Kaleb Goldschmitt

Associate Professor of Music

Contact
Phone:
+1 (781) 283-2074
Email:
kgoldsch@wellesley.edu
Department
Music
Anthropology
Latin American Studies

Popular music scholar of Brazil and Latin America; Jazz and the African Diaspora; Music in Film and Audiovisual Media; Music Industry; Music and Disability

I am an ethnomusicologist and popular music scholar with an emphasis on Brazilian and Latin American musical cultures. My first book project, Bossa Mundo: Brazilian Music in Transnational Media Industries (2020: Oxford University Press), studies the moments of popular breakthrough for Brazilian music among English-speaking publics in the United States and United Kingdom. From the late 1950s through the late 2010s, the book covers such genres as bossa nova, cool jazz, easy listening, jazz fusion, world music, hip-hop, and more.

My research also focuses on the role music plays in audiovisual media such as film, television, advertising, video games, and TikTok. My publications on these topics include articles on Brazilian music in a Nike Ad for the 2006 World Cup, mobile music distribution in the Brazilian music industry, a musical meme in film soundtracks and film trailers, and samba and funk in Brazilian gangster films. I also have an interest in digital music cultures, which has led to a co-authored essay on streaming music recommendation services (e.g., Spotify's "Discover Weekly" playlist) that looks at both how they do their work and some of the challenges they present for musicians and listeners. Other research interests include music and disability, transnational musical communities, and queer and trans music studies.
I teach a variety of courses on global music, popular music, and jazz, including A History of Jazz (MUS 209) and American Popular Music In the Twentieth Century (MUS 276) for the Jazz and World Music concentration of the music major. Regular electives include Intro to Ethnomusicology (MUS 245/345; ANTH 235/345), Music and the Global Metropolis (MUS 210), and Global Music Industries (MUS 300). I am affiliated with Wellesley College's Latin American Studies program and the Anthropology Department, and I have advised anthropology majors on independent projects. Before Wellesley, I taught courses on Music and Religious Ecstasy; Film Music; Music and Social Protest; History of Electronic Dance Music; and Sound Studies. When I develop new courses, I aim to respond to new work in ethnomusicology and my own ongoing research, as well as student interest.

In addition to academic publications, I enjoy contributing to magazines and blogs aimed at a broader audience. These include public lectures and guest spots on public radio and podcasts. When the weather is good, you will often see me around Wellesley on my bicycle.

Education

  • B.A., University of California-Los Angeles
  • M.A., University of California-San Diego
  • Ph.D., University of California-Los Angeles

Current and upcoming courses

Brazilian Music and the Politics of Culture

MUS314

From the dawn of the 20th century, Brazil has promoted itself to the world as a particularly musical country. In addition to samba, the country is the birthplace of many well-loved genres including choro, bossa nova, and funk carioca. Brazilian popular song is considered by many to be a literary genre where songwriters such as Vinicius de Morais and Arnaldo Antunes describe themselves as poets and their lyrics are major topics of study by scholars of Portuguese literature. In this course, we will uncover the historical and cultural origins of many of the major musical developments in Brazil and explore how they express polemics around citizenship, social activism, and cosmopolitanism. Students familiar with Portuguese will have the option of additional, focused study of Portuguese lyrics and will be encouraged to compose their writing assignments in Portuguese.

(MUS 314 and PORT 314 are cross-listed courses.)