Anne K. Rasmussen (born 1959) is an American educator and

ethnomusicologist Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

. Much of her research focuses on

Arab music Arabic music or Arab music ( ar, الموسيقى العربية, al-mūsīqā al-ʿArabīyyah) is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also man ...

in the US and Islamic ritual and performance. She has been the director of the William & Mary Middle Eastern Music Ensemble since 1994.Titon, Jeff T, and Timothy J. Cooley. Worlds of Music: An Introduction to the Music of the World's Peoples. Belmont, CA: Schirmer Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Rasmussen was named the William M. and Annie B. Bickers Professor of

Middle Eastern Studies Middle Eastern studies (sometimes referred to as Near Eastern studies) is a name given to a number of academic programs associated with the study of the history, culture, politics, economies, and geography of the Middle East, an area that is gene ...

in 2014.Anne Rasmussen - Professor (Ethnomusicology)
at the

College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William II ...

Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Accessed May 12, 2016.

Education

Rasmussen received her B.A. from

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chart ...

, her M.A. from the

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1864, it is the oldest independent private university in the Rocky Mountain Region of the United States. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univ ...

, and her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. She studied with A. J. Racy, Timothy Rice, Nazir Jairazbhoy,

Gerard Behague Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...

, and Scott Marcus.

Career

Rasmussen has written articles appearing in many journals, including ''

Ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

'', ''Asian Music'', ''Popular Music'', '' American Music'', ''The World of Music'', ''

The Garland Encyclopaedia of World Music ''The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music'' is an academic reference work. It was initiated by editors at Garland Publishing in 1988 as a 10-volume series of encyclopedias of world music. The final volumes appeared in 2001, but editions have since ...

'', and the ''

Harvard Dictionary of Music ''The Harvard Dictionary of Music'' is a standard music reference book published by the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. The first edition, titled ''Harvard Dictionary of Music'', was published in 1944, and was edited by Willi Apel. ...

''. She produced four CD recordings documenting immigrant and community music in the United States. She is a former

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...

senior scholar and served as the First Vice President of the

Society for Ethnomusicology The Society for Ethnomusicology is, with the International Council for Traditional Music and thBritish Forum for Ethnomusicology one of three major international associations for ethnomusicology. Its mission is "to promote the research, study, an ...

. Rasmussen has been teaching courses in ethnomusicology at

The College of William & Mary The College of William & Mary (officially The College of William and Mary in Virginia, abbreviated as William & Mary, W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1693 by letters patent issued by King William III ...

since 1993, where she also directs with Middle Eastern Music Ensemble. Rasmussen accompanied Indonesian

Qur'an reciter In Islam, ''Qirāah'', (pl. ''Qirāāt''; ar, قراءات , lit= recitations or readings) are different linguistic, lexical, phonetic, morphological and syntactical forms permitted with reciting the holy book of Islam, the Quran. Differe ...

Maria Ulfah during the latter's 1999 tour of the United States under the auspices of the

Middle East Studies Association of North America Middle East Studies Association (often referred to as MESA) is a learned society, and according to its website, "a non-profit association that fosters the study of the Middle East, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and encoura ...

. In 2010 and 2011, she was hosted by the government of

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...

and the

Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center The Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center (SQCC) is an organization based in Washington, D.C., that seeks to promote understanding of the culture and heritage of Oman and the countries of the Arabian Peninsula. Through programs in the United States an ...

for her musicology research there.

Awards

In 2002, Rasmussen won the

Jaap Kunst Prize Jaap Kunst (12 August 1891 in Groningen – 7 December 1960 in Amsterdam) was a Dutch musicologist. He is credited with coining the term "ethnomusicology" as a more accurate name for the field then known as comparative musicology. Kunst studied ...

for her work "The Qur'an in Indonesian Daily Life: The Public Project of Musical Oratory" from the Society for Ethnomusicology.Jaap Kunst Prize
at the

. Accessed May 12, 2016. This award is given to the best article published annually in the field of ethnomusicology. The purpose of this prize is " recognize the most significant article in ethnomusicology written by a member of the Society for Ethnomusicology and published within the previous year (whether in the journal ''Ethnomusicology'' or in another journal or edited collection)." In 2011, her book ''Women, the Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia'' received the Alan Merriam Prize Honorable Mention. She received the

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Bibliography

*''Women, the Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia'' (Berkeley : University of California Press, 2010)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rasmussen, Anne American ethnomusicologists Women ethnomusicologists Islamic music University of California, Los Angeles alumni 1959 births Living people Northwestern University alumni University of Denver alumni American women musicologists 20th-century American musicologists 21st-century American musicologists College of William & Mary faculty American women anthropologists