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Denise Gill
Denise Gill is Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology, of Islam & the Arts, and, by courtesy, of Anthropology at Stanford. She holds affiliations in Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (FGSS) and the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE). Her primary appointments are in the Department of Music and the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies. Dr. Gill is the founder of Stanford University’s PhD program in Ethnomusicology.
The core issue animating Dr. Gill’s research is an investment in augmenting theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of listening. A specialist of the sonic and musical practices in western Turkey and former Ottoman territories, her intellectual program is unified by a commitment to diverse ethnographic methods. Her publications are the products of oral history and archival work in Ottoman and Turkish archives and over six years of ethnographic fieldwork with Turkish-speaking communities.
Her first book, Melancholic Modalities: Affect, Islam, and Turkish Classical Music (Oxford, 2017) received the Ruth Stone Book Prize from the Society for Ethnomusicology. Her research on silence and masculinity was awarded both the Jaap Kunst Prize for the best article in the field and the Marcia Herndon Prize for the best article on gender and sexuality. Her work on theory and affect was recognized with the Helen Roberts Prize. Dr. Gill has given research talks at several universities including the University of Chicago, the MMaP Research Centre at Memorial University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, NYU, and Harvard. She has delivered keynote addresses at conferences for the American Folklore Society, the National Folk Organization (U.S.), MIAM at Istanbul Technical University, and isaScience (mdw, Vienna).
From 2022-2024, Dr. Gill served as a Board Member and Treasurer of the Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM). She previously served as the Chair of the Diversity Action Committee (2017-2020), Council Member (2013-2016), and Chair of the special interest group for Medical Ethnomusicology (2012-2015).
As a kanun (trapezoidal zither) artist committed to remaining a student of Ottoman art, Turkish classical, and Mevlevi music traditions, Dr. Gill has performed on radio and television programs and in concert halls throughout Turkey, North America, and in multiple cities in Europe. She continues to perform nationally as a solo recitalist with kanun and voice. Her deep sensibilities of distinct somatic and affective practices of musicking inform her pedagogical approaches.
A scholar-teacher invested in mentorship and in critical pedagogies, Dr. Gill was the recipient of the Outstanding Teaching Award from the Academic Senate (2010) and an Excellence in Teaching Award from the Graduate Students Association (2007) at UCSB, where she also served as co-coordinator for the transdisciplinary Feminist Pedagogy Series.
Dr. Gill is active in intersectional social justice work, and is certified in washing and shrouding the deceased for Janazah.