I adored the written word growing up. Stories fascinated me. The act of writing was also cathartic—as a TCK, writing was one way I gave order and imbued meaning to my sometimes confusing cultural experiences. So being an English major with a concentration in creative writing was a no-brainer: I was going to be a writer and tell stories.

Ethnomusicology enables me meld my love of entering other people’s worlds through writing with my love of music. Some people find it odd that I’m a musician and a writer; however, my doctoral degree is a PhD, so writing is my primary scholarly output.

Research Articles

“Growing Up Christian and Nepali: Negotiating Belonging Through Music Inside and Outside the Church in Nepal.” European Bulletin of Himalayan Research 59, no. 1 (2022): 1-22. https://doi.org/10.4000/ebhr.652

“Giving God Glory: How Christian Tharus Negotiate Belonging through Ritual Music in Nepal.” Himalaya: The Journal of the Association for Nepal and Himalayan Studies 40, no. 1 (2020): 4-17.

“In the Shadow of Other Anthropologists.” Anthropology and Humanism 44, no. 2 (2019): 282-292.

“Freedom, Margins, and Music: Performance as Development Discourse in Nepal.” Asian Music 48, no. 2 (2017): 111-149.

“The Fragility and Flexibility of Culture: Manifestations of Gender and Modernity Within the Dangaura Tharu Sakhyā-Paiyã Nāc.” Studies in Nepali History and Society 18, no. 2 (2013): 199-228.

Book Reviews

Zoe Sherinian, Tamil Folk Music as Dalit Liberation Theology. Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2014. Asian Music 53, no. 1 (2022): 157-159.

Reily, Suzel Ana and Jonathan M. Dueck, editors, The Oxford Handbook of Music and World Christianities. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016. Ethnomusicology 65, no. 1 (2021) : 178-181.

Tanya Merchant, Women Musicians of Uzbekistan: From Courtyard to Conservatory. Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield IL: University of Illinois Press, 2016. Asian Music 51, no. 2(2020): 151-154.

Kirin Narayan, Everyday Creativity: Singing Goddesses in the Himalayan Foothills. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016. In Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 75, no. 4 (2019): 677-679.

Anna Marie Stirr, Singing Across Divides: Music and Intimate Politics in Nepal. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. In Pacific Affairs 91, no. 4 (2018): 827-829.

Stefan Fiol, Recasting Folk in the Himalayas: Indian Music, Media, and Social Mobility. Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield: University of Illinois Press, 2017. In Himalaya 38, no. 2 (2018): 142-143.

Richard Wolf, The Voice in the Drum: Music, Language, and Emotion in Islamicate South Asia. Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield: University of Illinois Press, 2014.  In Notes: Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association 73, no. 2 (2016): 276-279.

Other Writing

“Nepal: Modern and Contemporary Performance Practice” and “Nepal: History, Culture and Geography of Music.”  In SAGE Encyclopedia of Music and Culture, Janet Sturman, gen. ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publishing.

Selected Guest Blog Posts

“UNESCO Collection Week 61: Ritual Music in Nepal and Around the World.” Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, June 29, 2015.