Twalha Abbass
Ph.D. Student, Folklore
- ttabbass@iu.edu
Research interests
African stories and storytelling; epic poetry; material culture; climate change; African vernacular cultures in contemporary literature
Our graduate students
Jamaal Baptiste
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
- jbaptist@indiana.edu
Ezgi Benli Garcia Guerrero
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
she/her
- ezgibenl@iu.edu
Research interests
Turkish traditional music; Alevi music and culture; music and mysticism; identity; performative identity; collective memory; NGOs and cultural preservation; arts administration
Emily Bianchi
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
- emnibian@iu.edu
Research interests
American vernacular expressive culture including oral traditions, customs, and material culture; intentional communities and separatist groups; community-constructed sites and resources; vernacular museums and displays; the intersection of material culture and oral narrative; the ethnography of communication; performance studies; vernacular history; social memory; tradition and traditionalization; vernacular religion
Kelly Bosworth
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology and History
she/her
- boswortk@indiana.edu
Research interests
US vernacular music; Pacific Northwest; disaster and flood; displacement and migration; race-making and sound; historical ethnomusicology; music and grief
Donald Bradley
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
he/him
- dobradle@iu.edu
Research interests
transnationalism; music and identity; music and the imagination; contemporary Japan; bluegrass and old-time string band music; sound and space; public ethnomusicology
Ben Bridges
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore and Anthropology
he/him
- benbridg@iu.edu
Research interests
environmental humanities; space, place, and landscape; belief and religion; traditional ecological knowledge; indigeneity; the Americas; protest; memory and nostalgia; material culture
Ross Brillhart
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
- rodbrill@indiana.edu
Research interests
music and healing; medical ethnomusicology; music and addiction; jam band culture; Jamaican music and religion; ecomusicology
Kinsey Brooke
Ph.D. Student, Folklore
she/her
- kibrooke@iu.edu
Research interests
diaspora studies; labor literature; protest texts; narratives of trauma; women's socio-economic development of the 19th and 20th centuries; factory labor conditions; intangible cultural heritage
Katie Brown
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
she/her
- browka@iu.edu
Research interests
Costa Rican popular music; punk and punk scenes; transnational feminisms; queer ecologies; music and activism; identity and performance
Jermaine Butler
Ph.D. Student, Ethnomusicology
- jermbutl@iu.edu
Research interests
seafaring music of the Persian Gulf; popular culture and cultural history of the Middle East; race and identity, Arabic and Persian pedagogy
Lydia Campbell-Maher
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
she/her
- lrcampbe@indiana.edu
Research interests
Ireland; music and health; neurodiversity; applied ethnomusicology
Andre Cardine
Ph.D. Student, Ethnomusicology
he/him
- acardine@iu.edu
Research interests
Black roller skating culture, queer/femme experiences in Black gospel traditions, Chicago’s hip hop/rnb music scene, capoeira
Katya Chomitzky
Ph.D. Student, Folklore
she/her
- kchomitz@iu.edu
Research interests
Diaspora studies and transnationality, post-soviet communities, material culture, Ukrainian embroidery, ethnicity and identity, public folklore, museum studies, refugee narratives and material culture, Ukrainian Canadian communities
Madison Cissell
M.A. Student, Folklore
M.A. Student, Library Science
she/her
- madciss@iu.edu
Research interests
oral history; public libraries; community archives; aging communities; death studies; gender studies; Jewish studies; ritual; Buddhism; Buddhist monastics; homelessness
Gloria Colom
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
she/her
- gcolom@indiana.edu
Research interests
material culture; vernacular architecture in the Caribbean
Benjamin Danner
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
he/him
- dannerb@iu.edu
Research interests
intersections of religion, science, and health; folk belief and medicine; applied medical folkloristics
Deborah De La Torre
Ph.D. Student, Ethnomusicology
she/her/ella
- debdelat@iu.edu
Research interests
Latinx music research; the sociology of music; postcolonial studies; critical race theory; critical pedagogy; sexism and classism
Caio De Souza
M.A. Student, Ethnomusicology
he/him
- cdesouza@iu.edu
Research interests
Brazilian traditional music; storytelling; supernatural; viola caipira (brazilian ten-strings guitar); latin american music
Niousha Eslahchi
Ph.D. Student, Ethnomusicology
- neslahch@iu.edu
Research interests
Charles Exdell
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
he/him
- cexdell@iu.edu
Research interests
Brazil; African diaspora in Latin America; critical race theory; engaged ethnomusicology; historical ethnomusicology; filmmaking and ethnography
Kyle Fulford
Ph.D. Student, Ethnomusicology
he/him
- kpfulfor@iu.edu
Research interests
recording studio culture; music information retrieval; progressive rock; music and social critique; sound studies; Italy
Isaiah Green
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
- isgreen@iu.edu
Research Interests
ecomusicology; spiritual and sacred scology; environmental justice; ecofeminism; sound studies; cli-fi and nature in media; culture and sustainability; music and technoculture; applied ethnomusicology; anthropocene
Gwyneth Harris
M.A. Student, Folklore
she/her
- gwroharr@iu.edu
Research interests
UK and Ireland; death and dying; commemoration; legend studies; the supernatural; children's folklore; folk medicine; foodways; gender and sexuality; belief systems; cultural history
Dilara Inam
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
she/her
- dinam@iu.edu
Research interests
intersection of urban and memory studies, nostalgia, public folklore, historical preservation, museums, material culture, heritage studies, Turkey
Touhidul Islam
Ph.D. Student, Folklore
he/him
- toisla@iu.edu
Research interests
intangible cultural heritage practices, living traditions, indigenous knowledge, identity politics, visual representation, climate change, and migration. Passionate about visual documentation of different cultural elements
Christian James
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
they/them
- jamechmo@iu.edu
Research interests
music and international development; South Asian feminisms; folksong in Greater Punjab; Indic musicology; sound studies; public folklore and ethnomusicology
Joseph Johnson
Ph.D. Student, Ethnomusicology
he/they
- johnso46@iu.edu
Research interests
Music of the African diaspora; American roots music; oral traditions and verbal art; queer performance studies; sound studies; public ethnomusicology
Kennedi Johnson
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
- kaj12@iu.edu
Research interests
Children's musiking, racialized sound, music of the African diaspora, and rap and hip hop culture, critical pedagogy, and Black girlhood studies
Micah Ling
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
she/her
- mjling@iu.edu
Research interests
material culture; dress and adornment; quilts and textiles; material imagination; old-time music; the Upper Midwest; Scandinavia; Appalachia; queer folklife; public folklore; museums
Emilyann Long
M.A. Student, Folklore
she/her
- longeh@iu.edu
Research interests
folklore and literature, memoir, storytelling, collective memory, gender and sexuality
Amelia López López
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
she/her
- amelopez@iu.edu
Research interests
Intersections of sound and race; feminisms; postcolonial studies; digital humanities; decolonial approaches; archives; violin making/playing; human rights; Latin American studies; understanding some of the multiple forms of ethnomusicology in the Americas
Fionnán Mac Gabhann
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
- fmacgab@iu.edu
Research interests
Folklore and folklife of Ireland and Scotland; tradition, genre, intertextuality; memory studies and ethnohistory; folklore archives; the ethnography of communication and performance studies; intellectual history of folklore studies
Amy Makota
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
she/her
- afma@iu.edu
Research interests
German hip hop, social activism, performance, gender, feminism, identity, diaspora, multiculturalism, (im)mobility
Monica Marion
Ph.D. Student, Folklore and Complex Networks and Systems
- monmmari@iu.edu
Research interests
computational methods in folklore; folktales; modern American folklore; narrative structure; comparative; Internet folklore; digital archives
Holly Mathews
Ph.D. Student, Folklore
she/her
- hrmathew@iu.edu
Research interests
folk belief and vernacular religion; supernatural traditions; legend studies; personal narrative; gender, sexuality, and class studies
Robert McCormac
Ph.D. Student, Ethnomusicology
he/him
- robdmcco@iu.edu
Research interests
Southeastern US; Appalachia; bluegrass and old time; luthiery; nostalgia and remembrance; environmental crisis; resource extraction
Caroline Miller
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
she/her
- carhmill@iu.edu
Research interests
Irish travellers; women's personal narrative; collaborative methodologies; displacement and eviction; rumor and legend; traditionalization of craft moonshine
Micky Jo Myers
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
she/her & him/his
- myersmij@indiana.edu
Research interests
first-generation college students; personal experience narratives; applied folklore; education; identity; trauma
Suyash Kumar Neupane
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
he/him
IU Food Institute Student Affiliate
- sneupan@iu.edu
Research interests
popular and traditional musics in Nepal/South Asia/Asia; intersection of sound studies and food anthropology; sensory ethnography; synthwave (aesthetics and nostalgia); public digital scholarship
Tadhg Ó Meachair
Ph.D. Student, Ethnomusicology
é/sé/he/him
- tdomeach@iu.edu
Research interests
Irish traditional music; composition in vernacular music; diaspora; nationalism; An Ghaeilge/Irish language
Ozgun Ozata
Ph.D. Student, Folklore
she/her
- oozata@indiana.edu
Research interests
supernatural folklore, psychoanalytical study of folklore, horror culture, magic rituals, media studies, foodways
Emmie Pappa-Eddy
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
they/them
- sepappae@indiana.edu
Research interests
material culture; folk art; costume; dress; gender studies; burlesque; drag; queer culture; popular culture; monsters; foodways
Doug Peach
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
he/him
- dpeach@indiana.edu
Research Interests
Music in the African Diaspora; memory, heritage, and archives; cultural sustainabilities; ecomusicology; applied ethnomusicology/public folklore; collaborative ethnography; United States and Sierra Leone
Olivia Phillips
Ph.D. Student, Ethnomusicology
she/her
- ohphilli@iu.edu
Research interests
Appalachian studies; ruralness; tradition and innovation; traditional music and heritage narratives; American, Scottish, and Irish traditional singing; voice studies; North Carolina folklife; music and place; public/applied folklore and ethnomusicology
Garima Plawat
Ph.D. Student, Folklore
she/her
- gplawat@indiana.edu
Research interests
Indian indigenous communities, indigeneity, festivals and identity, performance studies, death and fertility, sexuality and communal identity formation
Adriane Pontecorvo
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
she/her
- ajpontec@iu.edu
Research interests
media geographies; community radio; music and place; performance; popular music; mobilities
Jeremy Reed
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
he/him
- reedjer@indiana.edu
Research interests
music festivals; musics of the Levantine Arab world; music and nationalism; culture-as-resource; applied/public ethnomusicology
Jessie Riddle
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
- jesriddl@iu.edu
Research interests
Latinx vernacular Catholicism in the United States; festivals for the Virgin of Guadalupe; fairy tale studies; digital humanities; sense of place
Savannah Ridley
Ph.D. Student, Ethnomusicology
they/them & she/her
- sridley@iu.edu
Research interests
music and devotion, poetics, trauma studies, music and grief, sound studies, activist ethnomusicology
Spencer Schaefer
M.A. Student, Ethnomusicology
he/him
- specscha@iu.edu
Research interests
music as storytelling, edumedia, applied ethnomusicology, public facing presentation, critical listening, music and memory, music and ritual, decolonial curation, accessible public scholarship, music and trance, classical music communities, contemporary folk music arrangements
Jenna Sears
Ph.D. Student, Ethnomusicology
they/them
- jensears@indiana.edu
Research interests
applied ethnomusicology, music and migration, music education, activist ethnomusicology, community singing, Queer studies, music and memory, design justice theory
Simran
Ph.D. Student, Folklore
she/her
- fnusi@iu.edu
Research interests
material culture; narratives; belief system; nomadism; faith; worldview; Rajasthan; nomadic blacksmiths; cultural heritage; traditional knowledge; communal legacy
Nia I'man Smith
Ph.D. Student, Ethnomusicology
she/her
- niaismit@iu.edu
Research interests
ancestor veneration in Black music, African cultural retentions, cultural memory, the Black diaspora, Yoruba cosmology
Ben Storsved
Ph.D. Student, Folklore and Central Eurasian Studies
he/him
- bejstor@iu.edu
Research interests
folklore and oral narratives of Central Asia and Siberia; heroic epics; oral literature textualization; digital humanities
Niger Sultana
Ph.D. Student, Folklore
she/her
- nisultan@iu.edu
Research interests
material culture, identity discourse and heritage, feminist folklore, belief system, digital folklore
Caroline Tatem
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
she/her
- cjtatem@iu.edu
Research interests
Ireland; Ulster; Armagh; mumming and masking traditions; mythology; Celtic spirituality; sacred sites; legends; rhyming and poetry traditions; ritual; visual arts; Irish language; Baltic folklore; Lithuania
Iris Teeuwen
Ph.D. Student, Folklore
she/her
- iteeuwen@iu.edu
Research interests
holiday lore; festivals; parades; European winter holidays; Dutch culture; colonialism; transatlantic slave trade; Dutch history; social justice movements
Andrew Tompkins
Ph.D. Student, Folklore
- antompki@iu.edu
Research interests
folk belief; vernacular theologies; American religion; Mormon feminisms
Connor Toole
Ph.D. Student, Folklore
he/him
- contoole@iu.edu
Research interests
Ireland and the UK, Central Europe, North America, industrial folklore, occupational and non-occupational folklore, the construction and politics of culture, identity, and tradition, ethnohistory, oral history, memory studies, spatial studies, the digitization of traditions archives, vernacular custom and material culture, traditional music genres, commemoration, and performance studies
Iryna Voloshyna
Ph.D. Student, Folklore
she/her
- ivolosh@iu.edu
Research interests
nationalism; politics of culture; migration and diaspora studies; UNESCO and ICH; archives and museums; material culture; performance studies; folk arts; Ukrainian traditional music; Slavic folklore; Ukraine; Eastern Europe; Ukrainian Americans
Hilary Warner-Evans
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
she/her
- hwarnere@indiana.edu
Research Interests
folksong and ballad; local songs; songmakers/writers; sense of place; tourism and heritage; communal identity; traditionalization; northeastern North America (esp. Maine)
Kimberley Watson
Ph.D. Student, Ethnomusicology
she/her
- watsokia@iu.edu
Research interests
music of the African Diaspora; Black protest music; music of Trinidad and Tobago; Caribbean music scene; music and healing; critical race theory; oral traditions; activist ethnomusicology; women and gender studies; intersectionality between music education and ethnomusicology; decolonial approaches
Myc Wiatrowski
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
he/him
- michwiat@indiana.edu
Research interests
critical ethnography; folklore and the politics of identity; health and illness; human rights; internet folklore; narrative; popular culture; public folklore
Marisa Wieneke
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
Managing Editor for the Journal of Folklore Research
she/her
- mgwienek@iu.edu
Research interests
media fandom; material culture; memes; folklore on the internet; lay expertise
Jennie Williams
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
- jsw4@iu.edu
Research interests
applied ethnomusicology; folk and traditional arts programs in the United States; community music in Southern Indiana; intangible cultural heritage; American vernacular music; arts administration
Shaun Williams
Ph.D. Candidate, Ethnomusicology
he/him
- shapwill@indiana.edu
Research interests
critical ethnography; social movements; minority rights; Romani culture; transnationalism; identity; Yiddish culture; ethnographic film; audio archives; Eastern Europe
Wuerxiya
Ph.D. Candidate, Folklore
- wwuerxiy@iu.edu
Research interests
Material culture, dress and adornment, folk art, museums, Mongolian music, Mongolia and ethnic groups in China
Heidi Yarger
M.A. Student, Folklore
M.A. Student, Library Science
she/her
- hsyarger@iu.edu
Research interests
community archiving and collective preservation; public folklore; street art; virtual legends; and coming-of-age rituals and rites
Chunfen Zhou
Ph.D. Student, Folklore
- cz47@iu.edu
Research interests
material culture; museum studies; traditional ecological knowledge; human evolution; southwest China
The College of Arts