John B Fenn
Biographic Data
| ID | 240124 |
|---|---|
| NAME | John B Fenn |
| GIVEN NAMES | John B |
| FAMILY NAME | Fenn |
| SIGNATURE | FENN J B |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Oregon |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 9 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 9 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 9 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Folklife on the Air
Since at least the 1940s, producers of radio material have drawn on traditions and community anchors to appeal to listeners. Sometimes radio programs were produced by and for communities themselves, sometimes to engage broader audiences. The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress has acquired a range of collections over the past several decades connected to radio programming anchored in cultural heritage materials. In this essay, sev…
Sustaining Support for Community-Led Documentation at the American Folklife Center (and Beyond)
Since 2022, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress has offered awards through the Community Collections Grant (CCG) program to support contemporary cultural documentation projects informed by community-based perspectives. This program is one component in a much larger initiative at the Library that is funded by a multi-year Mellon Foundation grant. As Mellon-funded activity comes to an end, leadership and staff at the American Fo…
Advancing representation in ethnographic archives
This paper explores the importance of ethnographic approaches to cultural documentation and corresponding preservation processes, and in enhancing inclusivity and ‘representational belonging’ of diverse communities and cultures in the archival context. Specifically, we trace past and present efforts of folklorists, archivists, and librarians at the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress, to increase representation in and access to th…
Training Community-Engaged Culture Workers at a Public University
An ambitious program to develop partnerships between the University of Oregon (UO) and small-to mid-sized Oregon cities forms the backdrop for a critical discussion of ways in which graduate students from one UO degree program develop community-engaged projects. Across two such projects, the authors explore how approaches to arts and culture participation can inform ideas of sustainability and community development by offering opportunities for n…
Mimetic Inquiry
Over the past three years, the author has pursued a method for developing interpretive exhibit materials that synthesizes ethnographic approaches, critical analysis, and creative practice. The term “mimetic inquiry” is used to describe this method, drawing on articulations of mimesis as a “thematic concept” that tracks through the history of aesthetics as a process of representation-with-transformation. The author also discusses the genesis and g…
Sonic Persuasion
The advent of recorded sound technology constitutes a history documented and discussed rather rigorously in recent years via the emerging field of sound studies. Scholars in this field have focused...
The Building of Boutique Effects Pedals—The “Where” of Improvisation
Based on 2 years of ethnographic fieldwork with builders of boutique music effects boxes, this essay explores the ways in which improvisation figures into the creation of music technology. The author argues that expanding the rubric of improvisation to encompass the processes of designing and building effects boxes pushes scholars to understand relationships between music and improvisation as existing beyond the boundaries of performance. Ultimat…
Recording Culture
A caveat about this review: the two books under discussion here circle around core concerns of oral history and in almost opposite directions at that. Neither explicitly engages oral history materi...
Fela
Book Review| January 01 2006 Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon, Michael E. Veal. John B. Fenn John B. Fenn Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Ethnomusicology (2006) 50 (1): 143–144. https://doi.org/10.2307/20174428 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation John B. Fenn; Fela: The Life and Times of a…
Fela
Book Review| January 01 2006 Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon, Michael E. Veal. John B. Fenn John B. Fenn Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Ethnomusicology (2006) 50 (1): 143–144. https://doi.org/10.2307/20174428 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation John B. Fenn; Fela: The Life and Times of a…
Training Community-Engaged Culture Workers at a Public University
An ambitious program to develop partnerships between the University of Oregon (UO) and small-to mid-sized Oregon cities forms the backdrop for a critical discussion of ways in which graduate students from one UO degree program develop community-engaged projects. Across two such projects, the authors explore how approaches to arts and culture participation can inform ideas of sustainability and community development by offering opportunities for n…
Fela
Book Review| January 01 2006 Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon Fela: The Life and Times of an African Musical Icon, Michael E. Veal. John B. Fenn John B. Fenn Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Ethnomusicology (2006) 50 (1): 143–144. https://doi.org/10.2307/20174428 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation John B. Fenn; Fela: The Life and Times of a…
The Building of Boutique Effects Pedals—The “Where” of Improvisation
Based on 2 years of ethnographic fieldwork with builders of boutique music effects boxes, this essay explores the ways in which improvisation figures into the creation of music technology. The author argues that expanding the rubric of improvisation to encompass the processes of designing and building effects boxes pushes scholars to understand relationships between music and improvisation as existing beyond the boundaries of performance. Ultimat…
Recording Culture
A caveat about this review: the two books under discussion here circle around core concerns of oral history and in almost opposite directions at that. Neither explicitly engages oral history materi...
Sonic Persuasion
The advent of recorded sound technology constitutes a history documented and discussed rather rigorously in recent years via the emerging field of sound studies. Scholars in this field have focused...
Mimetic Inquiry
Over the past three years, the author has pursued a method for developing interpretive exhibit materials that synthesizes ethnographic approaches, critical analysis, and creative practice. The term “mimetic inquiry” is used to describe this method, drawing on articulations of mimesis as a “thematic concept” that tracks through the history of aesthetics as a process of representation-with-transformation. The author also discusses the genesis and g…
Training Community-Engaged Culture Workers at a Public University
An ambitious program to develop partnerships between the University of Oregon (UO) and small-to mid-sized Oregon cities forms the backdrop for a critical discussion of ways in which graduate students from one UO degree program develop community-engaged projects. Across two such projects, the authors explore how approaches to arts and culture participation can inform ideas of sustainability and community development by offering opportunities for n…
Advancing representation in ethnographic archives
This paper explores the importance of ethnographic approaches to cultural documentation and corresponding preservation processes, and in enhancing inclusivity and ‘representational belonging’ of diverse communities and cultures in the archival context. Specifically, we trace past and present efforts of folklorists, archivists, and librarians at the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress, to increase representation in and access to th…
Folklife on the Air
Since at least the 1940s, producers of radio material have drawn on traditions and community anchors to appeal to listeners. Sometimes radio programs were produced by and for communities themselves, sometimes to engage broader audiences. The American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress has acquired a range of collections over the past several decades connected to radio programming anchored in cultural heritage materials. In this essay, sev…
Sustaining Support for Community-Led Documentation at the American Folklife Center (and Beyond)
Since 2022, the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress has offered awards through the Community Collections Grant (CCG) program to support contemporary cultural documentation projects informed by community-based perspectives. This program is one component in a much larger initiative at the Library that is funded by a multi-year Mellon Foundation grant. As Mellon-funded activity comes to an end, leadership and staff at the American Fo…
History (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Anthropology (5 works) · Diverse Musicological Studies (5 works) · Art (4 works) · Ethnography (4 works) · Visual arts (4 works) · Computer Science (3 works) · Folklife (3 works) · Folklore (3 works)