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Priya Parrotta
Music & the International
Priya Parrotta is a historian, composer, singer, author, and artist whose work dismantles and transcends borders to unite humans with each other and the more-than-human world. She is the Founder and Director of Music & the Earth International, an academic and artistic initiative which explores and celebrates the role of music in fostering environmental dialogue across borders. Through this initiative, Priya has organized conferences, published and presented articles, produced podcasts, created curricula, and composed five albums of original music. She is a Senior Fellow with the Safina Center, a United States Artists Fellowship nominee, and an elected member of the Royal Historical Society. She is also the author of The Politics of Coexistence in the Atlantic World (2016), as well as numerous popular and scholarly articles on the relationships between cultural and musical diversity, decolonial philosophy and environmental justice.
Talk Information:
From Archives to Soundscapes: Integrating Historiography, Music and Environmental Consciousness in Courses on Tropical Islands
May 23, 2025 | 9:00 AM
Historical understanding and artistic depth are two essential elements of decolonial pedagogy and environmental movement-building. Drawing upon original work as a historian, musician and environmental activist, this talk explores the ways in which academic historiography and artistic practice can be integrated in the classroom, to provide students with a deep and holistic engagement with pressing environmental issues on tropical islands. More specifically, this talk will introduce a course which I hope to one day make accessible to students in public universities on Caribbean, Pacific and Indian Ocean islands. The course consists of two parts: a historical study of the commercialization of tropical ecosystems for the purposes of tourism and real estate development; and an exploration of the power of environmental art to resist these dynamics of commercialization. I will present findings from my research on the creation of the beach tourism industry in Waikīkī, Hawai’i (1890-1930), as well as material from a manuscript titled To Dream Again: Island Environmentalism Through Music. I will also briefly discuss two modules which I have taught in San Juan, Puerto Rico which integrate these areas of study: ‘The Island Sessions’ (2017-19) and ‘Island Environmentalism and the Arts’ (2025).