A Chronotopic View of Language Ideologies for Mariachi Identity Construction Among English-Dominant Bilinguals

• In Event: Theorizing Time and Space in Empirical Research: Potentials and Possibilities

Abstract

Many studies have focused on how after school programs can help students learn English while fostering an ethnic identity. Few studies have explored the time-space context of learning and knowing, particularly for English speakers who bring historicized cultural knowledge to learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate the language practices of a bilingual mariachi instructor teaching mariachi music to English dominant students. The study draws on theories of time and space to explore temporal and spatial aspects of learning, particularly in terms of the teacher’s selective use of language correction strategies when teaching students to sing mariachi music.

I apply the concept of chronotope (Bakhtin, 1981) to explain how notions of time and space emerge in discourse to create specific contexts in which people act, behave, or perform in specific ways. I argue that the mariachi, its symbolism, and the lyrics are chronotopic because they come from an “epic time” in México (18th century) and the image and ideology of the charro is now a global symbol of Mexicanness. Mariachi lyrics are romanticized as imaginings of an ideal mexicanidad which is distinct from both the Mexico of today and the Mexicanness of Mexican Americans although such an idealized version is integral to both Mexican and Mexican-American cultures (Nájera-Ramírez, 1994).
This research is part of a longitudinal study of language, ideologies, and identities at a cultural center in a bilingual city in the US. This article presents a case study of the language ideologies of a mariachi instructor in a predominantly Latinx bilingual city in Texas. These language ideologies are reflect historical, cultural, and placed-based knowledge.

I followed IRB procedures to obtain parental, student, and teacher consent. Data collection included ethnographic observations of 20 audio recorded of lessons 5 times over each semester (a total of 20 observations), reflective and analytical field notes taken after each observation, and two 1.5 hrs in-depth, face-to-face ethnographic interviews with Mr. Aguilera. All audio was recorded and transcribed for analysis.

Analysis of data show that when teaching mariachi lyrics specifically, the instructor chronotopically frames the pronunciation of the song lyrics as iconic and requiring specific forms of Spanish. Findings suggest that the instructor focuses on a mariachi identity that, while it does not demand fluency in Spanish, does require Mexican accented pronunciation of Spanish words and knowledge of looking and acting like an authentic mariachi to perpetuate the symbolism of lo mexicano, which is vital to the identity formation of Mexican origin youth.

The specific language and pronunciation of mariachi lyrics demanded by the instructor “is placed on a stronger, more authentic plane separated from the everyday world of its users” (Haeri, 2003 as cited in (Woolard, 2020, p. 11). This chronotopic view of language demands language to be use in a particular iconic way (i.e., Mexican accented Spanish) to evoke the past and perpetuate the symbolism of lo mexicano. This new understanding can also explain why in a given speech community some linguistic changes can be accepted while others may be sanctioned.

Author

• Sidury Christiansen, University of Texas - San Antonio
  Presenting Author