Professor Dr. Shayna Silverstein

Biography

Shayna Silverstein is an Associate Professor and the Director of Graduate Studies at Northwestern University's School of Communication. Her research primarily focuses on the history of sound art in the Southwest Asia and North Africa (SWANA) region, exploring how sonic practices shape voices, histories, and geographies within contemporary art worlds and global politics. Silverstein's book, 'Fraught Balance: Embodied Politics of Dabke Dance Music in Syria,' analyzes the Syrian dabke and popular dance music that embodies collectivism and cultural memory, which paradoxically has led to isolation in the context of the fragmented Syrian society formed under an authoritarian nation-state during recent conflicts. She writes on the politics of body, performance, and culture within the Syrian diaspora. Her investigation underscores the importance of performance in destabilizing social spaces across the SWANA region. Silverstein actively contributes to the academic community as a member of editorial boards and advisory councils and has received substantial research support from various prestigious foundations, including the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Fulbright Program. She holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of Chicago and a BA in History from Yale University.

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