When Words Meet Music: Notes on Translation, Collaboration, and Diverse Audiences

11 March 2026

Dr. Katherine Hallemeier, UNIGE

Mme Marianna Riishojgard, UNIGE

Mme Nora Zufferey, UNIGE

Mme Maria Peters, UNIGE

Prof. Tsitsi Jaji, Duke University

This workshop will provide doctoral students in English from across CUSO universities the opportunity to think through their approaches to bridging literary studies and musicology with an internationally recognized expert in the field, Prof. Tsitsi Jaji. One of the most notable challenges of working on music from disciplines other than musicology is working with and across the marked boundaries of that field. From 2021-2024, Prof. Jaji was a Mellon New Directions Fellow, which enabled her to take formal courses in historical musicology, theory, and ethnomusicology. Building on her original training in comparative literature, these studies have reshaped her teaching and scholarship. Some methods are common to both fields, but similar vocabulary is often used in different ways, and so translating both terminology and disciplinary values becomes important. Working between disciplines also gives unique opportunities to develop relationships that can foster a variety of collaborations, from co-writing, to generating musical examples for presentations/publications, to more creative projects. Music is a deeply human experience and one that uniquely engages a broad public, and so the ethics of writing for such a range of audiences speaks to the responsibility of a university to its society and to values of democracy, respect, and treasuring differences.

UNIGE

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