Affiliated Departments & Programs
Maria Mendonça is an ethnomusicologist who teaches in the music and anthropology departments at Kenyon. Her research interests include Indonesian music (gamelan traditions of Java and Bali, and their circulation outside Indonesia), music and prisons, ethnomusicology and film, ethnomusicology and the public sector, and sound in museum and heritage spaces. She also directs the Javanese and Sundanese gamelan ensembles at Kenyon (Musc 485).
Maria Mendonça has worked as an ethnomusicologist in a variety of settings in the United Kingdom and United States. These include working an Ethnomusicology Editor for The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, teaching Javanese gamelan for several British universities and conservatories, and leading projects involving gamelan and music education for a range of British arts institutions including the South Bank Centre, London; BBC Symphony Orchestra; and St David's Hall, Cardiff. She established the Gamelan Education program in the Hallé Orchestra, Manchester, from 1993-95.
Maria Mendonça has performed gamelan with several groups, including Friends of the Gamelan (Chicago), Siswa Sukra (London) and Cardiff Gamelan (Wales, UK); and has also been a gamelan performer in theatre productions for Royal National Theatre, London, and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Recent Projects
Trailer for the documentary film "Goong: Sound Through Fire" (2023):
"Re-Sounding the Past: Decolonising Sonic Heritage Spaces" (2022):
Education
— Doctor of Philosophy from Wesleyan University
— Master of Arts from Wesleyan University
— Bachelor of Arts from the University of York, United Kingdom
Courses Recently Taught
This course is designed to introduce students to the study of Asia and the Middle East within the context of the global humanities. It serves as a sampler, which exposes students to the rich diversity of Asian and Islamicate humanities. The seminar explores a wide range of primary sources from different places and historical periods. These may include such diverse materials as the memoirs of the medieval Muslim traveler Ibn Battuta, "The Analects of Confucius," readings from the "Vedas" and "Upanishads," Farid ud din Attar's "The Conference of the Birds," Kurosawa's "Rashomon," Rabindranath Tagore's "The Home and The World," short fiction from the modern Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani and examples of contemporary Chinese science fiction. This interdisciplinary course does not count toward the completion of any diversification requirement. Only open to first-year students.
This course introduces students to the discipline that studies and compares cultures. Students learn about the main concepts used in anthropology and how anthropologists conduct research, while also discovering how people live in other times and places. They also learn about theories that provide frameworks for understanding and comparing cultures. Ethnographic descriptions of life in particular places give students factual materials with which to apply and critique such theories. Through this introduction to the study of culture in general, and an exposure to specific cultures, students inevitably come to re-examine some of the premises of their own culture. This foundation course is required for upper-level work in cultural anthropology courses. No prerequisite. Offered every semester.
This course is the same as MUSC 206D. This course must be taken as ANTH 206D to count toward the social science diversification requirement. This course investigates the issues, methods and history of the discipline of ethnomusicology. It focuses on case studies drawn from different music genres and areas of the world that illustrate the complexities of considering music in its cultural contexts. Student work involves close listening, engagement with cultural theory and practical fieldwork exercises, culminating in an individual field research project on a topic related to the course. This counts toward the ethnomusicology requirement for the music major or elective for the minor. This counts toward an upper-level elective for the anthropology major. Prerequisite: MUSC 102, 105 or 107 or ANTH 113. Offered every three out of four years.
This course is the same as MUSC 310D. This course must be taken as ANTH 310D to count toward the social science diversification requirement. Music is deeply embedded in many forms of individual and cultural identity. This seminar examines the relationship of music to notions of cultural and human rights. Using case studies from a variety of music cultures, we explore topics such as music censorship, music and warfare, music and disability, and music and AIDS awareness. Engaging with literature from ethnomusicology, anthropology and other social sciences, we explore the following questions: What roles do music and related forms of expressive culture play in notions of human rights? Who owns music? Who has the right to transform music? What are the artistic, political and economic reasons for these transformations? What are their implications? What constitutes a cultural-rights violation? What role, if any, should regulatory agencies have with regard to monitoring cultural rights? This counts toward the upper-level cultural anthropology requirement for the major. Prerequisite: ANTH 113 or MUSC 102, 105 or 107 and permission of instructor. Offered every other year.
This course is the same as ANTH 206D. It must be taken as MUSC 206D to count toward the fine art diversification. This course is an investigation of the issues, methods and history of the discipline of ethnomusicology. This course focuses on case studies drawn from different music genres and areas of the world that illustrate the complexities of considering music in its cultural contexts. Student work involves close listening, engagement with cultural theory and practical fieldwork exercises, and culminates in an individual field research project on a topic related to the course. This counts toward the ethnomusicology requirement for the music major. Prerequisite: MUSC 102, 105 or 107 or ANTH 113. Offered every three out of four years.
This course is the same as ANTH 310D. It must be taken as MUSC 310D to count toward the fine arts diversification. Music is deeply embedded in many forms of individual and cultural identity. This upper-level seminar examines the relationship of music to notions of cultural rights and human rights. Using case studies from a variety of music cultures, we explore topics such as music censorship, music and warfare, music and disability, and music and AIDS awareness, among others. Engaging with literature from ethnomusicology, anthropology and other social sciences, we explore the following questions: What roles do music and related forms of expressive culture play in notions of human rights? Who owns music? Who has the right to transform music? What are the artistic, political and economic reasons for these transformations? What are their implications? What constitutes a cultural-rights violation? What role, if any, should regulatory agencies have with regard to monitoring cultural rights? This counts as an elective for the major. Prerequisite: ANTH 113 or MUSC 102, 105 or 107 and permission of instructor.
This course provides study of the music of the Sundanese gamelan degung, a traditional ensemble incorporating different types of tuned bronze percussion, drums, flutes and vocals. Students are introduced to basic and advanced instrumental techniques for several individual gamelan instruments and receive coaching in musicianship and ensemble skills. A variety of repertories is covered. Each semester culminates in one public performance. No musical experience is required. This course can be used to satisfy diversification requirements in anthropology as well as music. This is not a yearlong course, and registration is required each semester. Permission of instructor required. No prerequisite.