Mercedes Alejandra Payán Ramírez, Music

Name:

Mercedes Alejandra Payán Ramírez

Title:

Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology

Department:

Music

Describe your research in about 200 words.

I am an ethnomusicologist and music educator whose research examines Indigenous wind band traditions in southeastern Mexico. Since 2014, I have conducted long-term collaborative ethnographic research on community-based systems of music learning and participation, exploring how musical knowledge is transmitted through everyday social life, ritual practice, and collective responsibility. My work brings together ethnomusicology, anthropology, Indigenous studies, and feminist and decolonial scholarship to examine questions of indigeneity, gender, labor, pedagogy, governance, and cultural continuity. I am particularly interested in how Indigenous women musicians are reshaping community musical institutions and forging new relationships between local traditions, regional networks, and the music industry. My research also explores the intersections of traditional, popular, and institutional musical practices, with particular attention to women-led brass bands and collaborative artistic production. Beyond my academic work, I actively participate in collaborative initiatives that connect research with artistic practice and community engagement, including the Red de Mujeres Músicas Transfronterizas and Las Montoneras, a collective dedicated to amplifying women’s contributions to music across borders.

What’s the most interesting thing you have learned from a student?

One of the most meaningful things I have learned from my students is that every classroom is already filled with knowledge before the lesson begins. I start many classes with check-ins that invite students to reflect on their sense of place, sensory experiences, family and community learning, and the ways these shape their artistic and academic practices. Listening to them recognize how their identities, memories, and relationships influence the questions they ask and the work they create continually reminds me that education is a collaborative process. Watching students develop a deeper awareness of where they come from, and how that knowledge informs where they are going, is one of the most rewarding parts of teaching. It reinforces my belief that the classroom should be a space where we learn with one another, not simply from one another.