Sarah Politz

Areas of Expertise

Black popular music
Musical style and genre
Religion and spirituality
Jazz studies
Francophone West Africa
Haitian and Cuban musics

Scholarship/Creative Work

“Cultural Reproduction and National Representation in Benin’s Jazz and Brass Band Music Abroad,” World Conference of the International Council for Traditional Music, University of Limerick, Ireland (July 2017)

“Hidden Transcripts, Production Strategies, and the Blues in the Music of the Eyo’nle Brass Band of Benin,” Annual Conference of the New England Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Middlebury College, VT (March 2017)

“’Zenli Renove’ and Benin’s Brass Bands: Continuity, Social Reproduction, and the Representation of Local Histories of the Global,” Annual Conference of the African Studies Association, Washington, DC (2016)

“Multiple Temporalities in Benin’s Brass Bands: A Postcolony’s Local Histories of the Global,” Annual Conference of the New England Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology, University of Massachusetts-Boston (2016)

“Jazz and Vodun in Beninois Brass Bands,” Annual Conference of the Society for Ethnomusicology, New Orleans, LA (2012)

Biography

Professor Politz’s work focuses on popular music in Africa and the diaspora, including brass band music, jazz, and traditional religious practices in Benin. She is preparing a book project tentatively titled “Gangbe: Resonance and Cultural Economy in Benin’s Jazz and Brass Bands.” She performs actively on trombone in and around Boston.