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"Despedida con Mariachi": The Musical Mediation of Masculine Grief in Mexican Immigrant Funerals

Music plays an important role in Mexican funeral ceremonies, acting as a vehicle for men to acceptably express emotions of bereavement. As an important symbol of mexicanidad (Mexicanness), mariachi music is often used in traditional Catholic funerals, ritualizing grief equally as a mourning of loss and a celebration of the life of a deceased person. Although a form of popular music, mariachi's secular songs go through a process of sacralization, becoming meaningful sites for experiencing grief. As a musical expression of Mexico's idealized gender norms mariachi opens an aesthetic sphere for masculine grief to be expressed, experienced, and socialized in an acceptable form. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the musical mediation of masculine grief, experienced and ritualized within funeral ceremonies, and observed through an ethnographic study of Mexican immigrant communities.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc1752330
Date12 1900
CreatorsDomínguez, Lizeth C.
ContributorsFriedson, Steven M. (Steven Michael), 1948-, Ragland, Cathy, Virani, Vivek
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formatvii, 92 pages : illustrations, music, Text
RightsPublic, Dominguez, Lizeth C., Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved.

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