KU musicology professor invited to international musicology event in Ecuador

Ketty Wong-Cruz, KU assistant professor of ethnomusicology, was invited to present a conference paper and participate in a round table discussion at the Second International Congress of Musicology in Loja, Ecuador, from November 29 to December 3. The event was hosted by the Ministry of Culture and the Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja and recognized scholars from Spain, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Mexico.

Professor Wong will return to Ecuador to conduct a workshop on ethno musicological research methods at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Quito on December 18. This 32-hour workshop is part of the MM program at the Universidad de Cuenca in which Professor Wong and her colleague Professor Paul Laird will participate as guest instructors.

Additionally, on December 28, the Ministry of Culture of Ecuador will acknowledge Professor Wong as the 2010 winner of the prestigious international Casa de las Americas Musicology Award.

Ketty Wong-Cruz joined the KU faculty in August 2006, having taught previously at the University of Texas at Austin and in her home country Ecuador. She received her Ph. D. in ethnomusicology from the University of Texas at Austin with a dissertation on how urban popular music has constructed varied perceptions of Ecuadorian national identity. She also holds a master’s degree in ethnomusicology from UT Austin and a master's in musicology from the Moscow Conservatory P. I. Tchaikovsky. Her research interests focus on Latin American art, folk, and traditional music, nationalisms, identity, migration, and popular music. She has conducted short and extended fieldwork research in Ecuador, Peru, Spain, and New York.

For more information, contact the KU School of Music at 785-864-3436. www.music.ku.edu