Kristina Nielsen

Kristina Nielsen is a musicologist with a specialty in ethnomusicology. Her research focuses on nationalism, Indigeneity and continuing legacies of colonialism in musical contexts. She teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses at Southern Methodist University and her courses include American Music, Music and Colonialism, and Latin American Music. Nielsen also has a courtesy appointment in anthropology.

Nielsen’s work appears in the Yearbook for Traditional Music, The Cambridge Companion to Rhythm, and Flower World: Music Archaeology of the Americas. She also serves as an editor for the World Music Textbook (www.worldmusictextbook.org) that provides free and accessible music resources. Her upcoming book, Composing Histories: Aztec Music and Dance in California, explores how Aztec dancers in Los Angeles navigate tradition, histories and identities through music and dance. Her latest project focuses on Danish children’s music.

Nielsen’s research has received support from the American-Scandinavian Foundation, the Sam Taylor Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Lois Roth Foundation. She has presented her work at conferences including the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies Conference, the Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting, the International Council for Traditional Music, the Society for American Music and the Society for American Archaeology.

She has published works in Yearbook for Traditional Music, The Cambridge Companion to Rhythm, and Flower World: Music Archaeology of the Americas. She also serves as an editor for the World Music Textbook (www.worldmusictextbook.org) that provides free and accessible music resources to students and the general public.

Before arriving at SMU, Nielsen taught Latin American, Indigenous and world music survey courses at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA.