Following the reclamatory work of Black feminist scholars in anthropology and folklore, this brief article reimagines Zora Neale Hurston’s work as presaging the postmodern turn in ethnomusicology before pointing to the lessons we can learn form Hurston’s example in ethnomusicology today.

This article takes James Baldwin’s only children’s book, Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood, as a starting point to explore his theorizations of music, affect, and childhood. Based loosely on the lives of his nephew and niece as well as his own memories of childhood, the book follows children protagonists and friends TJ, WT, and Bli…[Read more]

The members of the all-female Original Pinettes Brass Band contest the male domination of the New Orleans brass band scene. Playing music on male-gendered instruments, they queer the normative relationship between instruments and musicians and carve out a space for female musicianship. This essay deconstructs their songs and performance decisions…[Read more]