Gavin Steingo
{{Short description|South African ethnomusicologist and scholar}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Gavin Steingo
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = 1981
| birth_place = Johannesburg, South Africa
| education = University of Pennsylvania
| occupation = Ethnomusicologist, Professor
| years_active = 2010–present
| employer = Princeton University
| notable_works = Kwaito’s Promise: Music and the Aesthetics of Freedom in South Africa
}}
Gavin Steingo (born 1981) is a South African ethnomusicologist and Professor of Music at Princeton University. His work explores the roles of music and sound in shaping global modernity, with a focus on African music, sound studies, and acoustic ecology.
Early life and education
Steingo was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He earned his PhD in the anthropology of music from the University of Pennsylvania in 2010. From 2010 to 2012, he was a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University in New York.{{cite web |title=Gavin Steingo Professor of Music |url=https://music.princeton.edu/people/gavin-steingo/ |website=Princeton University Department of Music |publisher=Princeton University |access-date=8 December 2024}}
Academic career
Steingo joined the faculty at Princeton University as an assistant professor of music. His research examines music and sound as fundamental aspects of global modernity, addressing themes such as interspecies communication, the politics of representation, and the aesthetics of freedom. He employs a multidisciplinary methodology, integrating theory, history, and ethnography.
Steingo's first book, Kwaito’s Promise: Music and the Aesthetics of Freedom in South Africa (University of Chicago Press, 2016), investigates Kwaito and how South African musicians engage with concepts such as democracy and freedom.{{cite book |last1=Steingo |first1=Gavin |title=Kwaito's Promise: Music and the Aesthetics of Freedom in South Africa |date=June 2016 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=9780226362540 |pages=320 |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/K/bo23290913.html}} The book received the Alan P. Merriam Prize in 2017 for its contributions to the field of ethnomusicology.{{cite web |title=Alan Merriam Prize |url=https://www.ethnomusicology.org/page/Prizes_Merriam |website=Society for Ethnomusicology |access-date=8 December 2024}}
His second book, Interspecies Communication: Sound and Music Beyond Humanity, explores human efforts to communicate with non-human species and the broader implications for language, beauty, and spirituality.{{cite book |last1=Steingo |first1=Gavin |title=Interspecies Communication: Sound and Music beyond Humanity |date=April 2024 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=9780226831367 |pages=256 |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo210664314.html}}
Selected works
- Kwaito’s Promise: Music and the Aesthetics of Freedom in South Africa (2016){{cite book |last1=Steingo |first1=Gavin |title=Kwaito's Promise: Music and the Aesthetics of Freedom in South Africa |date=June 2016 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=9780226362540 |pages=320 |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/K/bo23290913.html}}
- Remapping Sound Studies (2019), co-edited with Jim Sykes{{cite book |last1=Steingo |first1=Gavin |title=Remapping Sound Studies |date=April 2019 |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham, NC |isbn=9781478000464 |pages=296 |url=https://www.dukeupress.edu/remapping-sound-studies}}
- Interspecies Communication: Sound and Music Beyond Humanity (2024) {{cite book |last1=Steingo |first1=Gavin |title=Interspecies Communication: Sound and Music beyond Humanity |date=April 2024 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=9780226831367 |pages=256 |url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo210664314.html}}2024
Editorial and collaborative projects
Steingo is the co-editor of the book series “Critical Conjunctures in Music and Sound” for Oxford University Press.{{cite web |title=Oxford University Press |url=https://global.oup.com/academic/content/series/c/critical-conjunctures-in-music-and-sound-ccms/?cc=us&lang=en& |website=Critical Conjunctures in Music and Sound |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=8 December 2024}} He also serves on the editorial boards of Analytical Approaches to African Music,{{cite web |title=Editorial Board |url=https://africa.iftawm.org/about/ |website=Analytical Approaches to African Music |publisher=International Foundation for the Theory and Analysis of World Musics |access-date=8 December 2024}} and is the co-founder of the Animal Song Collective,{{cite web |url=https://www.theanimalsongcollective.org/ |website=The Animal Song Collective|title=The Animal Song Collective}} which investigates animal song through interdisciplinary approaches.
Recognition
Steingo has received grants and fellowships from institutions such as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, and the Alzheimer's Association. His contributions to the field have been widely recognized, with Kwaito’s Promise earning praise in academic reviews{{cite journal |last1=Clark |first1=Emily Hansell |title=Steingo, Gavin. 2016. Kwaito's Promise: Music and the Aesthetics of Freedom in South Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press |journal=Current Musicology |date=1 April 2018 |issue=102 |doi=10.7916/cm.v0i102.5376 |url=https://doi.org/10.7916/cm.v0i102.5376 |access-date=8 December 2024}} and inspiring creative works, such as an album by South African musician King Razo. In 2024, Steingo was awarded a Fellowship at the Getty Research Institute.{{cite news |title=Getty Announces 2024/2025 Scholars |url=https://www.getty.edu/news/getty-announces-2024-2025-scholars/ |access-date=8 December 2024 |agency=Getty |publisher=Getty}}
References
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External links
- [https://music.princeton.edu/people/gavin-steingo Gavin Steingo's faculty page at Princeton University]
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Category:Princeton University faculty