The Society for Ethnomusicology Information

The Society for Ethnomusicology was founded in 1955 to promote the research, study, and performance of music in all historical periods and cultural contexts. SEM is a U.S.-based organization with an international membership of over 1800 individuals dedicated to the study of all forms of music from diverse humanistic and social scientific perspectives. We examine music as central to human experience throughout space and time, and explore its profound relationship to cognition, emotion, language, dance, visual arts, spiritual belief, social organization, collective identity, politics, conflict and peace, economics, the physical body, and mental health. Through SEM programs and the work of our individual members, we seek to advance academic and public understanding and appreciation of music as a cultural phenomenon of unlimited variety and as a resource that is fundamental to the wellbeing of individuals and communities. SEM’s individual members include scholars, teachers, students, performers, media professionals, museum specialists, archivists, librarians, and administrators from such disciplines as musicology, anthropology, folklore, cultural studies, ethnic and area studies, acoustics, and music education. In addition, we have more than 900 institutional members, consisting primarily of libraries. In October or November, SEM holds an annual meeting that attracts over 1000 participants. This meeting features scholarly presentations and discussions, films, workshops, concerts, and the award of prizes for outstanding work in ethnomusicology. SEM’s ten regional chapters hold annual conferences between January and May.