Cuajinicuilapa

That's the name of the city I'm going to this summer. I'll help you pronounce it: KWA-HE-KNEE-KWI-LA-PA. Fun, huh?

Yay for me for getting my first ever grant as a graduate student. I'll be doing some work with Afro-Mexican artists and the surrounding communities in southern Mexico, in Cuajinicuilapa and another city named El Ciruelo (just over the Guerrero border in Oaxaca state). Cuajinicuilapa is one of the largest African-descent communities in Mexico, and it comes with a thriving artistic scene. Check out some of the dance celebrations (on YouTube even!):

Los Diablos del Guerrero
El Toro de Petate

And as I was discussing with Shewara earlier, I am trying to prove that Art History can and actually does have a real-world use. The essential focus of my study will be interviewing Afro-Mexican artists about their work and how they view themselves in relation to the larger Mexican nation (nation as in a homogenous group of people, not necessarily the Mexican state.) I am then going to contrast this with how Afro-Mexicans are literally exhibited at both the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago as well as the Museum of Afromestizo Cultures in Cuajinicuilapa. My theory is that Afro-Mexicans are paraded around the United States as symbols of how diverse and accepting Mexico is in contrast to the USA, yet in Mexico they are virtually ignored, second-class citizens - facts that become apparent through how Afro-Mexicans are represented.

So that's me: improving the lives of Afro-Mexicans, one museum at a time. Plus I'll get to meet a lot of cool new people.