UC Riverside Department of Music presents:

Dr. Jon Bullock: "Defending Ethnomusicology in the 21st Century: The Story of My Search for Kurdish Music"

In a world increasingly critical of specialized knowledge and of academic institutions more generally, a field like ethnomusicology might seem ill prepared to face questions concerning its real value. After all, what does ethnomusicology have left to teach us in 2025, nearly a century and a half after its origins in the field of comparative musicology? In this presentation, ethnomusicologist Jon Bullock offers a defense of the field by revisiting the decade-long trajectory of his own research on Kurdish music and media. While acknowledging ethnomusicology's historical entanglements with various forms of hegemonic power, he shows how the field's unique methods and approaches have ultimately enabled the identification and recognition of Kurdish musical culture in profound and exciting ways whose impact is truly global. 

Part of the 2024-2025 Florence Bayz Music Series

The Florence Bayz Music Series offers online concerts, lectures, and presentations of academic research by Department of Music faculty, postdoctoral researchers, students, and international guest artists and scholars.

Dr. Amy Skjerseth (she/her), Assistant Professor of Popular Music, Coordinator

Events are free and open to the public.

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