Summer 2024 was very exciting and full! I had the opportunity to teach Spanglish: Language and Identity through Contact as a Graduate Student Instructor, which I enjoyed immensely.
As soon as Summer Session 1 ended, I left for Tz’unun Ya’ (San Pedro la Laguna), Sololá, Guatemala for three weeks of Tz’utujil fieldwork and visiting friends and my favorite lake.
I returned to Santa Cruz for just over a week for a family celebration, and then turned back around and flew to Oaxaca, Mexico for three weeks of Zapotec fieldwork in Santiago Laxopa.
Once again, I got to play music with my friends in the Banda Filarmónica Infantil Juvenil “Macedonio Alcalá”. We traveled to the municipality of Natividad for four days to provide music for the community’s fiesta, as part of the tradition of gozona–mutual aid, exchange, and sharing–which is very important in Oaxaca. Communities invite bands from other towns to their fiestas. The bands provide entertainment, and the community takes care of their guests, providing food and lodging. Then when the visiting band’s town celebrates its fiesta, the band from the host town will travel to play there. I love learning about Oaxacan music and traditions and sharing with fellow musicians.
I gathered many hours of recordings for my dissertation research this summer, and I am excited to get into analysis and writing up results!
