Kristen Graves, assistant professor of ethnomusicology in the Glenn Korff School of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, recently received the Bess Lomax Hawes Prize in Applied Ethnomusicology from the Society for Ethnomusicology. The annual award recognizes scholars who “advance the understanding and scope of applied ethnomusicology and the goal of connecting ethnomusicology to the public arena.”
Dr. Graves was honored for her paper, “Song from the Discarded: The Multisensory Shaping of a Community Corrido in the Oaxaca Dump.” Drawing from two years of fieldwork and Dr. Graves’ personal connection, the award-winning publication examines the 42-year history of a workers’ union in the garbage dump of Oaxaca, Mexico, showcasing how the community’s multisensory environment led to the collaborative creation of a community song.
Before joining the University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty earlier this year, Dr. Graves was a faculty member at the University of Toronto, where she taught courses on world music, Latin American music, and sound and the environment. She holds a bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, a master’s degree from New York University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto.