Assistant
Professor of Global Studies Martha
Chew Sanchez came to St. Lawrence in 2002, having lived in
Mexico, England, Holland and Austria. She teaches a course on race,
culture and identity which she says is a challenge because it “pushes
students to question their own position in society,” and a course
called La Frontera: Cultural Identities in the U.S./Mexico Border,
which includes a trip to El Paso and Juarez, where students stay with
Mexican host families and experience life in a sanctuary for migrants
on the U.S. side. “Global studies is very real,” she says.
“It deals with current processes.”
Sanchez is working on a manuscript on the cultural expressions of
Mexicans from Northern Mexico in Albuquerque and other parts of New
Mexico, particularly the role of corridos, or ballads, in the cultural
memory of migrant groups and the aesthetics of norteña music,
a relatively new form from northern Mexico consisting of the accordion,
12-string Mexican guitar, drums, saxophone, bass and vocals. Her
work is a continuation of her doctoral study at the University of
New Mexico, which focused on intercultural communication, cultural
studies and mass communication.
In her spare time, she enjoys watching foreign
films, traveling, dancing, and listening to all kinds of music, particularly
norteña music.
