“A quality education should not leave us drained of life, but should reinvigorate us to apply the knowledge and skills we acquire to transform the world for the better.”
The department is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Deonte L. Harris as an Assistant Professor of Music, effective July 1, 2024. Dr. Harris is an ethnomusicologist whose research interests include global Black studies, African diasporic music studies, critical race studies, and the anthropological study of value.
Dr. Harris received his B.M. degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Performance (Music Composition), and both his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from UCLA in Ethnomusicology. His 2022 article, “On Race, Value, and the Need to Reimagine Ethnomusicology for the Future,” was awarded the Jaap Kunst Award in 2023 by the Society for Ethnomusicology, recognized as the most significant article published in the field by an early career scholar.
Dr. Harris has most recently been teaching at Duke University in the International Comparative Studies program, where he also holds a secondary appointment in Music. At UNC, he will be teaching both graduate and undergraduate courses in the department.
We caught up with Dr. Harris to learn more about him and see what he’s most excited for when joining the department this upcoming academic year!
UNC Music: What courses are you teaching this coming fall?
Dr. Deonte Harris: I am teaching a graduate seminar of my own design this fall titled: “Blackness, Music, and Value Otherwise.” The course is largely inspired by my research and scholarly writings on music, race, and value in the African diaspora. It is also a part of a larger project of mine that seeks to radically expand the discourse on value beyond dominant frames of understanding. This is done by generating new methodological and theoretical approaches to its study that are necessarily intersectional and specifically account for the unique experiences of marginalized and historically oppressed social groups.
UNC Music: What is your favorite part of teaching and what are you looking forward to most coming to UNC?
Dr. Harris: My favorite part of teaching is cultivating a classroom environment that enables the multidirectionality of learning and knowledge production: instructor to student, student to instructor, and student to student. I love reading, listening, and engaging with the thoughts and ideas of students, as I learn so much through the process. I also get excited seeing students become excited about learning. Or, when I stumble upon things that I did not know previously, things that open my eyes to new literature and my ears to music recordings and performances I have not heard or witnessed before. So, it’s the unique relationship between teaching and learning, and the world of new things that are made possible through this symbiotic relationship, that I truly adore.
There are two things I am looking forward to most about coming to UNC. First, is being officially appointed in a department of music, as I have been situated outside of the field for the past six years. So, this feels very much like a “coming home” moment of sorts for me after many years away. I am especially excited about the UNC Department of Music, as the faculty are completely reimagining the role and place of music in public education. In addition to working and thinking alongside such wonderful colleagues, I feel incredibly lucky to be in this position of helping to create a more dynamic and transformative educational experience for UNC students through critical engagements with music.
The second thing I am most looking forward to at UNC is merging my teaching with more public-facing research and service initiatives in the state of North Carolina. Of particular interest here is thinking critically about the place and contributions of the Carolinas to both the American South and the Global Black South more specifically, including the historic connections of the Carolinas to the Caribbean.
UNC Music: What is the project that you’re most excited about currently?
Dr. Harris: The project that I am most excited about at this time is my book-in-progress, which is based on 10+ years of archival, ethnographic, and musicological research on London’s Caribbean carnival arts scene. I will be dedicating the next few years to finishing the book and will be ecstatic to share it with the world upon completion.
In addition to working and thinking alongside such wonderful colleagues, I feel incredibly lucky to be in this position of helping to create a more dynamic and transformative educational experience for UNC students through critical engagements with music.
UNC Music: What are some of your non-musical hobbies?
Dr. Harris: I love watching film and television, especially those in the horror genre. When done well, a good horror movie or TV series makes you feel all the things: tension, suspense, terror, sadness, excitement, and elation, the spectrum of feelings that make us human. Horror also provides unique insights about the world and the human experience, especially as it relates to the kinds of fears and societal anxieties that humans have. These anxieties include the fear of death, the unknown, change, and even those considered to be “Others” (e.g., historically, people who are disabled, disfigured, and racialized in particular ways). Finally, I love the creative process–the special effects, cinematography, storytelling, music score, and sound design–that makes those feelings, experiences, and knowledges about the world/humanity surface, even if those things ultimately leave us feeling unsettled. Because of this, I desire to transform my love of horror from a hobby into a research and teaching endeavor in the future.
UNC Music: If your students could learn one thing from you, what do you hope it will be?
Dr. Harris: If there is one thing I hope my students take away from their experience of working with me, it’s the need to radically reorient ourselves to the purpose of learning in ways that go beyond traditional, academic models of “knowledge production and attainment.” I hope my students come to a greater understanding that learning does not begin, nor end, in the classroom; that learning can, and should be, fun, exciting, and a joyful experience; and finally, that learning and education should be life-affirming rather than vampiric. A quality education should not leave us drained of life, but should reinvigorate us to apply the knowledge and skills we acquire to transform the world for the better.
UNC Music: What music are you currently listening to?
Dr. Harris: At the moment, I am currently listening to a lot of calypso and soca music, as they will be prominently featured in my forthcoming book project.
UNC Music: Anything else you’d like students to know about you or your teaching?
Dr. Harris: While striving to do and be our best, we must also remember to be gentle with ourselves. You are more than a student, and I am more than what I do as an occupation. We are human, first and foremost, and we should collectively strive to cultivate an educational environment where we show ourselves and each other grace whenever possible through our actions, encounters, and engagements.