beingwendyhsu.info

curriculum vitae

W.F. Umi Hsu, Ph.D.

email: wf.umi.hsu@gmail.com
twitter: @wfumihsu

Education:

• Ph.D. in Critical and Comparative Studies in Music, University of Virginia, 2011
  Concentrations: ethnomusicology; digital humanities; ethnographic methodology; Asian and Asian American popular music
  Dissertation: Redefining Asian America: Cultural Politics, Aesthetics, and Social Networks of Independent Rock Musicians [PDF]

• MA in East Asian Studies
  University of Virginia, 2004
  Thesis: Misreading the Random: A Transnational Reading of Japanese Anime Cowboy Bebop

• BA in Music
  BA in Religious Studies
  Virginia Commonwealth University, 2001
  University Honors, magnum cum laude

Refereed Articles:

Other Scholarly Publications:

• [Project snapshot, by invitation] Hsu, W.F., Steven Kemper, Josef Taylor, Linda Wei, and Jacob Alden Sargent.”Movable Party”, Making Things and Drawing Boundaries: Experiments in the Digital Humanities, University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis, MN, 2017.
• Hsu, W.F. “A Wider and More Transparent Ethnographic Feedback Circle,” Ethnomusicology Review, Vol. 19, 2014. [official link]
• [Book chapter] Hsu, W.F. “Queering and Reading Plato in Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” Queer Pop Culture, ed. Peele, Thomas. Palgrave-Macmillan, May 2007.
• [Journal article, by invitation] Hsu, Wendy and Carey Sargent. “Rocking Out Between the Global and the Local,” Amalgam, Vol. 2, No. 1, September 2008. [official link]
• Sargent, Carey, Rachel Thompson, and W.F. Hsu. “Performance Art at the (Virginia) Margins: Anthony Restivo’s Far Off and All Aflame,” TDR (The Drama Review), 56.2 (2012): 178-184. DOI:10.1162/DRAM_a_00173. [official link]
• Commissioned to contribute: “Yoko Ono,” “Taqwacore,” “Sean Lennon.” In Grove Dictionary of American Music, second edition, ed. Charles Garrett.
• [Book review] Hsu, W.F. “Review: Sensational Knowledge: Embodying Culture through Japanese Dance by Tomie Hahn,” Women and Music, Vol. 12, November 2008.
• [Book review] Hsu, W.F. “Review: Queering the Popular Pitch edited by Sheila Whiteley and Jennifer Rycenga,” Journal of Popular Music Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3, 2008.
• [Book review] Hsu, W.F. “Review: Wired for Sound: Engineering and Technologies in Sonic Cultures”, Journal of Society for Electro-Acoustic Music, Vol. 18, No. 2, Fall 2005.
• [Concert review] Hsu, W.F. “Review: Alvin Lucier Festival @ UVa,” Journal of Society for Electro-Acoustic Music, Summer 2007.

Selected Projects & Initiatives:

• [Researcher, organizer, co-founder] LA Listens, a sound research and engagement project about LA neighborhoods. Supported by MIT Community Innovation Lab. Funded by National Endowment for the Arts and Shuttleworth Foundation.
• [Founder, instructor] Lab at DCA, a city staff incubator for innovation and digital capacity. Hosted by City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
• [Principle investigator] Paperphone, a digital humanist software development project for a scholarly voice and audio processor, funded by Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University, selected as a part of the Provoke! Digital Sound Studies Collection.
• [Co-founder, project manager, grantwriter] Movable Parts, community maker project with a mission to use creative technologized practices to engage with local communities in the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. Supported by Metro Rideshare and Occidental College.
• [Principle investigator] Sounds of Learning, community-partnered collaboration between Occidental students and Annandale Elementary school students

Selected Presentations:

• Public Listening and Public Hearing: Ethnography for New Civic Possibilities,” Society of Ethnomusicology Southern California and Hawaii Chapter conference, UC Santa Barbara, March 2-3, 2019 [abstract]
• “Public Resonance of Listening to the Streets: Ethnography for New Civic Possibilities”, CTM Festival, Berlin, Germany, February 1, 2016 [abstract]
• “From Roots to Routes: How to Research, Document, and Mediate Music Today”, moderated panel, CTM Festival, Berlin, Germany, February 2, 2016 [abstract]
• “LA Listens:(re-)interpretations of sonic periodicity, rhythm, and neighborhood vibrancy in Los Angeles”, co-authored paper with Steven Kemper and Jessica Blickley, Sound, Images, and Data conference, NYU, July 24, 2015. [abstract]
• “Listening Through Sensory and Civic Data to the Streets of Los Angeles: LA Listens“, co-authored with Steven Kemper and Jessica Blickley, Inertia Conference on Sound, Media, and Digital Humanities, UCLA, April 30, 2015. [preconference blog series]
• “Contact -> Pivot -> Prototype: Enacting Humanities”, Re:Humanities Conference, invited keynote speaker, April 10, 2015.
• “Ethnomusicological Perspectives on Open Access Publication,” organized roundtable presenter, Society of Ethnomusicology, Pittsburgh, PA, November 14, 2014.
• “Digital Ethnomusicology”, roundtable chair and presenter, Society of Ethnomusicology, Indianapolis, IN, November 14, 2013. [abstract, slides]
• “The Sound of Racial Melancholia: Listening to and Performing Rock Music in Asian America,” International Association of the Study of Popular Music – Asia Chapter Meeting, National Taiwan Normal University, July 13-15, 2012. [paper]
• “Transforming Diaspora: The Kominas’ Translocal Socio-musical Geography,” International Association of the Study of Popular Music / The Pop Conference at Experience Music Project, New York University, March 22-25, 2012. [paper excerpt]
• “Digital Ethnography and Fieldwork”, led a session at THATCamp SoCal, Cal State University in Fullerton, September 15, 2012.
• “Digital Ethnography: Integrating Digital Methods into Field Research and Ethnographic Representation”, led a session at THATCampVA, Scholars’ Lab, University of Virginia, December 17-19, 2010.
• “‘Reaching Out to the Wilderness of America’: Performing Punk Minoritarian Politics and Creating a Post-9/11 Taqwacore Diaspora,” Society of Ethnomusicology (SEM), November 11-14, 2010.
• “Digital Field Research: Mapping the Translocal Taqwacore Social Networks,” International Association of the Study of Popular Music – Asia Chapter Meeting, Chinese University of Hong Kong, June 22-23, 2010.
• “Identity, Geopolitics, and Networks in Transnational Asian Indie Rock Music,” Association of Crossroads Cultural Studies Conference, Lingnan University, Hong Kong, June 16-21, 2010.
• “Mapping the Translocal Taqwacore Social Networks via Digital Humanities,” The Pop Conference at Experience Music Project, Seattle, April 15-18, 2010.
• “Resisting Multiculturalism: Racial and Gender Politics of Indie Rock in Asian America”, International Association of the Study of Popular Music – International Meeting, University of Liverpool, UK, July 12-17, 2009.
• “Rocking out and Genre Bending: Asian American musicians in Indie Rock”, Society of American Music (SAM), March 18-22, 2009.
• “Taiwanese America Meets Taiwan through Indie Rock Music Performance”, Society of Ethnomusicology (SEM), October 24-28, 2008.
• “‘I’m a Star, Get It’: Yoko Ono Subverts Rock Masculinity,” International Association of the Study of Popular Music US-chapter meeting (IASPM-US), April 26-28, 2007.
• “William Hung: Performing the Asian Model Minority,” Association of Asian American Studies (AAAS), March 24, 2006.
• “Misreading the Random: Translational Reading of the Japanese Anime Cowboy Bebop”, Performance Studies International (PSi), March 1, 2005.

Selected Invited Lectures:

• “Sound Ethnography: Soundwalk and the Informal Economy of Nakashi”, invited artist-scholar residency, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan, March 9-13, 2016.
• “Digital Ethnography Design Workshop”, mini-residency with Digital Ethnography Research Center, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, October 9, 2014. [slides, blog]
• “Performing research / researching performance? A multimodal approach to knowledge and creative production”, RMIT University, Design Studio, Melbourne, Australia, October 8, 2014.
• “Movable Parts: Making Sounds and Making Place through Design”, Art and Electronics for Designers, UCLA Extension, December 4, 2013. [slides, blog]
• “Digital Ethnography: Computational and Multimodal Approaches to Fieldwork and Ethnographic Representation”, LIB607 Issues in Digital Scholarship [Graduate Seminar], University of Oregon, February 4, 2013. [slides]
• “Protest Soundscape in Taiwan: the Anti-Nuke Edition”, CHIN295 Representations of the Environment in Chinese Literature and Culture, Occidental College, November 8, 2012. [slides]
• “Performing Taiwan: From Ethnography to Performance”, Colloquium: Center for Chinese Studies: Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California in Berkeley, October 3, 2011.
• “Digital Ethnography,” FTV 202 Media Audience & Consumption in Convergence Culture, UCLA, Suzanne Scott, February 7, 2012.
• “Asian Femininity and Popular Music in America,” MUSI Asian American Music, Tomie Hahn, Harvard University, April 25, 2007.
• “Between Indie Rock and Asian America,” Evelyn Danzig Haas Visiting Artist, Wheaton College, September 18, 2008.
• “An Evening of Dialogue on Race,” a panel of faculty speaks on race & ethnicity issues among faculty and graduate students, University of Virginia, March 11, 2009.
• “Ethnography and the Digital Humanities”, SOC4850 Media, Culture and Society, Carey Sargent, September 16, 2009.
• “Asian Musicians in Western Classical Concert Music,” MUSI101: Introduction to Musical Literature, Allison Robbins, University of Virginia, December 3, 2007.
• “Race & Ethnicity in Contemporary US Music-Culture,” SOC225 Contemporary Music and U.S. Society, Carey Sargent, University of Virginia, January 8, 2007.
• “Introduction to Ethnographic Methods and Performance Theory,” SOC225 Contemporary Music and U.S. Society, Carey Sargent,

Teaching:

Thesis Advisor/Instructor, Art Center College of Design, 2013:

• Media Design Practices MFA Thesis Seminar

Instructor, Occidental College, 2011-13:

• MUSC 112 Digital Music-Cultures
• Comp 155 [Computer Science] Web Design & Programming
• CSP 27 [Freshman Core Cultural Studies Program] Race and Gender in Popular Music

Graduate Instructor, Department of Music, University of Virginia, 2008-2009:

• SWAG 144/1440 Gender and Race in Popular Music

Graduate Instructor, Department of Music, University of Virginia, 2007-2010:

• MUSI 207/307 Popular Music and Transnationalism
• MUSI 426/4510 Music in Asian America
• MUSI 208D Race and Ethnicity in Popular Music
• MUSI 208 Music in Asian America
• SOC/MUSI 225 Digital Vernacular Music Culture [co-instructor]
• SOC 225 Contemporary Music in US Society [co-instructor]

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Music, University of Virginia, 2004-present:

• MUSI 211 Music in Everyday Life
• MUSI 207 Roots Music of America
• MUSI 212 History of Jazz
• MUSI 101 Introduction to Musical Literature

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Asian & Middle Eastern Languages Department, University of Virginia, Spring 2004: AMEL 302 The Asian/Pacific American Experience in the US.

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, Virginia Commonwealth University, 2001-2002, RELS/PHIL 412 Zen Buddhism

Awards, Honors, and Affiliations:

• NEA Design Grant, in partnership with MIT Colab, 2017
• Flash Grant, Shuttleworth Foundation, 2016
• Public Fellowship, ACLS (American Council of Learned Societies)/Mellon, 2013-2015
• Affiliated Scholar, Center for Digital Liberal Arts, Occidental College, 2013-present
• Mellon Digital Scholarship Postdoctoral Fellowship, Occidental College, 2011-13
• Graduate School of Arts & Sciences Dissertation Year Fellowship, 2010-11
• Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Advanced Collaboratory (HASTAC) Scholars, 2010-11
• Graduate Fellowship in Digital Humanities, UVa Scholars Lab, spring 2010
• Presidential Fellowship (full four-year university graduate fellowship), UVa, 2004-2008
• Ellen Weedon East Asia Travel Grant, 2008
• Huskey Graduate student Travel Award, UVa, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009
• “Improvisational Encounter” (performing-research trip), Vice President of Student Affairs and Assistant Dean of Asian Pacific American Student Affairs, 2007

Selected Performances/Recordings:

• Invited performance. Dzian!, Inter-Asia Pop Conference (IASPM-Asia meeting), National Taiwan Normal University, July 13, 2012. [video]
• Invited performance. Dzian!, Into the Mix: Asian Pop Music Conference, Princeton University, March 26, 2011
• Invited performance. Dzian!, Society of Ethnomusicology, Midwest Chapter, performance & demo-lecture upon invitation, April 9, 2011.
• Alishan A-Go-Go, EP, self-released, Dzian!.
• Agents Against Agency, DVD, Pinko Communoids, curated by Matthew Burtner, EcoSono Institute.
• “Dusk”, Pinko Communoids, Feminist Theory and Music 10 Conference, University of North Carolina in Greensboro, May18-30, 2009.
• FFMUP (Free_Form_Mash_Up “Between-the-cracks” music series), Grapefruit Experiment, Princeton University, February 23, 2010. [audio | blog]
• “Improvising Via Social Media”, Pinko Communoids, The Pop Conference at Experience Music Project | Science Fiction Museum, Seattle, April 15-18, 2010. [review by KEXP]
• DisOrient, Duo concert with Professor Tomie Hahn, Evelyn Danzig Haas Visiting Artist, Wheaton College, MA, September 18, 2008.
• “Rust”, Technosonics Electronic Music Festival VII, Pinko Communoids, Charlottesville, VA, February 12, 2007. [photo]
• Womb Bloc Music Festival, Pinko Communoids, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, June 23, 2007.
• Sonic Circuits International Experimental Music Festival, Pinko Communoids, Washington DC, September 22, 2007. [photo]
• A Night of New Music, guest appearance as Pinko Communoids at UVa New Music Ensemble concert, Old Cabell Hall, University of Virginia, March 27, 2009.
• Queering Sound Festival, Grapefruit Experiment, Pyramid Atlantic, June 6, 2009. [audio]

Languages:

• Mandarin Chinese, native fluency
• Japanese, reading proficiency
• German, reading and writing proficiency