Sounding Aztlan: Music, Literature, and the Chicana/o Sonic Imaginary

This dissertation explores the question: What does Aztlán sound like? Informed by decolonial/nfeminist theory and sound studies concepts, I consider listening as a new praxis with which to/nremember complex narratives of belonging and citizenship against the assimilating force of/nnational forms and political limits. This interdisciplinary research engages the idea of Aztlán, the/nmythical homeland of the Nahuas, and the imagined solidarity it mobilized in 1960s activism as/na Chicana feminist concept with a history of generative interventions that challenge its/nnationalist logic. Taking up the contested notion of Aztlán as historically marginalizing to/nwomen and la joteria, I use a method of listening to “tune in” to multiple, heterogeneous, and/nalternate histories of Chicana/o belonging in the musical and literary soundscapes of Greater/nMexico. This work explores the diverse audible markers of race, gender, sexuality, citizenship/nand migration that circulate in the Chicana/o musical, literary, performance and new media/nobjects I examine. I argue that through the soundscape, Aztlán becomes a plural concept./n“Sounding Aztlán” is organized as four linked discussions that test the portability of sound as a/nnew interpretive method and epistemology for Chicana/o Studies, sound studies, and decolonial/nfeminism: Ch. 1, “Tuning In to Coalition: Listening to This Bridge Called My Back,” revisits/nthe foundational feminist text, This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of/nColor. I think of Bridge as an artifact of coalition, a multiplicity of radical voices embodied in/nits very form. Just as the act of writing for women of color is connected to life, the stakes of/nbeing heard are high. I claim that there is an aural dimension to Bridge beyond the textual that/nhas to do with perceptions of the sound and noise women of color make. Practicing a decolonial/nfeminist "listening," this chapter engages Bridge anew as a soundscape of coalition. Ch. 2,/n“Decolonial Feminist Soundscapes in Post 1980s Chicana Literature,” and Ch. 3, “Soundtracks,/nChicana Butches, and East L.A.: Verónica Reyes’s Chopper! Chopper! Poetry from Bordered/nLives and Raquel Gutiérrez’s The Barber of East L.A.” posit that literature is noisy and therefore/ncalls for the reader to listen as a new mode of interpretation. The soundscapes in Chicana/o/n2/nnarratives have not been fully engaged in prior readings of the poetry, fiction, and drama by/nSandra Cisneros, Luis Alfaro, Estella Gonzalez, Raquel Gutiérrez, and Verónica Reyes. I argue/nthat literature becomes a site for hearing creative sonics of subjectivity, coalition, and queerness./nAgainst the dominant imaginary of Aztlán, feminist solidarities, decolonial feminist poetics,/nbutch/femme histories, alternative music scenes, and East Los Angeles become audible in these/npost 80s literary Chicana representations. Ch. 4, “Performing América On The National Stage,”/nexamines a repertoire of three Chicana/o performances of “The Star Spangled Banner” by/ncontemporary pop/rock, mariachi, and banda musicians. I take Jimi Hendrix’s iconic 1969/nperformance at Woodstock as a jumping off point to explore how dissonant moments between/nthe visual and aural performance of nation captured on social media provide openings for/nmultiple interpretations of citizenship. When the national anthem becomes part of the Chicana/o/nrepertoire, what map of the Americas is sounded through these Chicano performances of the/nnational anthem? These performances highlight meaningful disruptions, tensions, resistances,/nand variations on the theme of América.

Advisor: Perez, Laura E.