User:Mejicaslolz/sandbox

Early life
Olga was born and raised in Davenport CA, and comes from a family of eight. Her parents migrated to the United States from Mexico while her and 5 other siblings were born in the United States. At the age of eight her father passed away resulting in her entire family working in the fields to financially support themselves. Growing up, Olga was interested in becoming a teacher and pursued an education degree when she attended the University of California Santa Cruz after her senior year of high school. As a college student, Olga participated in Los Mejicas which sparked her interest in conducting research on the dance and traditions of Mexico and Mexican folklore. Through Olga’s published work, the lack of published research on Mexican dance and traditions is no longer starting to become an issue. Olga's involvement with Los Mejicas during her undergraduate career in 1976 gave her the opportunity to meet Rafael Zamarripa, a well known folklorico maestro, in Colorado at  Asociacion Nacional de Grupos Folkloricos, ANGF. The workshop and lecture conducted by Zamarripa at ANGF provided a historic and ethnographic research that impressed Olga to the extent in which she decided to conduct research with the information Zamarripas had presented. As a result of this influence, Olga decided to attend University of Guadalajara and further study dance. After three years, Olga returned to the States and attained her Masters in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas. Within the next couple of years, Olga received her PHD in Anthropology from the University of Texas with the specialization of Mexican folklore in 1987.

Olga has made major contributions to the field of Anthropology through her published work of Mexican Folklore. Along with being a published writer, Olga is also a film producer who has produced two major films. Olga is also an advisor for Grupo Folklorico Los Mejicas of UCSC that helps retain students and is a representation of Mexican culture at UC Santa Cruz.

Publications
Books


 * La Fiesta de los Tastoanes: Critical Perspectives in a Mexican Festival Performance(1997),

Co Edits


 * Chicana Traditions: Continuity and Change, with Norma E. Cantú (2002),


 * Chicana Feminisms: A Critical Reader(2003) with Gabriela Arredondo, Aida Hurtado, Norma Klahn, and Pat Zavella.


 * Dancing Across Borders: Danzas y Bailes Mexicanos, co-edited with Norma Cantú and Brenda Romero (2009).

Articles


 * "Ballet Folklórico Mexicano: Choreographing a National Identity in a Transnational Context." Dancing Cultures: Globalisation, Tourism and Identity in the Anthropology of Dance. Eds. Helene Neveu-Kringelbach and Jonathan Skinner. Berghahn Books. (2012)


 * "Encaminándonos: Américo Paredes as a Guiding Force in Transcending Borders." Journal of American Folklore, 2012

Research Interest
Olga is known for her contributions to the transnational studies of culture by focusing her research on the expressive forms of culture, the formation of identity, and the relationships of power. Through a transnational popular culture lens, Olga focuses on a cross border perspective that highlights the navigation and incorporation of certain culture making practices from Mexico to the United States. For example the incorporation of Folklorico into the United States by the latino population is extremely influenced by the folklorico practices from Mexico. In other words, a transnational approach includes a cross border perspective on the expression of culture.

Films

 * La Charreada: Rodeo a la Mexicana


 * Danza Folklórica Escénica:El Sello Artístico de Rafael Zamarripa (Mexican Folkloric Dance: Rafael Zamarripa’s Artistic Trademark).

Involvement with Los Mejicas
As an undergraduate, Olga joined Grupo Folklorico Los Mejicas at UC Santa Cruz which started in 1972 at Merrill College. Throughout high school Olga had danced folkorico and was seen as one of the first members in 1974 with experience. She continued to dance with Los Mejicas until the end of her undergraduate career. During her time with Los Mejicas, the Chicano movement was and ongoing matter. The students in Los Mejicas were trying to identify with their culture and they did so by being part of a folklorico group that unified everyone. At the time, people were punished and prohibited to speak Spanish during school let alone play Spanish music in public.In a city such as Santa Cruz, CA the Mexican population was extremely small. Through Los Mejicas, the students reinforced culture and outreached to the community in ways that supported the Chicano movement. For example, the performing of folklorico to the community during the Chicano protests or rallies. Olga’s involvement with Los Mejicas also helped the group reach out to the local Santa Cruz high school. The outreach aimed at recruiting students to UCSC and helped with the group's future growth. Olga is still heavily involved with the group and serves as a faculty advisor for Los Mejicas at UCSC and is in charge of representing Los Mejicas through the Anthropology department, and throughout UC Santa Cruz. Olga enjoys being faculty advisor and makes it clear that she is not the director of the group. She fights to represent the organization under the administration so that they can continue to maintain a strong foundation. She is a liaison for members and alums. Olga refuses to take the title of being director of the group in order to comply with its tradition of being a student-led group. Olga has been the faculty advisor for Los Mejicas since 1996 and she was able to make it into a class the following year, giving students academic credit.

Danza Folklorica Escenica
One of her biggest projects to day, was the creation on the documentary Danza Folklorica Escenica. This documentary focuses on the story about how folklorico became a type of dancing genre. How it got developed into a socialized form of dance. Najera uses Rafael Zamarripa's career as a prime example to depict a pioneer in the folklorico world.In the film, she focuses on Zamarripa's humble beginings as a folklorico dancer and his journey through the folklorico world. He went from being part of Amalia Hernandez ballet folklorico to becoming a world renounced folklorico dancer and being recognized for having his own style of Mexican folklorico. Najera documents Zamarripas work in this documentary giving the world a different taste of Mexican folk dance that the world is not used to seeing. In the film, Olga addresses the concept of authentic vs non authentic and argues that it should not play an important role when discussing folklorico. This film is more about the creative process that Zamarripa goes through, with every dance he makes which includes the lighting, storyline, music and costumes and other important components. It is also important to know that the way that these dances are performed, are not going to be same as the way people danced them in small towns of Mexico. They lacked the creative process that Zamarripa puts into his since they are staged, nonetheless it does not make them any more or less authentic since its his own interpretation.

Mexican rodeo
Mexican Rodeo focuses on the rapid growth of rodeo culture that happened in the 1970s as part of the Chicano movement and the way Chicanos and Chicanas see Mexican "charreadas" and have their own interpretation of them. Najera, focuses on the emergence of Mexican rodeo as a way in which Chicanos are trying to understand their own heritage by giving their own essence. She primarily created this documentary for her students to have a visual on the topic, since there is not much research done on this specific area.

Goals
Najera's primary goal in life is to promote higher education among students of underrepresented groups who don't necessarily have the adequate resources or cultural capital to access higher education. As a result, Najera offers her assistance to students on in the Santa Cruz county to encourage them to pursue ambitious careers.