
Education
M.M. Bowling Green State University (2005)
Ph.D. Harvard University (2012)
Areas of Expertise
- Ethnomusicology (Theory and Methods)
- Music and Dance of the Suriname Maroons
- Afro-Caribbean and South American Music and Dance
- Cultural Tourism and Folkloric Representation
- Nationalism
- Political Action/Activism through the Art
- Gender and Sexuality in Music
- Ethics of Musical Representation and Circulation
- Embodiment/Corporeality
- West African Music and Dance
Courses
MUS 125 / DANC 125 SEM
Music and Social Dance in Latin America (not offered 2023/24)MUS 211 SEM
Music, Nationalism, and Popular Culture (not offered 2023/24)MUS 222 / AFR 223 SEM
Politics of Performance/Performing Politics in Contemporary Africa (not offered 2023/24)MUS 225 / AFR 225 LEC
Musics of the Caribbean (not offered 2023/24)MUS 474 SEM
Music and Corporeality (not offered 2023/24)Scholarship/Creative Work
Books/Articles
The Cultural Work: Maroon Performance in Paramaribo, Suriname. Wesleyan University Press, 2020.
“Modeling Cultural Adaptability: Maroon Cosmopolitanism and the Banamba Contest” in Maroon Cosmopolitics: Personhood, Creativity, and Incorporation. Olivia Maria Gomes da Cunha, ed. Brill Publications. 2018. Winner of the Joann Kealiinohomoku Award for “an outstanding piece of ethnomusicological work (broadly defined) that substantially engages the topics of dance, movement, and/or gesture.”
“An Interview with Norma Sante” del Caribe, 2015.
“Aleke,” “Bigi poku,” “Kaseko,” “Kawina,”and “Suripop” entries for The Bloomsbury Encyclopedia for Popular Musics of the World. Volume 9: Genres: Caribbean and Latin America. London: Bloomsbury, 2014.
Upcoming/In Process:
“Figuring the Human Cost of Gold: Suriname’s Mining Economy in Maroon Popular Music.” In Process.
“‘Between Audacity and Impertinence’: Cross-Cultural Engagements with Sardinian Cantu a Tenore.” Douglas Paisley, co-author. Under Review.
Select Conference Papers, Symposia, Seminars, Invited Lectures:
“Conversational Fluencies: Local Meanings in Afro-Surinamese Choreomusical Inter/Action.” Analytical Approaches to World Music Conference, University of Sheffield, UK. June, 2022.
“#My Life is Worth More than Gold: Sounding Out Human Costs and Values of Suriname’s Mining Economy in Maroon Popular Music.” Society for Ethnomusicology Conference, 2020.
“Against Weirdness: Surinamese Maroon Dance and the Politics of Recognition.” Invited Lecture, University of Oslo, Dept. of Music. May 25, 2020.
“Listening Through Musical Fusions: Articulating Maroon Cosmopolitanism in Banamba.” Congreso Indígenas, Africanos, Roma y Europeos: Ritmos Transatlánticos en Música, Canto y Baile. Veracruz, Mexico. April 2019.
“Ambivalent Expressions: Productive Anxieties in Folkloric Performance.” Society for Ethnomusicology Conference, Bloomington IN. November 2019.
“Embodying Sociality: The Interactive Scaffolding of an Afro-Surinamese Dance Form.” Conference on Interdisciplinary Musicology. Graz, Austria. September 26-28, 2019.
“Ambivalence In Common: Interpreting Folkloric Dance.” Dance Studies Association Conference. Evanston, IL. August 2019.
“Strategic Impositions on Cultural Archetypes: Recognition and Intimacy in Maroon Folkloric Performance.” Dance Studies Association. July 5, 2018.
““Ditch the Workout, Join the Party!”: Zumba’s Distributed Subjectivity.” Society for Ethnomusicology Conference, Washington, DC. November 2016.
“Roundtable Discussion: Teaching ‘World Music’ in the 21st Century.” Chair/Discussant. Northeast Chapter of SEM. Boston, MA. May 7, 2016.
“Personalizing Tradition: Folkloric Interpretations of Maroon Music and Dance in Paramaribo, Suriname.” 7th Annual Cape Town Maroon Conference, Cape Town, Jamaica. June 20, 2015.
Awards, Fellowships & Grants
- Joann Kealiinohomoku Award: Dance, Movement, and Gesture Section, the Society for Ethnomusicology (2019)
- Herbert H. Lehman Fellow, Oakley Center for the Humanities, Williams College (2017-18)
- Fulbright Scholar (CIES: Teaching and Research in Suriname) (2014)
Professional Affiliations:
Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM). 2003-present.
Co-Chair: Dance, Movement, and Gesture Section 2019-2021
Co-Chair: Section for the Status of Women 2012-2014
Northeast Chapter, Society for Ethnomusicology (NECSEM) 2012-present.
Chapter President 2015-2017
Dance Studies Association 2018-2020.
Congress on Research in Dance (CORD). 2011-2016.
Current Committees
- Compensation Committee from Steering Committee
Megamenu Social