Bio

Jordan R. Brown, M.M., M.A. (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in ethnomusicology and Presidential Scholar at Harvard University with a secondary field in African and African American Studies. She is currently chair of Harvard University’s Graduate Music Forum, co-chair of Project Spectrum, and a UNESCO Youth Ambassador for Peace and Intercultural Dialogue. Brown’s dissertation, tentatively titled “The Black Alternative: A Cultural and Musical Phenomenon” uses Black politics, Black feminist theory, and “quare” theory to investigate the word “alternative” as it is used on genres commercially coded as “Black,” specifically alternative R&B and alternative hip-hop. Her work will be supported by the W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute, where she will serve as the Dorothy Porter Fellow during the 2025–2026 academic year. She identifies as a performer-scholar and intends to continue bridging the two practices in her future work.