Professor Matt Karush was recently awarded a research fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support work on his new book project, Sonic Travelers: The Transnational History of Argentine Popular Music in the Twentieth Century.
The book will examine the careers, compositions, and performances of ten influential Argentine musicians in tango, jazz, folk, rock, and cumbia. Over the course of their literal and figurative travels, these artists encountered a wide range of musical styles on terrain marked by the unequal distribution of economic and political power. They were forced to navigate a set of genre distinctions, marketing conventions, and even ethnic identities, all of which imposed limitations but also created commercial and musical opportunities. Their ideological, aesthetic and commercial maneuvers, along with those of their fans, shifted both the international perception of Argentina and the way Argentines understood their own relationship with the world. By viewing the evolving structure of mass cultural circuits from the vantage point of Argentina, the book will revise dominant versions of the history of globalization.
Karush's is the latest in a series of NEH fellowships won by History/Art History faculty in recent years. Professors Greet, Kierner, Ritterhouse, Zagarri, and Smith have also received these prestigious awards.
December 06, 2013