Javier Santillan
Martha Gonzalez is an accomplished artist, activist, and scholar known for her significant contributions to the East Los Angeles 90s music and art scene. A member of the Grammy-winning band Quetzal, Gonzalez’s work extends beyond music into community activism, mainly through her book Chican@ Artivistas: Music, Community, and Transborder Tactics in East Los Angeles. In the book, she explores the intersections of music, community-building, and resistance, drawing from her experiences as a Chicana artist navigating the complexities of the East LA cultural landscape.
Our conversation centered on how music is a tool for connection, resistance, and healing among marginalized communities. In the East LA 90s, the music and art scene spread positivity and uplifting messages in a time when bloodshed marked the streets. As a creative artist, she says, “I’m also very active in building out culture that revolves around music” (Gonzalez, personal communication, October 9, 2024). These bands from the ELA 90s art/music movement sought to promote messages of unity, resistance, and healing mechanisms. Martha is a singer-songwriter and a creative activist who uses music as a tool. She reflected:
“I always thought that the information was important to document, and as an artist and a musician in a scene, or just as an artist and musician, as a woman, a brown woman in America, and a Mexican woman, a Chicana, you know. I think it’s important, and if I have the capacity and the opportunity, I thought it was important for me to do” (Gonzalez, personal communication, October 9, 2024).
When I asked who coined the term “Artivistas,” she mentioned hearing it from Felicia (Fe) Montes, another scholar-activist who greatly influenced the music/art scene. Mujeres de Maiz, a significant contributor to ELA 90’s activism, continues to thrive today (Gonzalez, personal communication, October 9, 2024).
Martha discussed the challenges of being a brown woman in a band, the music scene, the industry, and academia. These challenges forced her to navigate contested spaces often dominated by white men. She referenced the works of others, such as Fe Montes and Mujeres de Maiz, and highlighted her ongoing work in building culture. In her book, she mentioned theories that grounded her work.
“I was reading a lot of Chicana feminist theory; they always sort of affirmed what I had lived… So, the personal is political. And as you read feminist theory, you find a lot of what you read, especially women of color feminist theory. It resonates a lot with our lives because it is based on our lives. It is not like reading white men theory” (Gonzalez, personal communication, October 9, 2024).
For Martha, Chicana feminist theory provides tools to identify sexism, patriarchal structures, and abuse. She added:
“But in my case, I felt like everything I would read and all the classes I would take taught by women of color often resonated with me. I was like, I would read a theory, and I’d be like, I have an example for that. I have an example of that. Oh, my God! I’ve lived that. Oh, my God! It’s kind of like that, but different. But I can relate to that, and right, it was always very affirming” (Gonzalez, personal communication, October 9, 2024).
Martha shared that her book draws on Chicana feminist theory, mainly through Chela Sandoval’s idea of differential consciousness. It is a precise, strategic, and flexible form of awareness that allows people, especially people of color, to traverse and withstand different forms of oppression, according to Sandoval ( Sandoval, 2000).
The interview with Martha Gonzalez deepened my perspective on the East LA music/art scene. Her duality provided a unique lens. She discussed navigating different roles—Chicana, artist, mother, and professor—often using code-switching to balance these identities. Her insights into how Zapatista philosophy shaped her activism, music, and academic work were particularly impactful. One of the most striking comparisons she made was between music and love. She described music as political but also compared it to love, which inspires passion and hunger for more.
Martha Gonzalez’s book is grounded in her experiences as a creative artist in the East LA arts music scene but also reflects academic depth through Chicana feminist theory and performative theory, post-colonial, and black feminism theory. Her influences, including Mujeres de Maiz, showcase the role of art in activism and resistance. This collective approach, where art becomes a tool for connection and healing, defines the term “artivistas.” Music, for Gonzalez, continues to be a medium of empowerment and cultural resistance. Her reflections on intergenerational community-building and critiques of capitalism highlight the importance of passing on this artistic work to younger generations.
References
Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge, 1990.
Butler, Judith. “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory.” Theatre Journal, vol. 40, no. 4, 1988, pp. 519–531.
Collins, Patricia Hill. Black Feminist Thought: Knowledge, Consciousness, and the Politics of Empowerment. Routledge, 1990.
Garcia, A. M. (Ed.). (1997). Chicana feminist thought: The basic historical writings. Taylor & Francis Group.
Gonzalez, M. (2020). Chican@ artivistas : music, community, and transborder tactics in East Los Angeles. University of Texas Press. https://doi.org/10.7560/321126
Said, Edward W. Orientalism. Pantheon Books, 1978.
Sandoval, C. (2000). Methodology of the Oppressed. University of Minnesota Press.
