Ep. 142: Joe Kinzer, ethnographer, archivist, and ethnomusicologist

Let's Talk Off The Podium with Tigran Arakelyan.

From Joe Kinzer's website:

I am an ethnographer, archivist, and ethnomusicologist specializing in issues of identity and religious expression in Asian musical contexts. I am the Senior Curatorial Assistant in the Archive of World Music at Harvard’s Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, as well as an Affiliate Faculty member at Antioch University.

My work focuses on musicians, audiences, and asking ethnographic questions about objects, such as musical instruments and sound recordings, and how the contrapuntality of agency between these forces works to inform cultural formation. In my book project, Arab Lutes and Global Routes in the Music of Muslim Malaysia (Routledge, forthcoming), I use the circuitous migration of Arab lutes to Southeast Asia as a lens to explore how centuries of conflicting Hindu-Buddhist and Islamic influences from India and the Middle East have transformed and continue to complicate Malay cultural politics in 21st century musical practices.

I teach courses in humanities research methods using the lenses of global pop, world music, and sound studies. I have had the privelege of teaching courses at Northern Illinois University, University of Washington, and Antioch University. Some of these courses included Introduction to Music and Culture Studies, American Popular Song, and Humanities Research Methods through Music and Sound.

I received a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the University of Washington and a master’s degree in music from Northern Illinois University. My work has received generous support from a Fulbright-Hays Fellowship, the U.S. Department of Education’s Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) program, and the Social Sciences Research Council of Canada.

I play the oud and guitar and currently perform with Boston College’s Astaza! Arab Music Ensemble. I live in Boston with my wife and daughter. 

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