Archives of African American Music and Culture

Staff

Director
Tyron Cooper

B.A. (music education) Bethune-Cookman University (BCU); M.A. (jazz studies) Indiana University; Ph.D. (ethnomusicology) Indiana University.

Areas of specialization: African-American popular music and gospel music, religious belief and identity, live recording productions, performance practice.

Contact: tycooper @ indiana.edu

More about Dr. Tyron Cooper

Head of Collections
Brenda Nelson-Strauss
Head of Collections of the Archives of African American Music and Culture.

B.M. (flute, music education), Western Washington University; MLS (music specialization), Indiana University; MA, coursework (folklore/ethnomusicology), Indiana University.

Areas of specialization: performing arts archives and recorded sound collections.

Contact: bnelsons @ indiana.edu

Digital Archivist/Project Manager
William R. Vanden Dries
Digital Archivist/Project Manager of the Archives of African American Music and Culture.

B.S. (Aerospace Engineering), The University of Texas at Austin; M.S. (Information Studies), The University of Texas at Austin.

Areas of specialization: Audiovisual collections, digital archiving and preservation, information organzation.

Contact: wvandend @ indiana.edu

Past Directors

Mellonee Burnim
Professor Emerita, Folklore and Ethnomusicology; Director of the AAAMC (2014-2016); Adjunct Professor Emerita African American and African Diaspora Studies.

B.M. (music education), North Texas State University; M.M. (ethnomusicology) University of Wisconsin; Ph.D. (Ethnomusicology), Indiana University.

Areas of specialization: African-American religious music, music of the African diaspora, black music aesthetics and performance.

More about Dr. Mellonee Burnim

Portia K. Maultsby
Professor Emerita of Folklore and Ethnomusicology; Founding Director of AAAMC (1991-2014); Adjunct Professor Emerita in the School of Music, African Studies, and American Studies.

B.M. (piano, composition/theory), Mount St. Scholastic College; M.M. (musicology), University of Wisconsin; Ph.D. (ethonomusicology), University of Wisconsin.

Areas of specialization: African-American popular music, music industry, Black music aesthetics and performance.

More about Dr. Portia K. Maultsby

Faculty Research Associates

Valerie Grim
Professor and Chair of African American and African Diaspora Studies.

B.A. (history) Tougaloo College; M.A. (history) Iowa State University; Ph.D. (history) Iowa State University.

Areas of specialization: African American agricultural and rural history and the role of religion in the life of African Americans.

Alisha Lola Jones
Assistant Professor, Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology and Affiliated Faculty, Department of Gender Studies.

B.M. Oberlin Conservatory; M.Div. Yale Divinity School; Certificate, Yale Institute of Sacred Music; Ph.D. (Ethnomusicology) University of Chicago.

Areas of specialization: Music and religion in the African diaspora, men's studies, gender and sexuality, identity, music industry, popular music, and voice studies.

Fernando Orejuela
Senior Lecturer of Folklore and Ethnomusicology.

B.A. (English literature), University of Cincinnati, M.A. (folklore) Indiana University, Ph.D. (folklore), Indiana University.

Areas of specialization: Hip hop music and culture, popular culture, pedagogy, United States.

Charles Sykes
Director, African American Arts Institute and Adjunct Professor Folklore and Ethnomusicology.

B.S. (music education), Florida A&M University; M.M.E. (music education), Indiana University; D.M.E. (music education/ethnomusicology), Indiana University.

Areas of specialization: African-American popular music, arranging, performance, and analysis.

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Archives of African American Music and Culture