Mariángel Villalobos

Mariángel Villalobos is a PhD student in Ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland and is originally from San José, Costa Rica. Her current research project is dedicated to the music of the Central American community of the Washington D.C. metro area, with a special focus on music and national identity among Salvadorans. In support of her doctoral research, Villalobos was awarded the 2018 Blanton Owen award by the American Folklife Center to document various festivals in Maryland that celebrate the independence of the isthmus, which resulted in brown bag presentations at Smithsonian Institution, Library of Congress, and a photography presentation at the Salvadoran Consulate through Casa de la Cultura El Salvador. Besides her doctoral work, she has been an intern with the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian, working for the Catalan program of the Folklife Festival and the 2017-2018 Mother Tongue Film Festival.