Education
PhD Candidate in Cross-Cultural Musicology, University of California Santa Cruz.
Dissertation: “‘I Don’t Have Borders’: Music, Gender, and Migration in Muslim Africa.”
MA in Cross-Cultural Musicology, University of California, Santa Cruz. 2022.
Thesis: “‘Most Importantly, Full of Joy’: Gender, Community, and Transformation in Benin’s National Anthem.”
Bachelor’s of Music in Vocal Performance and Music History, University of Massachusetts Amherst. 2017.
Commonwealth Honors College.
Honors Thesis: “Othello in the Seraglio: On the Etic and Emic.”
Publications
Forthcoming. “‘Rain Has Flowed Between Us’: Water as a Musical Resource in Women’s Social Song Across the Sahara.” in Waiting for Water: Negotiating water, land, and life in Morocco, ed. Brittany Landorf and Ethan Mefford, Leiden, the Netherlands: Brill (under review).
Forthcoming. “Farcical Masculinity and Gender Flexibility in the PErformance of a Gewel/Griot Baye Fall in Saint-Louis, Senegal.” in Decolonising African and Diasporic Male Dances: Embodied Histories, Cultural Practices, and Futurities, ed. Chamba Nana Mirelle Flore, London: Palgrave Macmillan (under review).
2018 “Singing during Premenstruation: A Guide,” in Cursed?: Biologic and Cultural Aspects of the Menstrual Cycle and Menstruation, 213-224. ed. Elizabeth Bertone-Johnson. Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science Pub Inc.
Awards and Honors
University of California Chancellor’s Dissertation Year Fellowship. 2026-2027.
Fulbright Open Study Research Grant, Morocco. 2024-2025.
Lois Roth Foundation Project Award. 2025.
Center for American Overseas Research Centers Multi-Country Research Fellowship. 2024-2025.
Short Term Research Grant, American Institute of Maghrib Studies. 2023.
Bucerius Start Up Scholarship, “Beyond Borders – Ph.D. Scholarships in Humanities and Social Sciences,” ZEIT-Stiftung Ebelin und Gerd Bucerius, Hamburg, Germany. 2023-2024.
Graduate Pedagogy Fellow, Teaching and Learning Center (formerly Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning), University of California, Santa Cruz. 2022-2023.
Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship in Arabic, African Studies Program, University of Wisconsin, Madison. 2022.
Regent’s Fellowship, University of California Santa Cruz. 2020-2021.
Selected Teaching Experiences
As Instructor of Record.
CRSN 1: Academic Literacy & Ethos: Environment and Society. Rachel Carson College, University of California Santa Cruz. 2026.
MUSC 11E: Global Popular Music. Music Department, University of California Santa Cruz. 2023-2025.
MUSC 204: Pedagogy of Music. Music Department, University of California Santa Cruz. 2024.
As Teaching Assistant (selected).
MUSC 159: Opera Workshop, dir. Sheila Willey. 2022-2026.
MUSC 166: Chamber Singers, dir. Michael McGushkin. 2022-2024.
MUSC 81A: Survey of Rap and Hip Hop. Dr. akua naru. 2026.
MUSC 80V: Music of the Beatles, Dr. Monica Ambalal. 2023-2026.
MUSC 11D: Introduction to World Music. Dr. Michael Lindsey. 2022-2023.
K-12 Teaching
Education and Youth Development Agent, US Peace Corps Benin. 2018-2020.
6th-10th Grade English, CEG NONSINA Guinagourou, Borgou, Benin.
Scholarship Girls Coordinator, Batonga Foundation, 2019-2020.
Conference Presentations
Roundtable - Shame on the Field: How Shame Shapes Field Experiences.” Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting, Bloomington, Indiana, USA. Forthcoming.
“Music is Labor and Labor is Prayer: Religious Devotion in the Performance of a Gewël/Griot Baye Fall in Saint-Louis, Senegal.” Presentation at the Southeast Regional Middle East and Islamic Studies Society, Valle Crucis, North Carolina, USA. Forthcoming.
“‘There is No Time for Music, There Are Too Many Worries’: The Politics and Presences of Women’s Rest Amidst Movement Across Morocco’s Northern Shore.” Presentation at the Society for Ethnomusicology Northern California Chapter. 2026.
Invited Lecture on Music Analysis in Scholarship and Teaching. Al Akhawayn University, School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Ifrane, Morocco. 2024.
“Dancing through a Changing Sahara: Women’s Musical Migration to Morocco.” Poster Presentation at the Second Annual Fulbright Mediterranean Conference, Alicante, Spain. 2024.
“Water as a Musical Resource in Women’s Social Song Across the Sahara.” Presentation at the 69th Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology. 2024.
“Go Forth in Joy, the Cause is Just”: Community, Gender, and Transformation in Benin’s National Anthem.” Presentation at the 67th Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, New Orleans, USA. 2022.
“Listening to Listeners: Embodied Music Cognition and Intersectional Practices.” Presentation at the Conference for Interdisciplinary Musicology, “Participation,” University of Edinburgh, Scotland. 2022.