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Josh Kun

ジョシュ・クン

Josh Kun

Profile

Gender
Male
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Los Angeles, California, USA → Riverside, California, USA

Career

Occupations
author, academic, music critic, professor
Active Years
1993-
Affiliations
USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, USC Department of American Studies and Ethnicity (joint appointment), University of California, Riverside (former affiliation), Norman Lear Center, Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation (co-founder), Reboot Stereophonic (co-founder)
Influenced By
Abraham Zevi Idelsohn

Education

Harvard School (Harvard-Westlake predecessor)
Country: United States
Private preparatory day school; exact years not specified.
Duke University
College of Arts and Sciences / Literature
Degree: B.A.
Period: 在学〜1993年
Year of Graduation: 1993
Country: United States
Received B.A. in literature.
University of California, Berkeley
Graduate (Ethnic Studies) / Ethnic Studies
Degree: Ph.D.
Country: United States
Earned Ph.D. in Ethnic Studies. Exact year not specified in provided sources.

Awards

MacArthur Fellowship
2016
Organization: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
Result: 受賞
American Book Award
2006
Work: Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America
Organization: Before Columbus Foundation
Result: 受賞
Unity Award in Media
2007
Organization: unknown
Result: 受賞
Fellow of the Ucross Foundation
Organization: Ucross Foundation
Result: フェロー

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America

2005 Academic / Music studies

A study of music and race in America, examining urban culture and listening environments; explores social and cultural connections through music.

musicraceurban culturelistening

And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl: The Jewish Past As Told by the Records We've Loved and Lost

2008 Nonfiction / Music history

Explores Jewish-American musical history through records; co-authored/co-edited volume.

Jewish-Americanmusic historymemory

The Song Is Not the Same: Jews and American Popular Music

2011 Edited volume / Music studies

An edited volume examining Jews and American popular music; annual volume of the USC Casden Institute.

Jews and musicAmerican popular musiccultural intersection

Black and Brown Los Angeles: A Contemporary Reader

2011 Edited reader / Urban studies

A reader addressing intersections of Black and Latinx communities in Los Angeles and contemporary understandings of the city (co-edited).

borderraceurban studies

Bibliography

  • Audiotopia: Music, Race, and America (2005)
  • Re-Assembling Tijuana (exhibition-related work, 2009)
  • And You Shall Know Us by the Trail of Our Vinyl (2008, co-authored)
  • The Song Is Not the Same (2011, editor)
  • Black and Brown Los Angeles (2011, co-edited)

Adaptations

  • Exhibition 'Last Exit USA' (Steve Turner Contemporary, 2009) and other curated shows

Style & Themes

Literary Style
A blend of scholarly analysis and journalistic critiqueDescriptive writing combining cultural history and musicology
Recurring Motifs
cultural hybridity through musicborder and migration narrativesmemory and archives

Legacy

Josh Kun is an influential scholar in popular music studies, intersections of race and culture, U.S.–Mexico border musical exchanges, and Jewish-American musical history; he has fostered broad public and academic conversations through books, exhibitions, and public humanities work.

Museums

  • Steve Turner Contemporary Gallery Los Angeles, California, USA
  • Contemporary Jewish Museum (co-curated exhibitions) San Francisco, California, USA

Academic Societies

  • Norman Lear Center (USC)
  • American Quarterly (editorial board)

Archives

  • USC archives and related library holdings

In Popular Culture

  • Contributions and features in media and radio (The New York Times, NPR, etc.)

Quotes

  • Cultural and musical hybridity is a way immigrant communities actively, not passively, express their diaspora.
    Source: "What Is an MC If He Can't Rap to Banda?" (American Quarterly) (2004)

Trivia

  • Co-founder of the Idelsohn Society for Musical Preservation.
  • Co-founder of Reboot Stereophonic, a nonprofit label focused on recovering lost records.
  • Named a MacArthur Fellow in 2016.
  • Won the American Book Award in 2006 for Audiotopia.