Sounds of Culture: Ethnomusicology in Modern Times
April 27th, 2023 6:30PM -7:30PM
This event explores the fascinating world of ethnomusicology, a field that studies the relationship between music and culture. Through the lenses of anthropology, sociology, and musicology, ethnomusicologists examine how music reflects and shapes the social, material, and cognitive aspects of the societies it originates from.
Join us as we discuss the importance of ethnomusicology in promoting cross-cultural understanding and appreciation in today's globalized world. We'll examine the ways in which traditional music can serve as a bridge between cultures and how the preservation and promotion of traditional music is essential to the cultural vitality of communities. Our discussion, hosted by Professor Chrintina Sunardi of the University of Washington’s Department of Ethnomusicology, will recall her personal experiences practicing field recordings in Indonesia.
About the Speaker
Christina Sunardi is an associate professor in the Ethnomusicology program in the School of Music at the University of Washington, where she has been teaching since 2008. Her interests include performance, identity, spirituality and ethnography in Indonesia. Her work focuses in particular on the articulation of gender through music, dance, and theater in the cultural region of east Java.
Her publications include articles in Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land en Volkenkunde, Asian Music, and Ethnomusicology, as well as reviews in the Journal of Folklore Research Reviews, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, and Indonesia. Dr. Sunardi has been studying and performing Javanese arts since 1997 in Indonesia and the United States, earning her Ph.D. in music from the University of California, Berkeley in 2007. Her book about the negotiation of gender and tradition through dance and music in east Java was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2015. In addition to her academic work, she enjoys playing gamelan music with the Seattle-based ensemble Gamelan Pacifica and performing as an independent dancer.