Dr. Ellie Hisama

Biography

Ellie M. Hisama is a Distinguished Professor of Music, Society, and Culture at the University of Toronto. She joined the University in 2021 after serving as Dean of the Faculty of Music and teaching at Columbia University. Her research and teaching have focused on the intersections of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and the social and political dimensions of music and public engagement. She is the author of 'Gendering Musical Modernism: Music of Ruth Crawford, Marion Bauer, and Miriam Gideon,' which was named a Choice Outstanding Academic Title. As a co-editor, she has contributed to volumes such as 'Ruth Crawford Seeger’s Worlds: Innovation and Tradition in Twentieth-century American Music' and 'Critical Minded: New Approaches to Hip Hop Studies.' Hisama has received various fellowships, including the Career Enhancement Fellowship from the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation and the Tsunoda Ryusaku Senior Fellowship at Waseda University in Tokyo. She has delivered international plenary addresses and received notable awards such as the Kenneth H. Peacock Lecturer title and the Provost’s Faculty Mentoring Award. As an academic leader, she has engaged in grant-funded work addressing structural racism and racial justice in music. Hisama is also the Founding Director of 'Daughters of Harlem: Working Sound,' an initiative that fosters collaboration between university students and public school students to create and reflect on sound work.

Research Interests