معرفی
Winnie W. C. Lai is an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Music (2024–2026) and Lecturer at Dartmouth College. A scholar of sound studies, ethnomusicology, and digital humanities, she explores the intersection of sound, auralities, and power, with a focus on Hong Kong’s protest spaces, diasporic sonic currents, and intermedial methodologies. Her current projects include the monograph Unsounding Hong Kong: From Protests to Silence and studies on Sinophone R&B ad-libs and "cute voice" aesthetics.
- Education
- B.A. (Hons), Music, University of Hong Kong (2013)
- M.Phil., Musicology, University of Hong Kong (2017)
- Ph.D., Music - Ethnomusicology, University of Pennsylvania (2024)
Her research integrates ethnographic fieldwork with historical archives, addressing sonic contestation, political aurality, and affective geographies. She employs sensory ethnography, intermedial methods, and digital humanities to analyze sound’s role in authoritarian contexts, diasporic communities, and popular genres like Cantopop.
Recent publications include her dissertation Sounding Freedom (awarded SEM 21st Century Fellowship, 2023) and the 2018 article 'Happy Birthday to You' (shortlisted for IBP Best Article on Global Hong Kong Studies in Humanities 2021). Her intermedial projects span sound installations, documentaries, and virtual reality experiments.
Award highlights
- SEM 21st Century Fellowship (2023)
- Penfield Research Award (2022)
- Charles Seeger Prize (Honorable Mention, 2021)
- Rayson Huang Scholarship (2017, 2012)
As a Benjamin Franklin Fellow (2018–2024) and Price Lab Andrew W. Mellon Mid-Doctoral Fellow (2022–2023) at Penn, she developed experimental methodologies combining sonic activism with sensory ethnography. Her teaching includes courses on sound studies, protest music, and intermedial fieldwork, impacting both music majors and interdisciplinary audiences.
Labs and teams
- Co-Chair, Sound Studies Section, Society for Ethnomusicology
- Secretary, Northeast Chapter, Society for Ethnomusicology
- Secretary-Treasurer, Northeast Chapter, American Musicological Society
- Collaborations with Penn’s Price Lab for Digital Humanities
- Exhibitions at SEM conferences, Penn Museum, Yale Music Department, and Cambridge University
