Tomás Rivera Lecture Series

Dr. Xóchitl C. Chávez is an associate professor at the University of California, Riverside Department of Music, holding the distinction of being the first tenured Chicana in the UCR department and any UC system music program. She has a PhD in cultural anthropology with a designated emphasis in Latin American and Latino Studies from UC Santa Cruz, complemented by interdisciplinary training in Museum Studies, Ethnomusicology, Folklore, and Social Documentation. As an activist scholar and musician, Chávez's research centers on the practices of accompaniment and sincere collaborative intention. She ethically participates in making music and dance while documenting the process of Mexican Indigenous migrants and Latinos in the United States, focusing on their cross-border efforts to maintain cultural traditions. Chávez's forthcoming book, "La Guelaguetza: Oaxacan Migrant Festivals and the Making of Transborder Indigeneity" (University of Oxford Press, 2025), is the first transborder, multi-sited ethnography of its kind, based on over eight years of fieldwork and performance participation in Guelaguetza festivals in Oaxaca and California. Her research has garnered national recognition and support within the UC system, promoting international collaborative study. Through her work, Chávez continues to bridge academic research with active participation in cultural practices, fostering a deeper understanding of transnational Indigenous experiences and expressions. Her research has been published in both Spanish and English in prestigious venues including Americas: A Hemispheric Music Journal, Desacatos: Revista De Ciencias Sociales, Yearbook for Traditional Music, and through esteemed university presses such as the University of Indiana Press, University of California Press, and University of Illinois Press. As a co-investigator with the University of Colorado Boulder's American Music Research Center, she has secured multiple grants, including funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities for "Soundscapes of the People: A Musical Ethnography of Pueblo, Colorado." Chávez's work has been acknowledged by institutions, including the Mexican Consulate in California, the Smithsonian Institution Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage, the Colorado History Museum's El Pueblo History Museum, and the UCR Office of International Affairs. Chávez has contributed her expertise as a curatorial advisor and guest curator for the Inaugural Molina Family Gallery in the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Latino and is currently collaborating with The Cheech Museum, further demonstrating her commitment to sharing and preserving cultural heritage.