Storytelling Our Latinx Community and the Fandango de Durham (2026-2027)

Background

Durham is home to a vibrant and growing Latinx community that includes artists, musicians, entrepreneurs and tradition bearers who contribute richly to cultural life in the Triangle. Yet these creative practices are often overshadowed by broader narratives of labor and migration. Local cultural events such as the Fandango de Durham — a community celebration of the son jarocho music and dance tradition from the Sotavento region of Veracruz, Mexico — offer important opportunities to highlight Latinx creativity, identity and storytelling.

Son jarocho is a participatory tradition shaped by music, dance, poetry, cuisine and community gathering. For diasporic communities from Veracruz, these traditions help sustain ties to place while allowing for the creation of new cultural expressions in North Carolina.

This project centers storytelling as a way to understand and uplift Latinx cultural practices in Durham, exploring how oral histories, music and collaborative festivals can illuminate the complexities, challenges and creativity of Latinx life in the region.

Project Description

This project team will document and share stories from the diasporic community of Veracruz, Mexico, living in central North Carolina, with a focus on tradition bearers of son jarocho. Drawing on oral history, ethnomusicology, anthropology and folklore, students will conduct field interviews, write fieldnotes, engage in participant observation and collaborate in producing community events.

The team will work in two interconnected areas:

Audio-visual oral history archive and educational exhibit:
Students will partner with Iximche Media — filmmaker and photographer Roderico Díaz and journalist/interpreter Emily Gibson Rhyne — to continue developing an audio-visual archive of oral histories. Through interviews and archival work, students will explore how Latinx communities maintain cultural traditions across geographic distance. These oral histories will inform the creation of an educational poster and photo exhibit to be displayed on campus.

Fandango de Durham festival planning and production:
In collaboration with the local son jarocho collective Son de Carolina, students will help plan and produce the 2027 Fandango de Durham festival. After studying the history of Veracruz and local oral histories in the fall, students will take the lead in spring logistics, including community outreach, coordination with Latinx-owned businesses, development of interactive activities and event-day support. This process draws on “decolonial pedagogies of the fandango,” emphasizing collaborative, community-rooted learning and cultural exchange.

Throughout the year, students will build relationships with community partners, practice Spanish language communication and consider how Latinx storytelling complicates and enriches understandings of culture, migration and regional identity.

Anticipated Outputs

Audio-visual archive of oral histories
Educational poster and photo exhibit on campus
Co-planning and production of the Fandango de Durham festival
Collaborative written piece reflecting on student experiences working with the Latinx community

Student Opportunities

Ideally, this project team will include 1 graduate student and 8-10 undergraduate students. Undergraduate team members should be interested in connecting with the local Latinx community, especially those who are conversationally bilingual in English and Spanish. Students with an interest in oral history, ethnomusicology, folklore, anthropology or the arts are encouraged to participate.

Throughout the project, students will gain experience in:

Oral history interviewing and field documentation
Spanish-language community engagement
Audio-visual storytelling and exhibit curation
Event planning, community partnership building and logistics
Collaborative research methods grounded in community relationships

The graduate student will serve as an administrative assistant, helping coordinate community partner visits, arranging transport to field sites and supporting project communication.

The team will meet weekly, either on campus or at accessible community field sites. Faculty leaders will alternate leading the project — Prof. Luis Navarro in the fall for oral history and storytelling work, and Prof. Sophia Enriquez in the spring for festival planning. Small student subgroups will form around specific tasks, with regular check-ins to support reflection and maintain project integrity.

Timing

Fall 2026 – Spring 2027

Fall 2026:

Meet with faculty leaders, Iximche Media and Son de Carolina
Engage with existing oral history archive
Draft and develop educational visual exhibit

Spring 2027:

Learn about son jarocho histories and cultural contexts
Collaborate with Son de Carolina on Fandango de Durham planning
Produce and support the 2027 Fandango de Durham festival

Crediting

Academic credit available for fall and spring semesters