Wayne Marshall

Wayne Marshall is an ethnomusicologist and assistant professor of music history at Berklee College of Music who also serves as Lecturer in History & Culture within the MIT Music program. His research interrogates intersections among sound reproduction technologies, media regimes, and musical publics, concentrating on American and Afrodiasporic contexts.

Research Interests: Marshall’s scholarship centers on how technological mediation shapes musical communities. He explores the global circulation of popular music—especially reggaeton and DJ cultures—while analyzing the historical and social dimensions of sound reproduction and digital media.

Editorial & Public Work: He co-edited the volume Reggaeton (Duke University Press, 2009) and actively disseminates academic insights through public-facing outlets including Wax Poetics, The Wire, and his long-running blog wayneandwax, where he shares mashups and critical commentary.

Teaching & Affiliations: Beyond MIT and Berklee, Marshall has taught at Harvard University, Brown University, Brandeis University, and the University of Chicago, bringing an interdisciplinary perspective to classrooms in music history, popular music studies, and media ethnomusicology.