Lei Ouyang
Associate Professor
Department Chair, Music
Program Coordinator, Asian American Studies
Music
Asian Studies
Contact
Photo by Bob Williams
BIOGRAPHY:
Lei X. Ouyang, she/her, (Ph.D. and M.A. in Ethnomusicology, University of Pittsburgh; B.A. in East Asian Studies, Macalester College) is Associate Professor and Chair of Music at Swarthmore College. Her scholarly interests are in music, culture, and performance in East Asia (primarily China, Japan, and Taiwan) and Asian America. Her research examines issues of music and memory, identity, politics, race and ethnicity, and social justice. Research projects include music and memory in the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Race and Performance in Asian American musical theatre, and social justice and taiko drumming in the American Midwest. Lei previously taught at Skidmore College (2006-2017) as Associate Professor of Music, at Macalester College (2004-2006) as a Consortium for Faculty Diversity Postdoctoral Fellow, and at National Taiwan University's Graduate Institute of Musicology (Spring 2021) as a Visiting Associate Professor. You can find her CV and published work at academia.edu.
RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS:
Chinese Cultural Revolution, Taiko drumming, music and intersections with topics including memory, politics, race, ethnicity, social identities, and social justice.
COURSES:
MONOGRAPH
2022. Music as Mao’s Weapon: Remembering the Cultural Revolution, University of Illinois Press. PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLES 2018. “Teaching Mao through Music: Pedagogy and Practice in the Liberal Arts Classroom.” Journal of Music History Pedagogy 8(2): 30-61. 2018. “‘Itsy Bitsy Screw Cap’: Children’s Songs from the Chinese Cultural Revolution.” Journal of Music & Politics 12(1). 2009. “Performing Race and Place in Asian America.” Asian Music 40(1): 4-30. 2007. “Flowers on the Battlefield are More Fragrant.” Asian Music 38(1): 88-121. 2005. “Music, Memory, and Nostalgia: Collective Memories of Cultural Revolution Songs in Contemporary China.” The China Review 5(2): 151-175. TEXTBOOK CHAPTERS 2021. “Music of China and Taiwan” in Excursions in World Music, Eighth Edition, Edited by Timothy Rommen, 94-129. New York, NY: Routledge. 2021. “Music and Memory” in Critical Themes in World Music: A Reader for Excursions in World Music, Eighth Edition, edited by Timothy Rommen, 85-92. New York, NY: Routledge. SOLICITED REVIEWS2018. Review of Chinatown Opera Theater in North America by Nancy Yunhwa Rao. MUSICultures 45(1-2): 274-276. 2012. Review of Angry Drummers, A Taiko Group from Osaka, Japan [DVD], directed by Yoshitaka Terada. Ethnomusicology 56(3): 569-571. 2009. Review of Lives in Chinese Music, edited by Helen Rees. The World of Music 52(1): 174- 176. AWARDS Deborah Wong Research & Publication Award, Society for Ethnomusicology (2018) President’s Award, Skidmore College (2015) GRANTS AND FELLOWSHIPS Andrew W. Mellon Periclean Faculty Leadership Fellow (2021-2022) Arthur Vining Davis Civic Engagement Fellow (2012-2014) Association for Asian Studies China and Inner Asia Council Small Grant (2010-2011) Andrew Mellon Pre-Doctoral Fellowship (2002-2004) Dissertation Research Fellowship, Asian Cultural Council (2002) Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship [Japanese] (2000) Research Grant, Japan American Society of Pittsburgh (2000) Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship [Chinese] (1999-2000)
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) 2018-2020 Second Vice-President 2016-2017 2017 SEM Program Committee Chair 2013-2014 Council Secretary (& Council Nominating Committee Chair) 2012-2014 Council MemberAssociation for Chinese Music Research (ACMR) 2012-2015 President 2007-2010 Publications Editor 2005-2010 Member-at-large & Newsletter Editor
Society for Asian Music 2011-2016 Editorial Advisory Board (East Asia)
Crossroads Project on Diversity, Difference, and Under-representation (SEM Standing Committee) 2008-2010 Co-Chair
Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Society for Ethnomusicology (MACSEM) 2019 Local Arrangements Committee Chair, Annual Meeting 1999-2001 Secretary EDUCATION: Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2004 (Dissertation: 'New Songs of the Battlefield': Songs and Memories of the Chinese Cultural Revolution) M.A. in Ethnomusicology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2001 (Thesis: A Musical Metaphor for Nation Building: The Folk Song "Esashi Oiwake" in Early Twentieth Century Japan) Advanced Certificate in Asian Studies, Language concentration: Chinese, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2001 B.A. in East Asian Studies, Language concentration: Japanese, Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota, 1997 (Thesis: Popular Music of Taiwan and Japan) RECENT PROJECTS AND EVENTS: Book Launch and Discussion: Abe, Ayyagari, Hopkins, Ouyang & Wong Presser Foundation: Advancement of Music Committee UC Davis Valente Lecture Swarthmore College Lang Center Engaged Humanities Studio Fellow Asian Arts Initative: Radio AAI Li Delun in Philadelphia: Ethnography, Archives, and Music Across the Pacific
