Alaba Ilesanmi, Ph.D.
Scholar | Educator | Musician
I am an Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Minnesota. My research, teaching, and public engagements focus on global Black music, sonic histories, and expressive cultures, with particular attention to the intellectual, historical, and social formations that shaped them.
As an inaugural fellow, I recently completed the Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship (Mellon/ACLS DIF), which supports interdisciplinary and innovative research in the humanities and interpretive social sciences. The Mellon/ACLS DIF is awarded to scholars “who show promise [in] leading their fields in important new directions.”
My doctoral training is in ethnomusicology and historical musicology; my work, however, makes interdisciplinary connections across diverse fields in the humanities, including African and Black studies, diaspora studies, popular music studies, sound studies, and urban studies. My work has received support from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the West African Research Association (WARA), the Presser Foundation, and the Florida Education Fund, among other prestigious institutions.
Research Interests
I work broadly on global Black music, sonic histories, and expressive cultures, as well as their intellectual and historical formations. My research examines the intersection of sound, music, history, and culture, engaging questions and debates around decoloniality, postcoloniality, globalization, identity, and indigenous knowledge systems.
My other interests include musical biography, popular cultures (including Afro-nightlife cultures), music and memory, music and spirituality, colonial copyright law, Indigenous ownership, global music pedagogy, public and creative musicology, and sound studies.
Methodologically, I am interested in ways indigenous knowledge can transform ways of knowing, knowledge production, and modes of scholarly dissemination and presentation in the humanities.
Publications
Op Ed.
"Fela Kuti is more famous today than ever – what's behind his global power." The Conversation (2024).
"From Fela Kuti to Jimi Hendrix and The Grateful Dead – the story of music manager Rikki Stein." The Conversation (2024).
"Fela Kuti est aujourd'hui plus célèbre que jamais: les raisons de cette obsession mondiale." The Conversation (2024).
Book Chapters
"African-Focused Approaches to Teaching African Popular Music in Western Classrooms." In Navigating Stylistic Boundaries in the Music History Classroom, edited by Esther M. Morgan-Ellis, 124–39. Routledge (2024).
"More Than Rhythms: Melo-Rhythmic Articulations in African Popular Music." In Modeling Popular Music Analysis, edited by Kimberly Loeffert and John Peterson. Oxford University Press (In Progress).
Encyclopedia Entries
"Fela Anikulapo-Kuti." In Oxford Bibliographies in Music, edited by Kate van Orden. Oxford University Press (2021).
Awards, Fellowships, and Grants
- 2023 Inaugural recipient, Mellon/ACLS Dissertation Innovation Fellowship, American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS)
- 2023 Presser Graduate Music Award, Presser Foundation
- 2023 Semi-finalist, Fulbright Student Program International Study/Research Award
- 2022 Pre-Doctoral Fellowship, West African Research Association
- 2022 Honorable Mention, Ford Foundation Pre-Doctoral Fellowship
- 2022 Moellership Program Summer of Service, The Center for Leadership and Service
- 2021–25 McKnight Doctoral Fellowships, Florida Education Fund
- 2019–25 Carol F. and Richard P. Krebs Ethnomusicology Scholarship