Kai West

Historical Musicology

Kai West (he/him/his) is a PhD candidate in musicology at the University of Michigan with interests in popular music, musical instrument studies, critical race studies, media studies, and opera. His dissertation on electric guitar cultures in the twenty-first century explores self-making, community formation, and the transformative relationships between people and musical instrument technologies. His published work includes a recent article in the Journal of the American Musicological Society, and a chapter contribution to the edited volume Music in Twin Peaks: Listen to the Sounds (Routledge 2021). Kai also serves as the assistant editor for the journal Music & Politics and an editorial assistant at the UM Gershwin Initiative. In his free time he makes ambient and lofi music using guitars, samplers, and tape machines (IG: @kaicarsonwest).

Contact: kaiwest@umich.edu

Posts

• Kai West and Cody Jones present at SAM 2021 – June 28, 2021
• UM's SMR at AMS/SMT 2018 – November 10, 2018

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