Description:

Jayson Beaster-Jones, University of California, Merced
" Background Scores in Contemporary Hindi Films"

Jayson Beaster-Jones is an ethnomusicologist whose work focuses upon the music industry of India. His current research project, Music as Merchandise: Music Commodities, Markets, and Values in India examines music retail stores as sites of cultural production in contemporary India, focusing in particula r upon the kinds of economic a nd social values that are produced as music is sold, as well as the meanings that accompany music commodities in retail contexts . The project also addresses the cultural and media histories of the Indian music industry, the discourses of piracy and intellectual property, and the social cha nges that have
accompanied India's economic liberalization reforms.

Sounds of South Asia is a yearlong series of visiting speakers whose work exists at the intersection of Sound Studies and South Asian Studies. The series brings together scholars and students interested in expanding the global scope of Sound Studies and to listening to South Asian cultures with fresh ears.

Presented by the School of Communication, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Asian Studies Graduate Cluster, Asian Studies Program, Screen Cultures Program, Department of Radio-TVFilm, Department of Communication Studies.
For more information, please contact Liam Olson-Mayes at

liamolsonmayes2018@u.northwestern.edu.