Event Highlights: 500 Years of African Presence in Mexican Music | Latin American Studies

Event Highlights: 500 Years of African Presence in Mexican Music

On July 17, the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS) at Boston University hosted a virtual event titled “500 years of African presence in Mexican Music.” The event featured Michael Birenbaum Quintero, Associate Professor of Music and Chair of Musicology and Ethnomusicology at Boston University, and Benjamín Juárez, Professor of Fine Arts at Boston University.

Throughout the summer of 2020, CLAS has been engaging with current events, particularly how nation states have excluded African and indigenous voices from their ongoing conversations surrounding modernity and social justice. Latin America in particular cannot be understood without recognizing its own history of colonization and struggle. Music and culture provide one of the best lenses through which to view the history of encounter on the Latin American continent.

Africa’s presence in Latin America, while very visible in the musical traditions of Brazil and Colombia, has been less visible in Mexico. In this conversation, Professors Birenbaum Quintero and Juárez explored the rich musical heritage of Mexico and African involvement in the formation of la música de México.

Statement on Diversity and Inclusion

The Center for Latin American Studies at Boston University is proud of BU’s history of diversity and inclusion. BU’s founders opened the University’s doors to all students without regard to religion, race, or gender, and building and sustaining a vibrant community of scholars, students, and staff remains essential to its mission of contributing to and preparing students to thrive in, an increasingly interconnected world.

Success in a competitive, global milieu depends upon our ongoing commitment to welcome and engage the wisdom, creativity, and aspirations of all peoples and the Center for Latin American Studies is vital to the University’s mission of preparing global citizens. We forge concrete initiatives to integrate faculty and students across the university in the promotion of antiracism, diversity, and inclusion from a Latin American Studies perspective. Through our in-depth and interdisciplinary academic programs, as well as through a rich array of talks, lectures, round-table discussions, conferences, and other educational and cultural events, we assist the University in its efforts to create environments for learning, working, and living that are enriched by racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity.

At the Center for Latin American Studies, we believe in and practice respect for individual differences in life experience, sexual orientation, and religious belief, and we aspire to be free of intellectual parochialism, barriers to access, and ethnocentrism. We appreciate and deeply value the contributions and talents of every member of the Boston University community and invite you to learn more about us.