Dr. Laura Cummings Pachuco / Caló Oral History Project collection
Collection area: Borderlands
Collection dates: 1947 to 1991 bulk (bulk 1985-1991)
This collection is comprised of 33 audiocassette tapes featuring oral history interviews conducted by Dr. Laura Lee Cummings and two audiocassette tapes featuring a 1947 recording done by anthropologist George C. Barker of two men speaking pachuco or caló, a language form that is closely tied with the pachuco subculture. Cummings recorded the oral histories in the 1980s-1990s, and interviewed subjects about pachuco culture and language forms in Tucson and the greater Southwest region. Many of the oral histories include comments and reactions of interviewees to the Barker tapes. Most of the interview subjects are anonymous middle-aged Tucsonans who lived in neighborhoods like Barrio Anita, Barrio Viejo, Dunbar Springs, and Old Pascua in the 1930s-1990s. Others are from other parts of the greater Southwest, including California, Texas, Baja California, and Chihuahua. Some interviewees speak about their interactions with pachucos and about pachuco styles, traditions, and language. Cummings and the interviewees also speak about the evolution of pachuco and cholo culture.
Dr. Laura L. Cummings compiled this collection of 35 oral histories that informed her dissertation for her PhD, which she earned from the University of Arizona in cultural anthropology. The oral histories were also used for her book titled Pachucos and Pachucas in Tucson: Situated Border Lives, which was published in 2009 The University of Arizona Press. Dr. Cummings was born in San Diego, California and later did fieldwork on youth cultures in cities along the U.S./Mexico border. She also worked as an anthropologist in Baja California commissioned by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History and even served as the Associate Director of the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Arizona for some time. In addition to studying youth culture, Cummings also implemented drug-use prevention programs in border communities in Texas.
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