The Contributors (Volume 8)

NANNETTE DE JONG

De Jong's research broadly explores the African diasporic experience through the combined lenses of music and culture. More specifically, it examines the identities forged by diasporic groups, including the cultural continuities and adaptations which contribute to their construction, and the ways in which these identities find expression in music. In addressing these complexities, she stresses three main themes: the cultural emergence of identity; the reshaping of identity; and the interaction of identity and cultural memory. To date, her work focuses on American jazz, Caribbean music and the music of Southern and Central Africa. These areas, although often considered separate, overlap under the broad rubric of diasporic studies and, when viewed together, offer valuable opportunities to examine from different angles the complexities shaping black identity. In American jazz, her research focus has been on the avant-garde traditions of the 1960s and 70s, examining musicians’ collectives through the aesthetic principles of the Black Power movement. Within Caribbean music, her research emphasis has been on Curaçao, the largest of the Netherlands Antilles, with more recent research examining the role of music among Curaçaoans living in the Netherlands. As a Fulbright scholar, De Jong assumed a one-year residency at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and has since extended her research to include popular and traditional music traditions in Southern Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe) and Central Africa (Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo).