 12:00

Sacred Js: Secular Dance

Square Dancing fron Southwest 1:00 sh,,,.'.-

,\frican Tradition Jv: American Innovation in Hand Dancing Bolivian Dance from 2:00 Wasliington. D.C. TiaditK)] nno\atio IroqiHi Dane.

3:00 Bolivian Cultural Dances Contact in Dance

4:00

Irvquoi; Dances

Struttini; \t

Sivitl 5:00

African The Boli\ia American Carni\al Hand Dancing

5:30-7:00

Dance Party, American Hand Dancing

Blues N.ght: 7:00-9:00 , l.iitle Bit A Evening Concert Blu. ohn Jackson Sunday, July 4 AMERICAN METRO SOCIAL DANCE MUSIC

Dance Narrative 11:00 Stage Stage 11:00

PIa\ing with Rhvihm iroquo.s Dances

12:00 Dancing Wlio We Are: Dance

L<: I den tin

Cambodian 1:00 Hip-Hop: Court & Social D.C Sr\Ie Dance

C^ultural

Contact in 2:00

Cambodian .\merican Strutting Your Dances Stuff

3:00 •Hip-Hop. You Square Don't Stop" Dancing from Soulltwesi \'irginia

Ceremonial & 4:00 Social Dance

^ Bolivian Dances Hip-Hop 5:00 Block Part>

5:30-7:00 Los Alegres del Dance Party Norte: Norteno

An Evening of 7:00 - 9:00 Lalin'Sounds: Evening Concert Alfredo Mojica/ Siboney ^z Monday, July 5

U.S. - MEXICO BORDERLANDS

11:00 AMERICAN METRO SOCIAL DANCE MUSIC

Dance Narrative 11:00 Stage Stage 11:00

Dancing Thmngh licneralions Hand D.incin"

12:00 W.lshinKlon. D.c:. Dances ot Courtship

' Square Dancing from' Southwest Cuhur.il 1:00 Contait in Dance

Male & Female Cambodian Identities in American 2:00

D.J.s, Callers, & Singers: Inspiring the Dance ^r

.\lritan 3:00 American Hand Dancing Dancing Wlio from We ,\re: Danci Washington. & Identit\

D.c:.

4:00 Ihe Bolivian Carnival

Iroquois Dances

Cambodii 5:00 Court c<: So

Bolivian Dances

5:30-7:00 Dance Party

An Evening of 7:00-9:00 West African Evening Concert Music and Dance: ^ Odadaa Djuno Kouvale © Information () First Aid Q Beverage Concession ^ Restrooms

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Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream of A merican Social Dan ce Alexandria, Virginia Gain's Restaurant, Washington, Contributing Coca Cola Co., Capital Heights, D.C. Mainland Office Depot, Connecficut Ave., Sponsors CompiUer Tech Senices, Fairfax, NW, Washington, D.C. Virginia Office Depot, Store 193, Rockville, The Festival ot .\mei-ican Folklife is Dimkin Donuts, Fairfax, Virginia MaiTland supported in part by Federal Embassy Care Drug Center, Inc., Staples, Inc. - The Office Supply appropriations and Smithsonian Washington, D.C. Store, W'ashington, D.C. Trust Funds. Additionally, Faxland, Falls Church, Virginia Syms, Falls Church, Virginia Keebler Co., Jessup, Maryland United States-Mexico Borderlands has K mart, Springfield, Virginia been made possible with the Krispy Kreme Doughnut Co., support and collaboration of th^ Alexandria, Virginia Cons^jo Nacional para la Cultura y Special Thanks Makita U.S.A., Inc., Dayton, New las Artes - El Programa Cultural de Jersey General Festival las Fronteras, El Colegio de la Inc., Ocean Spray Cranberries, extend special thanks to all the Frontera Norte, Texas Commission We Lakeville, Massachusetts volunteers at this year's Festival. on the Alts, Cei-veza Tecate - Springfield, Plav It Again Sports, Only with their assistance are we Imported Beer, Texas Folklife Virginia able to present the programs of the Resotirces, University of Aiizona D.C. Randy's Carpets, Washington, 1993 Festival of American Folklife. Library's Western Folklore Center, Shamrock Supply Co., Alexandria, Tumacacori National Historical Virginia Man' Cliff, Folklore Society of Park, Universidad Autonoma de Shurfire Distributors^ Lanham, Cireater Washington Nuevo Leon - Centro de Manland Beuck Derbyshire Informacion de Historia Regional, Betty Sugar Association, Washington, Goodrich Universidad Autonoma de Baja Judy D.C. George Haas, Lisa Lumber Co. California, Gobierno de Nuevo Jr., Rev. Dan Thompson, Annandale, Haas, Lisa Lumber Co. Leon, Mexican Cultural Institute, Lisa Virginia Smoot Limiber and the recording industries Music Utz Quality Foods, Inc., Hanover, Performance Trust Fimds. Jan Truitt Pennsylvania Riley Coffee Co., William B. U.S. - Mexico Borderlands American Social Dance and Metro Baltimore, Mainland Acevedo Music have been made possible Esther Barrera with the support of the recording Eduardo U.S. -Mexico Borderlands Francisco Barrientos industries Music Performance Colortyme Rent to Own, Becerra Trust Funds. Javier Virginia Alexandria, Julia Bendi'mez Patterson Center, C^rolynn's Sewing Jorge A. Bustamante Alexandria, Virginia Salvador Calderou Rodriguez Fischer's Hardware, Springfield, Canclini Nestor Garcia , In Kind Virginia Manuel Ceballos Ramirez Contributors Festival of Flowers, Alexandria, James Clifford Virginia Manuel Cosio Merrifield, G Sc L Metals, Inc. of Jose del Val General Festival Support Virginia John Dwyer Artex Manufacturing Co., CAilver Lee's Gas- Supplies, Manassas Park, Roberto Ibarra Escobedo City, California Virginia ^ Marco Aiitonio Esponda Bell Haven Pharmacy, Alexandria, Moimt Vernon Music, ,\lexandria, Don Garate Virginia Virginia Juana Garza Bell Atlantic Paging, Rockyille, Nova Color Acnlic Paint, Culver Mark Glazer Maiyland City, California Guillermo Gomez Pena Ben and Jern's Ice Cream of Tandy Leather, Fort Worth, Texas Paloma Gorostiza Adams Morgan, Washington, Joe Graham D.C. Jose Griego Juana Elizondo-Garza Betsy Harris Victor Guerra Lillian M. Salcido Miranda Hatacosti Ramon Gutierrez Kath)' Vargas Katrina Hazzard-Gordon Riciv Joachim Jurrettajordon Heckscher Saul Juarez American Social Dance Jhanina Herbas Robert Kiene African Dance Club and Friends Glenn Hinson Jose Luis Krafft Charlie Ahearn George Holt Riuh Lechuga Maiy Alvarez Yavonne Jackson Margarita Madrid Paul Austerlitz Jose and Maraya Jaldin Ambassador Jorge Montano Adela Baldarrama Phil Jamison Luz Maria Valdez de Montano Florence Barber Danielajarrad Mario Montaiio Barnard Elementary School Tomjarrad Jim McNutt Robert Barron Carl Jones (CJ) Salvador Neri Barry Berge)" Sotie Kenmano Florencio Ortiz and Los Dana Evert Boehm Sali Ann Kriegsman Matachines de la Santa Cruz TesTionnarith La Copa Club AmericoParedes Fred Brown Jim Leaiy Raymond Paredes Archie Burnett Sambonn and Nara Lek Maria Teresa Pomar Ed Cabbell Michael Licht Irais Quinones Richard Cadima Maria Lope* Manuel Rios Morales Cambodian-American Heritage, Nick Manning Maria del Carmen Ramos Inc. Rick March Gaiy Rehbein Cambodian Network Council Melina Mendez Al Rendon Maria-Teresa Campero Gordon McCann Michael Ritchie Hugo Carillo Jerry Minar Marcela Villegas Rodriguez Dora Castellon Missouri Cultural Heritage Center Lucia Rubalcaba Milton Castellon William Mobley 01i\ia Ruiz Cecilia's Carolina Montano Roberto Salmon Lek Chhuan Nicole Oeur George Sanchez John Ching Sylvia Panfil Jose Luis Sanchez City Lore Shirley Pena Jorge Somarriba The Club Nelson Perez Susan Spader John Cohen Progressive Productions Lawrence D. Ta)lor Vicky Cope Denise Richards Beatriz Torres Abelaire Comite Pro Bolivia Brian Robinson Eliseo Torres D;C. Commission for the Arts Rock Steady Crew Patricia Torres Mejia Martha Davis Bachealy and Kiriroath Sam Tony Valderrama The Eclipse (Rea Hon) Laksmi Sam Carlos Velez Ibahez Embassy of Bolivia Tes Saroeum Caleb Vidaurri Ethnic Folk Arts Center Neil Selling Cassandra Vidaurri Keenan Faulkner Luis and Rosario Sejas Andy Wiget Folk Arts Program, National Dan Sheehy Ramon Xilotl Endowment for the Arts Roberta Singer Maiy Jane Yonker Flower Films Snack Food Association Gloria Ann Young Carol Foster Solar Eclipse Social Club David Yubeta John Frosch-Schroder Walter Soriano

Antonio Zavaleta Robert Fiy . Sothira Sotie" Freddy Fuentes Star Bar and Grill Photographic Resources: Luz Fuentes Charles Stephenson Carmen Amato Judith Gray David A. Taylor

Da\id Burckhalter James R. Gundlach, Jr. Jas. Funk Thomas Alfonso Cardona Gonzalo Gutierrez Marlon and Magaly Vasquez Roberto Cordoba Katherine Guzman Luis Villarroel Margara de Leon Billy Hampton Maria Villegas WandaWoman ©ance/Exercise Sally Han Noami Chazzan Studio Sarah Hefner Rachel Damaiy Liz Wells, Snack Food Association Peg Koetch Gil Daryn Wayne Wliite Library of Congress: American Raanan Dinin^ WHMM Channel 32 TV Folklife Center Abu-Jareer Dirini WPFW Radio- Eileen Lorenz, Montgomery Hani Nour El-Din Elliott Wiley County Public Schools Jaleel Elias Jane Woodside Margirerit,e Luks Tayseer Elias Patricia Zeballos Officer Zenobia Mack Rita Mendes Flohr Dannet Zepeda Maria Marable Ruth Freed Phyllis May-Machunda Rivka Gonen Metro Music Georgia McGuire Tsipporah Greenfield Camilla Bryce-Laporte Mame N'Gone N'Diaye Yael Haklai D.C. Commission on the Aits and Network of Educators on the Bilal Hammad Humanities Americas Galit Hasan-Rokem Susan Levitas Office of Pacific American Mfairs Mahmoud Hawari Michael Licht Pilipino-American Yael Haynoun Joe Wilson Raymond Elementaiy School, Debbie Hershman Washington, D.C. Subhi)yeh Idris Hillo

Kids ' ^tuff Kate Rinzler Serene Hleleh Art from the Heart of the City Officer Jan Roddy Hougha Famity Freida Austin Rutgers University Press Faisal Husseini Bailey's Elementary School, Fairfax Marilyn Thornton, Shaw~ Mayyadajarallah County, Virginia Neighborhood Center, Penny Johnson Betty Belanus Washington, D.C. Kamiliyajubran Gordon Braithwaite, D.C. Dept. of Truxton/Siusum Corda Mayor Teddy KoUek Parks & Recreation Neighborhood Services Center Tayseer Masriyeh H;izboim Kimberly Camp Bruce Underwood Nida Masannat Marguerita Chammcjrrow Dorothy Walker Hagit Matras Fana Chisolm Walter Reed WildCat Steppers Arlene and Zali Miller Lily Chow, Washington School of Vanessa Williams Reuvan Namdar Chinese Language and Culture 'WPFW Radio Iman 'Oun City Lore: Center for Research in Steve Zeitlin Rachel Rabinowitz Urban Folk Culture Ittai Rosenbaimi Martha Cooper Jerusalem Research Project Hila Rosenthal Claire Cuddy Ibtihaj Abou Gosh Nirit Rossler D.C. Artworks Yacoub Abu Arafeh Avner Rothenberg D.C. Metropolitan Police Boys and Reem Abu Kishik Sabreen Music Center

Girls Club Rula Abu Kishik Shifra Safra ^ • Amanda Dargan Albert Aghazarian Hagar Salamon Violetta De la Peha ^ Tamar Alexander Edwin Seroussi Maria Demarest Nazmi al-Ju'beh Amnon Shiloah Norma Fleishman -Musa Alou.sh Megina Shlain Arturo Flores American Colony Hotel Hamdan Taha

Carol Foster Suad Amiry . Salim Tamari Carol Franz Hannan Ashwari Vera Tamari Freedom Hill Elementary School Shlomit Atsman Naim L. Tarazi Effie Games Yaron Avituv Shalom Tsabar Coding Saturday Achievement Husien Barghouthi Bracha Yaniv Academy Roni Beer Oman Yekutieli Tom Hamilton, Mayor's Carol Ann Bernheim

Empowerment Program Shlomi Brosh , .

Festival Staff

Director, Centerfor FolkUfe Programs Maiy Margaret Delaney, Kim Debra Wimpfheimer &" Cultural Studies: Richard Frame, Maurice Jackson, John Public Information: Man' Combs Kurin Kemper, Al McKenney, Ester

Festival Director: Diana Parker Perez, Mark Pinyear United States-Mexico Borderlands Administrative Barbara Fiscal Manager: Heather Bester Officer: Program Curator: Olivia Cadaval Strickland Fiscaljechnician: Kay Stubli Research Advisor: Peter Seitel Designer: ]Qa.n Wolbier Clerk/Typists: Linda Benner, Coordinator: Hector Antonio Ramona Dowdal Assistant Designers: Carmina Angulo, Corporan Rebecca Lepkowski Assistant to the Festival Director: Ann Program and Participant Assistant: Dancy Design Intents: Tanja Bos, Wendy Lidya Montes Goodman, Jackie Son Special Events Coordinator: ]ohn Research Assistants: Carmina Program Book Editor: Peter Seitel Franklin Angulo, Patricia Bowman Sign Editor: Carla Borden Assistant Special Events Coordinator: Program Assistants: Jo^e^ph Amisi, Linda Benner Publication Review: Arlene Reiniger Jennifer Balbes, Tiffany Belka, Social Coordinator: Johaii Rashad Technical Coordinator: Pete Reiniger Angela Jancius, Cynthia Informatio /A ccess ibility Coo rdi nato r: Associate Technical Coordinator- n Vidaurri, -Elena Williams, Lisa Franklin Connie Lane' John Yarger, Sign Language Interpreters: Candas Carpenters: Chris Insley, Charhe Translators: Tiffany Belka, Olivia Wehr Barnes, Jean Lindquist, Cadaval, Hector Antonio Francisco Roman, Hank Young Corporan, John McDowell, Crew Chiefs: ]uV\e Dobo, Lisa Volunteer Coordinator: Lynyonne Rene Hdracio Quintanilla Ogonowski Cotton Exhibit Wbr/ifrs; Jeannette Buck, Collaborating Institutions: Assistant Vohmleer Coordinator: Haden Garrett, Beth Knight, Centro de Informacion de Historia Alison Wilson Jennifer Koch, Kevin Livingston,. Regional, Universidad Terr)' Meniefield, Alf Walle Chief Volunteers: Karen Adams, Autonoma de Nuevo Leon . Priscilla Flowers, Marilyn Technical Creiu Clerk/Typist: Rliea Consejo Nacional para las Culturas Gaston, Phyllis Lesansky, Jones . las Artes - El Programa Tatiana Maldonado, Sydney y Participant Coordinator: Emily Cultural de las Frontera_s March, Virginia McCauley, Botein Beverly Simons El Colegio de la Frontera Norte Assistant Participant Coordinator: (COLEF) Smithsonian /Folkways Recordings Lidya Montes Director: Anthony Seeger El Paso Hispanic Chamber of Supply Coordinator: David Lesansky Commerce Smithsonian /Folkways Recordings Assistant Supply Coordinator: Ashley Assistant: YusefJones Embajada de Mexico en CI ayborne Washington, D.C. Recordings Mail Order Manager: Logistics Coordinator: Craig Stinson Dudley Connell John E. Conner Museum, Sound Coordinator: Tim Kidwell Texas A & I University- Documentation Coordinators: Jeff Sound Technicians: Beth Curren, Place, Guha Shankar, Lori Institute of Texan Cultures Mary Margaret Delaney, Kim - Taylor , Institute Cultural de Mexico Frame, Gartland, Gregg Tom Documentation Intern: Andrew Institute de Bellas Artes del Estado Lamping, Languell, Bruce Dean Shahriari de Baja California Loiighiy, Tim Smyser, Susan Food Concessions Coordinator: Peter Instituto Nacional Indjgenista Wliite Seitel Institute Mexicano de Ciiltura, San Stage Managers: }e{{ Anthony, ' Program Book Sales Coordinator: . Antonio Teresa Ballard, Beth Curren, Laredo State UniversiH' Mexican Cultural InstitiUe Researchers: Maria Eugenia de la O, Presenters: Marco Castellon, Gilka

Museo Regional de la Universidad Enrique Madrid, Angel War'a Cespedes, LeeEllen AiUonoma de Baja California en Norzagaray Norzagaray, Manuel Friedland, Robert Fiye, Anthony Mexicali Pena, Kathy Raglan. Michael Hovington, Magaly E.Jarrad, James Ritdiie, Suzie Reyes, Linlev Logan, Gail Matthews- National Museum of the American Irene Vasquez Valle, Kathy DeNatale, Frank Proschan, Indian Vargas, Felipe dejesiis Denise Richards, Chan Moly New Mexico State Universit)', Las Valenzuela Sam Cruces, New Mexico Presentation Cuordiiiator: Bettv Kids' Stuff Pinieria Alta Historical Society, Belanus Curator: Diana Baird N'Diaye - Arizona . Coordinator: Marjorie Hunt Texas A & I University American Social Dance Program Advisors: Bftty Belanus, Texas Folklife Resources Curator: Vivien Ta-Ving Chen Paddy Bowman, Camila Biyce- Tumacacori National Historical P)'og)am Advisors: LeeEllen Laporte, Peg Koetsch, Phyllis Park, Arizona Friedland, Joan Frosch- May-Machunda, Kate Rinzler, University of Arizona Library's Schroder, Robert Fiye, Gonzalo Dorothy Walker, Steve Zeitlin Southwest Folklore Center Gutierrez, Glenn Hinson, Fieldworkers: Freedom Hill LJniversity of Aiizona - Biueau of Anthony Hovington, Adrienne Elementaiy School students Applied Research in Kiieppler, Martin Koenig, Ethel Presenters: Paddy Bowman, Camila Anthropolog)' Raim, Denise Richards, Sally BiTce-Laporte, Marjorie Hunt University of New Mexico, Sommer, Jane Woodside, Vicki Program Assistants: Karen Adams, Albuquerque Risner Wulff Cybil Brown, Linda Lenoir University of Texas - Brownsville Coordinators: Marianne Hicks, University of Texas, Center for Arlene Reiniger Metro Music Mexican-American Studies Progmm Assistants: Hallie Stone, Liz Coordinators: Richard Kennedy, University of Texas - Pan American Sullivan Thomas Venniun, Jr. U.S. Immigration and Fieldworkers: Enrique Aviles, Sherrill Presenters: Enrique Aviles, Philippa

Naturalization Semce Beriyman-Millef , Paola Jackson, Richard Kennedy, Presenters and Researchers: Enrique Castellon, Chhomanath Michael Lieht, Bariy Lee Aviles, Norma Can tii, Jessica Chhuan, Phavann C^hhuan, Pearson, Jeff Place, Thomas Chapin, Andrew Connors, LeeEllen Friedland, Robert Vennum, Jr. Maricela Gonzalez Felix, Mai"y Fiye, Anthony Hovington, Intern: Ann Kaplan Lou Gortarez, Everardo Magaly E.Jarrad, Laura Larco, Garduno, James S. Griffith, Linley Logan, Lidya Montes, Celso Garza Guajardo, Ian F. Jaime Ortega, Deni.se Richards, Hancock, Pat Jasper, Enrique Chan Moly Sam, Sally Sommer, Lamadrid, Laiua Larco, Susan Eike Spalding Francisco Javier Moreno, Daniel Sheehy, Emily Socolov. Michael C. Stone, Jose Manuel Valenzuela Aice, Meynardo Vasquez, Laura Velasco Ortiz,

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Over two thousand Folkiuays titles on cassette

Over 100 Smithsonian/Folkiuays titles on CD and cassette

Folkways and Smithsonian/Folkways 1991 Coming Soon are two of the ways the Centerfor Roots of Rhythm and Blue\: A Tribute to Borderlands: From Conjunto to Robert /ohnson (In collabora- Folklife Programs and Cultural the Era Chickenscratch; Music of the Rio Grande tion with Columbia Recordings, Studies supports the continuity and Valley and Southern Arizona from live recordings at the 1991 integrity of traditional artists and (SF 40418). September 1993. Festival.) Records, cultures. Folkways founded This recording featines musical Music of Indonesia 1: Songs Before by Moses Asch in 1947, luas acquired traditions of the U.S. - Mexico Dawn (SF 40055) by the Smithsonian Institution in border region, similar to those 1987 to ensure that all the recordings Music of Indonesia 2: Indonesian presented at the 1993 Festival of Popular Music (SF 40056) remain available as a service to American Folklife. The recordings were licensed from four local record scholars, musicians, and the general Musicof Indonesia 3: Musicfrom the companies that specialize in music of public. All 2,000 titles capturing the Outskirts ofJakarta (SF 40057) this region, and represent a variety .world's music, spoken word, and Music of Indonesia 4: Music ofNias of borderland genres. Compiled sounds are available on Folkiuays and North Sumatra (SF 40420) with the assistance of the Texas cassettes. The Smithsonian/Folkways Folklife ResoiHce Center, Austin, Texas. September 1993. label was founded in 1988 for 1992 reissues nexu recordings on and CD Drums ofDefiance: Music of the and cflssette. Jamaican Maroons, the Earliest Free Look for these and many other' Folkways Black Communities in lite Americas recordings in the Festival Museum sales You can hear the musical (SF 40412) area, ask for them at your local record store, or order directly by mail or phone traditions featured at previous New Mexico: Native American from Smithsonian/Folkiuays Recordings, Festivals: Traditions (SF 4040^) 414 Hu ngerford Drive Suite 444, 1989 Neiu Mexico: Hispanic Traditions RockviUe^MD 20850; phone 301/443- (SF 40409) 2314, fax 301/443-1819, Visa and Musics (f the Soviet Union (SF 40002) Mastercharge accepted. Tuva: Musicfrom the Center ofAsia (SF 40017)

Bukhara: Musical Crossroads of Asia (SF 40030)

1990 Puerto Rican Music in Hawui'i- (SF 4-0014)

Hawaiian Drum Dance Chants: Sounds ofPower in Time (SF 40015)

World Music of Struggle: We Shall Overcome (In collaboration with Cokimbia Recordings: Columbia 47850, from live recordings at the 1990 Festival.)

.4 nortefio gtoup pltns tradilional rnusic/rom the U.S. - Mexico bordn: . . . .

Recent Smithsonian/ Folkways Mahalia Jackson: I Sing Because I'm display a unique confluence of Happy; Interview luith Songs Turkish and European influences. Releases on CD and Cassette: (SFSP 90002). 1952 inteniews with September 1993. Mahalia Jackson, interspersed with Pete Seeger. Darling Corey and Goofing Bunggtidfbunggridj: Wangga Songs several of her songs. Published to Off Suite (SF 400i8). The two from Northern Australia by Alan accompany th^ book Got To Tell It: influential 1950s Pete Seeger Maralung (SF 40430) . Dijeridu- Mahalia Jackson. Queen of Gospel by recordings reissued here reveal the accompanied .songs learned from Jules Schwerin, Oxford University traditional roots upon which he drew spirits and performed by Alan Press 1992. Cassette only. and his innovations that have since Maralung. Produced in become traditions of their own. collaboration with the International Commg Soon Institute for Traditional Music, Masters, Great Performances Folk Berlin. September 1993. Recorded Live at Wolf Trap (SF 40047) Music and Dance Traditions of St. Bill Monroe and the Bluegrass Boys, Live A selection from the Folk Masters Lucia, West Indies (SF 4041 6) Recordings 1956-1969. The Record concerts at Wolf Trap in 1992, this A selection of St. Lucian traditions Off Vo/wmfi (SF 40063). Recorded at . recording vividly represents the produce'd in collaboration with the concerts and informal gatherings, breadth of American music and the Folk Research Centre of St. Lucia. these recordings reveal creativity brilliance of the ardsts and groups. August 1993. the of this renowned performer. LonnieJohnson: The Complete FoMvays New Lost City Ramblers Volume 2, October 1993. Recmdings (SF 40067). Historic 1963-1973: Out Standing in Their Field Bill Monroe and Doc Watson, Live Duet recordings by a legendary arrist (SF 40040). Compiled from seven Recordings 1963-1980 reissued in a single albiun with new Folkways albums released by the trio The Record Volu me 2 (SF 40064) notes. consisting ofJohn Cohen, Tracy Off In the 1960s, Bill Monroe and Doc Schwartz, and Mike Seeger. August Plains Chippeiun/Metis Music from both found new urban 1993. Watson Turtle Mountain: Drums, Fiddles, audiences, sometimes playing (SF 4041 ) Chansons and Rock & Roll 1 Bosnia: Echoes from an Endangered together. These imique recordings A rich portrait of the vital and World (.SF 40407). Rich and beautiful document their Joint performances. diverse musical traditions of the Muslim traditions, recorded in October 1993. Plains Chippewa/Metis community Bosnia before the recent conflicts. in North Dakota.

Richard Hagopian, Armenian Music Look for these in your record stores, or order directly from folkways Mail Through the Ages (SF 40414), Older, 414 fiungerford'Drive Suite 444, Rockville MD 20850. Phone Armenian classical and folk styles accepted. played by an "ud virtuoso. 301/443-2314; Fax 30I/443-J8I9. Visa and Mastercharge

Music of Indonesia Volume 4rMusic of cassettes and Smithsonian /Folkiuays Mas and Notih Sumatra; Hoho, For a free catalogue of all Folkways Gendang Karo, Gondang Toba rekases,fill in the card below, fax 202/287-3699, or telephone 202/287-3262.

(SF 40420) . Rarely heard choral singing and instriunental music from three ethnic groups on North Sumatra and Nias.

Henry Couiell Piano Music: Tiuenty

Pieces Played trt the Composer (SF 40801). Henry Cowell's avant- garde pi^no compositions "performed by the composer in 1962 are carefully remastered and Please send me a free copy of the reissued with new liner notes. CD only. Whole Folkways Catalogue.

John Cage and David Tudor: Indeterminacy (SF 40804/5). Originally issued in 1959, this Name recording explores a ^new aspect of form in instrumental and electronic music" featuring stories by John Address Cage read to music by David Tudor.

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Smithsonian/Folkways Recordings 414 Hungerford Drive Suite 444 Rocl

Presents the annual Festival of American Folklife

Produces Smithsonian/Folkways Recordings, Videos and Special Products

Maintains a collection of recordings, photographs,

and field notes documenting cultural traditions from across the United States and around the world

Publishes research and documentary studies of cultural traditions and issues

Creates educational materials for teaching about cultures

Organizes seminars, conferences, classes,

and more.

If you uiould like to learn more about what the.center' does and how you can help Please send me more information about the in its work, please Jill in and return the attached Center for Folklife Programs & Cultural Studies. postcard. Thank you for your interest. Name

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Center for Folklife Programs & Cultural Studies

Smithsonian Institution - 955 L'Enfant Plaza, S.W. Suite 2600 Washington, D.C. 20560 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTING INSTITUTION SPONSORS

Secretary: Robert McC. Adams Media Specialist: Guha Shankar The Festival of American Folklife

Under Secretary: Assistant Archivist: Lori Taylor is supported in part by Federal Constance Beriy Newman Folkways Assistant: appropriations and Smithsonian Assistant Secretaty for Education and YusefJones Trust Fluids. Additionally, Public Seniice:]an\es Early Fiscal Technician: Kay Stubli Secretaty the Sciences: Assistant for Clerk Typists: Linda Benner, Lidva United States -Mexico Borderlands Robert Hoffmann Montes has been made possible with the Assistant Secretary the Arts and Associate: Belanus for Research Betty support and collaboration of the Humanities: Tom Freiidenheim Folklife Advisory Council: Roger Consejo Nacional para la Cultina Assistant Secretary for External Affairs: Abrahams, Jacinto Alias, Jane y las Artes — El Programa Cultiu- Thomas Lovejoy Beck, Pat Jasper, Barbara al de las Fronteras, El Colegio de Assistant Secretary for Institutional Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, Bernice la Frontera Norte, Texas Commis- Initiatives: Alice Green Reagon, John Roberts, Carol sion on the Alts, Cerveza Tecate Biirnette Robertson, Gilbert Sprauve, — Imported Beer, Texas Folklife Assistant Secretary for Finance and Jack Tchen, Ricardo Trimillos, University' of Aiizona Administration: Nancy Carlos Velez-Ibahez Resoinces, Suttenfield Libraiy's Western Folklore Cen-

Secretary Emeritus: S. Dillon Ripley ter, Universidad Autonoma de Assistant Secretary Emeritus: Nuevo Leon — Centro de Infor- Ralph Rinzler NATIONAL PARK macion de Historia Regional, Uni- SERVICE versidad Autonoma de Baja Cali- fornia, Mexican Cultural Institute, and the recording industries Center for Secretary of the Interior: Bruce Babbitt Music Performance Trust Funds. FoLKLiFE Programs & Director: Roger Kennedy Cultural Studies Regional Director, National Capital Region: Robert G. Stanton American Social Dance and Metro Director: Richard Kiirin Deputy Regional Director, National Music have been made possible Administrative Officer: Capital Region: Chnsandra L. with the support of the recording Barbara Strickland Walter industries Music Performance Festival Director: Diana Parker Associate Regional Director, Public Trust Funds. Director, Srnithson ia n /Folkways Affairs & Tourism: Recordings: Anthony Seeger Sandra A. Alley Senior Folklorist: Peter Seitel Chief United States Park Police: Senior Ethnomusicologist: Robert E. Langston Thomas Vennum, Jr. Assistant Chief United States Park Director, Quincentenary Programs: Police: Andre R. Jordan Olivia Cadaval Commander; Special Forces: Program Analyst: Richard Kennedy Maj. Carl R. Holmberg Folklorists/Curators: Vivien Chen, Superintendent, National Capitcd Diana Baird N'Diaye, Amy Parks - Central: Horowitz, Marjorie Hunt Arnold M. Goldstein Program Managers: Carla Borden, Chief Maintenance, National Capital John Franklin Parks - Central: Technical Coordinator-: Pete Reiniger William L Newman, Jr. Program Specialist: Acting Site Manager, National Mall: Aiiene L. Reiniger Erin Broadbent Fiscal Manager: Heather Bester Employees of the National Capital United States Designer: ]oa.n Wolbier Region and the Park Police Archivist: Jeffrey Place Folkiimys Program Specialist: Dudley Connell