Listening for Latinx Understories: The Musical Roots/Routes of Migrant Farmworkers in 20th c. North Carolina

Registration is required for this hybrid event. Please note that in-person attendance is limited to current Duke faculty, students, and staff. You can register for all Fall 2021 tgiFHI talks using this link: https://duke.is/gyha6

Please join the Franklin Humanities Institute for its Friday morning series, tgiFHI! tgiFHI gives Duke faculty in the humanities, interpretative social sciences and arts the opportunity to present their current research to their departmental (and interdepartmental) colleagues, students, and other interlocutors in their fields.

Talk description:

This talk traces the emergence of Latinx music traditions in the everyday lives of migrant farmworkers in North Carolina in the second half of the 20th century. Using archival materials from the Student Action with Farmworkers Collection and the Southern folklife collection at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, this talk shows that creative practices such as music and dance have long been at the center of how farmworker communities form and navigate complex relationships to place. Through a historical ethnomusicological approach, the musical ongoings of farmworkers in North Carolina become a way to tell more complete narratives about Latinx people in North Carolina and contextualize their longstanding contributions to local and regional expressive culture.

Bio:

Sophia Enriquez (she/her) is assistant professor of music and teaches in the program for latinx studies in the global south at Duke University. Her work investigates the intersection of Latinx and Appalachian cultural practices such as music, dance, and food and traces Latinx narratives of migration, place, and belonging in the Appalachian region of the United States. She holds a PhD in ethnomusicology from Ohio State University and has worked on a number of public folklore projects across the Appalachian region. Sophia is also a practitioner of American folk musics, including bluegrass and mariachi, and has collaborated with groups such as the Lua Project, a Mexican-Appalachian fusion band based in Virginia.

Duke University encourages persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions, please contact Sarah Rogers at sarah.rogers@duke.edu in advance of your participation or visit. Requests should be made at least one week before the event in question.