Las Invisibles: The Women of the Tejano Music Industry

As an integral part of the Tejano music industry since its inception, the work and production of women who have contributed to the industry have yet to receive recognition in the present literature on the Tejano music industry. Making visible their work as performers, radio disc jockeys, promoters, and road managers; the study will show how these women navigate through this industry which is for the most part set up exclusively for men. The study will focus on positions that are perceived to be occupied by males only but that women have filled successfully. The women that are part of the Tejano music industry make their own path by learning the rules and navigating masculinist spaces and codes of conduct, thereby creating their own spheres of influence in Tejano music. The study engages the feminist theory of Gloria E. Anzaldua's Borderlands to explain how the women navigate through the industry. The circuit of culture theoretical framework is utilized to describe how the Tejano music industry operates.