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Benjamin Fairfield

Lecturer in Music

B enjamin Fairfield received his PhD and MA in Ethnomusicology from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from 2007-2009. His ongoing research focuses on ethnic identity in northern Thailand as mediated by music with a particular emphasis on Karen music, participatory genres, materiality, and ecomusicology. He currently works at the East-West Center (education program) and serves as affiliate faculty at the University of Hawai‘i Music department, where he founded the Thai Ensemble, a participatory and hands-on course where students make their own instruments from found, discarded, and recycled objects. You can hear and see more of his recycled instrument projects on Instagram (#MUS311).