Dr. Juan Díaz

Biography

Juan Diego Díaz is an Associate Professor of Music at the University of California, Davis, and a prominent ethnomusicologist with specialized research interests in the African diaspora, particularly in Brazil and West Africa. His work investigates how African diasporic musics circulate and transform across the Atlantic, serving crucial roles in the identity formation of individuals and communities. He authored the book "Africanness Action" (Oxford University Press, 2021), focusing on musicians from Bahia, Brazil, and their negotiations of essentialist notions of African music and culture. With a long-standing practice in Capoeira Angola and leadership of multiple musical ensembles, Díaz's academic journey includes lecturing at the University of Ghana and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Essex, supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. His funded research centers on the music of descendants of freed enslaved Africans who were resettled in Brazil, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria during the 18th and 19th centuries. Díaz has produced significant scholarly contributions, including documentary films and an array of publications in ethnomusicology, reflecting his dedication to documenting and analyzing the cultural legacies of the African and Afro-Brazilian experience.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards