Carlos Roberto Ramírez

Bio

Originally from Puerto Rico, Carlos Roberto Ramírez (he/él) is a musicologist and harpsichordist whose research engages with theories of power, agency and identity as frameworks for the study of sound and music across two main research areas: Early Modern Spain and the Spanish Atlantic, and contemporary representations of gender, class and race in Latine musics.

His current book project—Music, Sound, and Power in Puerto Rico—is a cultural history of sound’s role in the processes of colonization, meaning-making, and identity-formation in Puerto Rico through case studies that span 500 years of the island’s history.

He has presented his research at a number of conferences and institutions, including the the Symposium of the International Festival of Spanish Keyboard Music (FIMTE), the Royal Musical Association (RMA), Columbia University, Princeton University, and the American Musicological Society (AMS).

Carlos’s research has been supported by Cornell University’s Graduate School Dean’s Fellowship, Cornell University’s Provost Fellowship, Ithaca College Pre-Doctoral Diversity Fellowship, and the Westfield Center for Historical Keyboard Studies. Before joining the faculty at the University of Illinois, Carlos taught at Ithaca College’s School of Music.

Carlos is a Faculty Affiliate at the Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies (CLACS) and the  Unit for Criticism and Interpretative Theory.

Areas of Expetise:
Sound Studies
Power and Coloniality
Latine music/sound
Race, Gender, and Identity in Music
Historical and Reconstructive Soundscapes
Materiality

Teaching Philosophy

As a professor, I believe in encouraging students to think critically about historical and contemporary subjects and expect rigorous, thoughtful engagement in the classroom. It is my experience that for this to be possible, classes should take place in an inclusive environment where mutual respect forms the framework of the interaction between the members of the learning community. I believe that scholarship thrives when plurality of thought is not only encouraged but celebrated, and when ideas can be shared and explored free of judgement and prejudice; I believe that in order to foment citizens who celebrate and encourage difference, diversity in all its forms must first be made available to students in an environment that is socially and academically innovative, and which fosters the students’ capacity to create change.