Rachel Colwell
Rachel Colwell is an ethnomusicologist specializing in Tunisian Andalusi art music (mā’lūf) and listening practices. She received her Doctorate in Music at the University of California, Berkeley and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Musical Studies and Anthropology at Oberlin College. In her ethnographic fieldwork, she investigates the connections to geographic places and movements, emplaced sonic histories, and affective orientations perpetuated and challenged through contemporary Tunisian listening. Her work advocates for increased attention toward questions of access and participation in post-authoritarian contexts and for multisensory and emplaced knowledge as key sites of continued anti-colonial resistance and scholarship. Her most recent research explores issues of music, disability, and aesthetics among musicians with limb differences.
She is a violinist and vocalist with training in Western classical art music, Arab art music, American and British Isles fiddling traditions, Javanese and Balinese gamelan, and West Sumatran talempong.
Her teaching interests include Music and Sound in the Arab World, Jewish Music, Music and Religion, Sensory Studies, History and Politics of Listening, Sound Studies, Music and Material Culture, Music in North American Cultures, Disability Culture and the Arts, Pedagogy in Ethnomusicology.
Selected Publications:
Forthcoming: “Jewish Women’s Inclusion in Narratives of Tunisian Ma’lūf” In Singing the Jewish Experience. Ed. Samantha Cooper and Kay Kaufman Shelemay. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
“Jaww: conceptualising Tunisian musical air.” 2025. Ethnomusicology Forum.
“Settled & Unsettled Listening: Café Culture, Colonialism, and Multisensory Politics in Tunisian-Andalusī Music.” 2022. Journal of North African Studies.
Review of Dwight Reynold’s book, “The Musical Heritage of Al-Andalus” (SOAS Studies in Music). 2020. The Mediterranean Seminar Review.
Review of Richard Jankowsky’s book, “Ambient Sufism, Ritual Niches and the Social Work of Musical Form.” 2021. Asian Music.
Review of Claire Belhassine’s film, “The Man Behind the Microphone.” 2017. Ethnomusicology.
Select Academic and Public Presentations
“Sensory Histories of Ma’lūf Musicking in Ottoman Tunisia.” Historicizing the Muslim Sensorium, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands. October 18, 2024.
“Klezmer! A Brief Introduction” Public Lecture & Interview with Klezmer Musicians, West Philadelphia Orchestra Performance at Congregation Ohev Shalom, Wallingford, Pennsylvania. April 14, 2024.
“Contrafactum: Jewish-Muslim Musical Interaction Through Shared Melodies.” Jewish Interfaith, Intercultural, and Intersectional Engagements, American Academy of Religion, Western Region, Las Vegas. March 17, 2024.
“Disability Justice and Techniques of Inclusion in the Higher Ed. Classroom,” “Panel: Exploring Inclusive Teaching Methodologies in SWANA Studies,” Middle Eastern Studies Association, Montreal. November 4, 2023.
“The Sonic Nexus: Language in MENA Music Teaching,” Panel: “Teaching Language with Music and Music with Language: Pedagogical Innovations in Ethnomusicology and Arabic Language Instruction,” Middle Eastern Studies Association, Denver. December 2, 2022.
“Nimshiū Ziyār: Sensory Celebration of Lag Ba’Omer in Djerba, Tunisia.” Panel: “Multisensory Experience, Past and Present: Jewish Life through the Senses,” Association for Jewish Studies, Chicago. December 19, 2021.
“Acoustics, Aesthetics, and the Somewhat-Audible Pasts of Tunisian Ma’lūf.” Public talk at the Institute for Sacred Music, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut. April 15, 2021.
“Musicking and Listening in Andalusian Air: Ma’lūf, Sociality, and Place in Tunisia.” Panel: “Andalusian Music and the Mediterranean,” International Council for Traditional Music, Mediterranean Music Studies Group, Essaouria, Morocco. June 22, 2018.
“Public Participation and Voice of Heritage in Post-2011 Revolution Tunisia.” Panel: “Ideologies of Voice, Sound, and Landscape in the Maghrib,” American Anthropological Association, Washington, DC. December 1, 2017.
“Youth Ma’lūf Listening Acts, Ethics, and Coping in Post-Revolutionary Tunisia.” Society for Arab Music Research sponsored panel: “Affects and Politics of Youth Music and Listening in the Arab Mediterranean,” Society for Ethnomusicology, Denver. October 26, 2017.
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Office:
3-34A Arts Building (Main & Convocation Hall)