Biography
Commonly Taught Courses
Introduction to Interdisciplinary Humanities IHUM 250
The Performance of Gender in Theater and Music IHum 490R
Technology and the Arts: From Homer to Hip-hop IHum 490R
Introduction to the Humanities of Asia IHum 240
Orality and Literacy in the Humanities IHum 490R
Introduction to Performance Theory CMPST 620R
Biography
Francesca R. Sborgi Lawson is the Humanities Professor of Ethnomusicology and an Associate Professor in the Department of Comparative Arts and Letters at Brigham Young University. She received a B.M. degree in harp performance from Brigham Young University, an M.A. degree in ethnomusicology from the University of California at Los Angeles, and a Ph.D. degree in ethnomusicology from the University of Washington in Seattle. She conducted research on the interrelationships of language and music in the narrative arts of Tianjin, China as a Fulbright-Hays and National Academy of Sciences Research Fellow. Her book, The Narrative Arts of Tianjin:Between Music and Language, was published as part of Ashgate’s SOAS Musicology Series in 2011. In 2015 she received the Jaap Kunst Prize for the most significant article published in the field of ethnomusicology, “Is Music an Adaptation or a Technology? Ethnomusicological Perspectives from the Analysis of Chinese Shuochang.” Her most recent monograph, The Women of Quyi: Liminal Voices and Androgynous Bodies, is currently being considered by Routledge for their ethnomusicology series.
Interests
Music and cognition
Gender expression in the Chinese performing arts
Language-music relationships
Research Interests
I am interested in the boundaries between music and language, particularly in the Chinese narrative and operatic art forms. I am also interested in looking at how recent empirical research in music is becoming increasingly relevant in ethnomusicology. Finally, I am interested in the expression of gender through musical and theatrical performance.Teaching Interests
I have taught the following courses: Introduction to the Interdisciplinary Humanities (IHUM 250), Introduction to the Humanities of Asia (IHUM 240), a graduate course on Performance Theory (CMPST 620R), and a variety of senior seminars (IHUM 490/690) on Orality and Literacy, the Performance of Gender in Theater and Music, and Technology and the Arts--From Homer to Hip Hop. I have also developed an online version of IHUM 240 (Humanities of Asia) that will go live in the fall semester of 2016. Additionally, I am interested in developing a course on the intersection of Music and Science in the near future.Honors and Awards
- Marshall Professorship and Humanities Center Fellowship, BYU Humanities Center (2020 - 2023)
- P.A. Christensen Lecturechip, College of Humanities (2019 - 2020)
- Member of the Tang Prize Foundation Selection Committee for Sinology , Tang Prize Foundation, Taiwan, R.O.C. (2017 - 2019)
- Nominated for the Marcia Herndon Prize for exceptional ethnomusicological work in gender and sexuality, Society for Ethnomusicology, Gender and Sexuality SIG (2018 - 2018)
- Humanities Professor of Ethnomusicology, College of Humanities (2013 - 2017)
- Humanities Center Book Manuscript Workshop Grant, Humanities Center (2016 - 2016)
- Winner of Jaap Kunst Award for the most significant article published in Ethnomusicology, Society for Ethnomusicology (2015 - 2015)
- Faculty Speaker at College of Humanities Convocation, April 2013, College of Humanities (2013 - 2013)
Memberships
- Analytical Approaches to World Music (2014 - Present)
- British Forum for Ethnomusicology (2012 - Present)
- Chinoperl (Chinese Oral and Performing Literature) (2012 - Present)
- Society for Ethnomusicology (1977 - Present)
- Association for Asian Studies (1980 - 2015)