Connecting Musical Worlds: Crossroads in Jewish and African Studies

Kay Kaufman Shelemay is the G. Gordon Watts Professor of Music and professor of African and African American studies at Harvard University. Her work in ethnomusicology spans topics including liturgical studies, historical ethnomusicology, music and memory, migration and diaspora, and theory and method of musical ethnography. She is currently writing about the process of crossing boundaries between Jewish and African studies and the manner in which comparative exploration and boundary-crossing enhance the research process.  Shelemay received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, and has taught at Columbia University, New York University, and Wesleyan University. At Harvard, she established the Program in Ethnomusicology and has chaired the Department of Music. She has also served as president of the Society for Ethnomusicology and chair of the Board of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress.