Jesse Ruskin

Jesse Ruskin is Lecturer in Liberal Arts & Sciences at Otis College of Art and Design and Lecturer in Ethnomusicology at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music. His teaching spans courses on popular music, global culture, civil-rights–era sounds, gender & sexuality in music, and capstone projects.

Education

• Ph.D., Ethnomusicology, University of California, Los Angeles (2013)
• M.A., Ethnomusicology, University of California, Los Angeles (2006)
• B.A., Sociology (minor in Music), Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts (1996)

Research & Teaching Focus

Ruskin’s scholarship interrogates how popular music mediates politics, identity, and social change across African and diasporic contexts. His work foregrounds Yorùbá musical traditions—especially the talking drum—and traces their transnational circulation. Courses such as Music that Changed the World and Gender, Sexuality & Popular Music exemplify his commitment to interdisciplinary pedagogy that fuses sociology, media studies, and performance.

Publications Overview

Ruskin’s recent output maps a trajectory from tightly focused ethnographic studies of Yorùbá drumming to broader analyses of global popular genres. Articles on Afrobeat, jùjú, hiplife, and Cambodian diasporic festivals collectively explore how musical practices negotiate postcolonial identities, digital economies, and urban spaces.

Honors & Fellowships

• Doctoral Hooding Student Marshal Nominee, UCLA (2013)
• Clifton Webb Scholarship, UCLA (2011)
• Elaine Krown Klein Fine Arts Scholarship (2010)
• Institute of American Cultures Research Grant, Bunche Center for African American Studies, UCLA (2009)
• International Institute Fieldwork Fellowship, UCLA (2008)
• Fulbright-Hays Group Project Abroad Fellowship, University of Florida (2007)

Grants & Advising

Ruskin has secured competitive grants for fieldwork in Nigeria and archival projects in Los Angeles. While specific student advisees are not listed, his capstone instruction and graduate-level teaching at two institutions involve substantial mentoring responsibilities.

Creative & Collaborative Work

Alongside academic work, Ruskin is an active drummer and composer preparing a forthcoming EP of original music. He has co-curated exhibitions such as African Drumming Laws: Colonial Governance of African Customs (LA Law Library, 2016) and contributed to digital archiving initiatives between UCLA and Adam Matthew Digital.