Sean Williams (born 1959, Berkeley, California) is an

ethnomusicologist Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...

who teaches at

The Evergreen State College The Evergreen State College is a public liberal arts college in Olympia, Washington. Founded in 1967, it offers a non-traditional undergraduate curriculum in which students have the option to design their own study towards a degree or follow a ...

Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington. It had a population of 55,605 at the 2020 census, making it the state of Washington's 23rd-most populous city. Olympia is the county seat of Thurston County, and the central city ...

. Her primary areas of teaching include music, Irish studies, and Asian studies; she leads the Sundanese music ensembles Gamelan Degung Girijaya (Enduring Mountain Gamelan) and Angklung Buncis Sukahejo. She received a BA in

classical guitar The classical guitar, also known as Spanish guitar, is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string (music), string instrument with strings made of catgut, gut or nylon, it is a precursor of the ...

performance from

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

in 1981, and an MA (on Irish-language singing, 1985) and Ph.D. (on music in West Java, Indonesia, 1990) in ethnomusicology from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

(Seattle). Her first teaching jobs were part-time at the

, then she was hired as a Visiting Assistant Professor at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1990-1991. In 1991 she was hired at

. She has also taught on the Semester at Sea, in a faculty exchange program through the University of Hyōgo, and at several adult music camps.

Awards

* 1988

Fulbright Program 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 ...

Doctoral Research Fellowship * 1989

Ford Foundation The Ford Foundation is an American private foundation with the stated goal of advancing human welfare. Created in 1936 by Edsel Ford and his father Henry Ford, it was originally funded by a $25,000 (about $550,000 in 2023) gift from Edsel Ford. ...

Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship * 2012

Alan P. Merriam Alan Parkhurst Merriam (1 November 1923 – 14 March 1980) was an American ethnomusicologist known for his studies of music in Native America and Africa.Bruno Nettl, "Merriam, Alan P." in ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (Londo ...

Prize for Outstanding Monograph in the Field of

Ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the multidisciplinary study of music in its cultural context. The discipline investigates social, cognitive, biological, comparative, and other dimensions. Ethnomusicologists study music as a reflection of culture and investiga ...

(for ''Bright Star of the West: Joe Heaney, Irish Song-Man'', co-written with Lillis Ó Laoire) * 2023

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 ...

Prize for Most Significant Article Published in the Field of

(for "Poetry Writing as Transgressive Ethnography", in ''Ethnomusicology'' 66/3: 361-377) and Honourable Mention from th
International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance

Books

Williams has written over fifty articles about music, and written or edited several books about music, food, and grammar: * 1998 ''The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (Southeast Asia)'' (Routledge - with Terry Miller) * 2001 ''The Sound of the Ancestral Ship: Highland Music of West Java'' (Oxford University Press) * 2005 ''The Ethnomusicologists' Cookbook'' (Routledge) * 2008 ''The Garland Handbook of Southeast Asian Music'' (Routledge - with Terry Miller) * 2010 ''Focus: Irish Traditional Music'' (Routledge) * 2011 ''Bright Star of the West:

Joe Heaney Joe Heaney (AKA Joe Éinniú; Irish: Seosamh Ó hÉanaí) (1 October 1919 – 1 May 1984) was an Irish traditional ( sean nós) singer from Connemara, County Galway, Ireland. He spent most of his adult life abroad, living in England, Scotland an ...

, Irish Song-Man'' (Oxford - with Lillis Ó Laoire) * 2015 ''The Ethnomusicologists' Cookbook, vol.2'' (Routledge) * 2019 ''English Grammar: 100 Tragically Common Mistakes and How to Correct Them'' (Zephyros) * 2020 ''Focus: Irish Traditional Music, 2nd edition'' (Routledge) * 2021 ''Musics of the World'' (Oxford University Press) * 2026 ''Music at the Threshold from the Sacred to the Dangerous'' (Oxford University Press, forthcoming) She has served as a council and board member of the

, in which she served as Second Vice President, is a participant in the Special Interest Group on Celtic Music, and was formerly on the board of the

Society for Asian Music The Society for Asian Music is an academic society founded in 1959. Its journal ''Asian Music'' was established in 1969. It is an English-language journal covering ethnomusicology in Asian music. Editors-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also know ...

;Asian music: Journal of the Society for Asian Music - Volume 37 - Page 163 Society for Asian Music - 2006 "A former editor of Asian Music, she also co-edited the Southeast Asia volume of the ''Garland Encyclopedia of World Music'', and the two volumes of ''The Ethnomusicologists' Cookbook'' (Routledge)." she belongs to several other academic societies. As part of th
Irish Cultural Society of the Pacific Northwest
she helps to host the Sean-nós Northwest Festival every spring. She has a Facebook profile called Captain Grammar Pants, in which she posts tips on grammar, punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and etymology. Sean Williams is also a musician; she plays numerous Irish, Indonesian, and Brazilian instruments along with the classical guitar, fiddle, and banjo. She sings in Irish, English, Portuguese, Indonesian, and Sundanese.

References

Personal website
UC Berkeley College of Letters and Science alumni University of Washington School of Music alumni Living people 1959 births American ethnomusicologists {{US-ethnomusicologist-stub