'I Think My Guitar is My Rifle, I See it That Way': Mexicans Engaging Unconventionally in Homeland Politics from Brussels

Diasporas can create, transform, and exploit transnational networks to engage in political movements in their homeland and in their hostland. It is recognized that diasporas can engage in electoral and non-electoral politics through political parties, political campaigns, and hometown organizations. Nevertheless, the role of art as a form of political engagement has been under-explored. This paper aims to understand the relation between cultural and artistic expressions and diasporic social movements. It is argued that cultural and artistic expressions developed and sustained by diasporas: 1) create sentiments of group belonging and cultural memory; 2) are used to reject the dominant culture and enhance the production of ideologies; 3) are used instrumentally for the recruitment, support, and visibility of their social movements. This paper introduces empirical examples collected in Brussels during 17 months of fieldwork with members of the Mexican diaspora, including semi-structured interviews with key informants and participant observation at political demonstrations, music rehearsals, charity concerts, gastronomic and artistic festivals, and political debates.