A Chicana Feminist View on Mariachi Music in the United States

abstract: Mariachi music is a significant piece of Mexican culture that has been around since the nineteenth century. Although it was created in Mexico, mariachi is deeply rooted in the history of the United States. With a large population of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans living in the Southwest, mariachi music has been both refined in the United States and ever-present as a staple of the Mexican/Mexican-American culture. Traditionally, the composition of a mariachi group is all male. Even today, mariachi is still a male dominated genre. In the early years of mariachi, women had no place in the genre, as musicians, composers, or directors. During the time when mariachi was forming and becoming a more defined genre, Mexican women were not considered able or skilled enough to do many things that men could do, just based solely on their gender. This included being a mariachi musician. A woman's place was not anywhere else but as a carer of the house and the family. This ideology has changed with time, with the incorporation of women in majority-male groups, mixed gender groups, and the invention of the all-female mariachi group. However, culture, language, and geographical barriers still play a significant role in the dynamics of mariachi music today. This creative project, which incorporates interviews of multiple women who currently perform in mariachi, culminating in an informational website, will explore and analyze these different barriers within the genre of mariachi, and will explore the culture of Mexicans and Mexican-Americans living in the United States