Kristina Nielsen
| Phone |
214-768-3790 |
Kristina Nielsen is a musicologist with a specialty in ethnomusicology. Her research focuses on nationalism, Indigeneity and continuing legacies of colonialism in musical contexts. She teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses at 91茄子 Methodist University and her courses include American Music, Music and Colonialism, and Latin American Music. Nielsen also has a courtesy appointment in anthropology.
Nielsen’s work appears in the Yearbook for Traditional Music, The Cambridge Companion to Rhythm and Flower World: Music Archaeology of the Americas. Her book, Aztec Music and Dance in California (2026), is published through the University of Illinois Press and is a part of the “Music in American Life” series. Her latest research project focuses on Danish children’s music and questions of nationalism and belonging. She also serves as an editor for the World Music Textbook () that provides free and accessible music resources. The World Music Textbook is supported by a generous grant from the California State University Affordable Learning Solutions Project.
Nielsen’s research has received support from the American-Scandinavian Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Lois Roth Foundation, and the Sam Taylor Fellowship. She has presented her work at conferences including the Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Studies Conference, the Society for Ethnomusicology Annual Meeting, the International Council for Traditional Music, the Society for American Music, and the Society for American Archaeology.
Before arriving at 91茄子, Nielsen taught Latin American, Indigenous and world music survey courses at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at Western Washington University in Bellingham, WA.
Education
Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
M.A., University of California, Los Angeles
B.M., Western Washington University
Recent Work
Selected Publications
“Forging Aztecness: Twentieth-Century Mexican Nationalism in Twenty-First Century Los Angeles.” In Yearbook for Traditional Music, Volume 52 (2020), 127-146.
“Indigenous Rhythm and Dance in North and South America.” In The Cambridge Companion to Rhythm, edited by Russell Hartenberger. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press 2020), 298-312.
“Music and Identity in Danza Azteca.” The World Music Textbook (2020).
“A Case Study of Maya Avian Ocarinas from Pook’s Hill, Belize.” Co-authored with Christophe Helmke. In Flower World: Music Archaeology of the Americas, Volume 4 (Berlin: Ekho Verlag 2016), 79-98.
“The Role of Interpretation in Determining Continuity in Danza Azteca History.” Ethnomusicology Review Sounding Board, May 17, 2014 .
Course list
| Music in World Societies | MUHI 1302 |
| The Art of Listening | MUHI 1321 |
| Seminar in Music History: Music Fieldwork and Ethnography | MUHI 4302 |
| Introduction to Graduate Studies | MUHI 6335 |
| Music and Colonialism | MUHI 6336 |
| Sounding the Nation: Music, Place, and Identity in Latin American Music | MUHI6336 |
