Felicity Linville
Recovering things that have been lost through the years is the theme I connected this week’s readings through. Hurtado’s piece was about how country music has its roots in Mexican music but over the years it has been coded as white. His argument was so compelling, and I had never even known about the Mexican influences on country music, maybe because I don’t listen to country, but it is also never talked about. After listening to the blue yodel of Jimmie Rodgers and examples of El Grito in Mariachi music I can feel the connection. Telling a new narrative about country disassembles the nationalism that white people equate to country music. “Mexican-American country fans she spoke with were not associating country music with conservative politics per se. Rather, folks she spoke to found country music to be relatable to their own cultural values, like loyalty to one’s family and a diligent work ethic. (Hurtado). It is amazing to know that Mexican-Americans are reclaiming country music and using it to represent their own culture. Dawes piece has the same theme of lost histories, the existence of Home Alive self-defense group had almost completely lost to history. The two students Therrien and Michaels struggled together to make a film that told this history. Through their work they were able to reclaim the notion of self-defense. To the Home Alive group, it wasn’t about victim blaming but defending and having confidence in yourself. Michaels answers the interviewer’s question about how self-defense classes are often codded as just women beating someone up by saying self-defense can mean “anything you do to feel strong and to feel like you are taking care of yourself, is going to make you safer.” (Michaels in Dawes). Not only did these students recover what has been lost it also helped reclaim what self-defense means for them, just like the Mexican Americans are reclaiming what country music means to them.
A song I want to bring to the table that enhance the most important aspects of these readings Hutado’s piece is Volver Volver by Vicente Fernández. It is an example of the El Grito that you can hear how the blue yodel was influenced by that style of singing. In the Dawes piece they mentioned that Home Alive published a 44 track CD and that was how word got out about them. A Song from that CD that stuck out for me was Guilt Within Your Head that features Mi Zapata, a member of Home Alive that was murdered. The song talks about how sometimes you create your own hell and I think that goes with the goal of the self-defense classes, understanding your internal struggles and take care of yourself can help make you feel safer.
AFRAM337 