The Modern Disposition of Northern New Mexico Folklore

Abstract

Northern New Mexico is a melting pot of folk culture, and multiple historic folk traditions created over time are now celebrated as contemporary folk traditions of Northern New Mexico. From the early 1900s folklorists have studied Northern New Mexican folk culture periodically to understand changes and similarities from Spanish and Native American cultures. As studies continued, they originated from learning individual ethnic traditions to mixed folk traditions. Later, as globalization spread across the world, scholars aimed to understand how globalization dynamics have affected certain folk tradition across cultures. The current thesis examines how globalization dynamics have affected Northern New Mexican folk traditions, asking how these traditions have been enhanced, diminished, altered, or even abandoned due to globalization. This research hopes to achieve answers to these questions and understand how dynamics of globalization have affected the practice and transmission of these folk traditions over the past decade. In doing so, the thesis provides a modern update to the scholarly literature. This research relied heavily on interviews and observation of participants who celebrate two Northern New Mexican folk traditions. Contrary to what previous scholars have reported, modern globalization dynamics have affected these two traditions in different ways. My findings indicate that globalization dynamics have caused changes between these folk traditions and have altered the folk groups as well. These results contribute to scholarly understandings of how globalization has affected these folk traditions due to modern political, social, and economic factors.