• Skip to Content
  • Skip to Main Navigation
  • Skip to Search

Indiana University Indiana University IU

Open Search
  • About
  • Faculty + Staff Directory
    • Faculty
    • Staff
    • Advisory Board
  • News + Media
    • Recommended Reading
  • Events
    • Symposium on Displacement and Mobility
  • Contact

College of Arts + Sciences

Center for Refugee Studies

  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty + Staff Directory
    • Faculty
    • Staff
    • Advisory Board
  • News + Media
    • Recommended Reading
  • Events
    • Symposium on Displacement and Mobility
  • Search
  • Contact
  • Home
  • News + Media
  • Recommended Reading
  • Sounds of Crossing

Sounds of Crossing

By: Alex Chavez

Friday, December 01, 2017

In Sounds of Crossing Alex E. Chávez explores the contemporary politics of Mexican migrant cultural expression manifest in the sounds and poetics of huapango arribeño, a musical genre originating from north-central Mexico. Following the resonance of huapango's improvisational performance within the lives of audiences, musicians, and himself—from New Year's festivities in the highlands of Guanajuato, Mexico, to backyard get-togethers along the back roads of central Texas—Chávez shows how Mexicans living on both sides of the border use expressive culture to construct meaningful communities amid the United States’ often vitriolic immigration politics. Through Chávez's writing, we gain an intimate look at the experience of migration and how huapango carries the voices of those in Mexico, those undertaking the dangerous trek across the border, and those living in the United States. Illuminating how huapango arribeño’s performance refigures the sociopolitical and economic terms of migration through aesthetic means, Chávez adds fresh and compelling insights into the ways transnational music-making is at the center of everyday Mexican migrant life.

  • Recommended Reading

Center for Refugee Studies social media channels

  • Twitter
  • Instagram

Indiana Univers ity

Accessibility | College Scorecard | Open to All | Privacy Notice | Copyright © 2026 The Trustees of Indiana University