Academic Work
I am a PhD student at Brandeis University in Musicology, and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (MA). My primary research explores the relationship between humans and whales through sound, and the impact that framing their vocal expression as song in the 1970s prompted “Save the Whale” and many environmental efforts to stop whaling. You can read more on my article “Singing With Whales: Exploring Human and Non-Human Connections,” published in SEM News.
I am currently conducting ethnographic research to study the effects that body image and fat phobia have on the careers of women and genderqueer instrumentalists within Western classical music institutions; while also exploring Lizzo’s role in body liberation and her challenging of the politics of respectability within musical performances.
During my masters at UMass I worked closely with my mentor Marianna Ritchey, and I conducted musicological research on the intersection between the witch hunts, the establishment of capitalism in Europe, and consequential underrepresentation of women and BIPOC in the Western musical canon.
You can read and download my thesis “The Voice of the Other: The Influence of Capitalism in the Representation of Gender and Race in Western Classical Music” here.
