Hiro Cho

My dissertation project turns to postwar Asian and Asian-American musical activities, examining it as an articulation of the suspended agency under the geopolitical and cultural hegemony of the West. Engaging with three generically heterogenous case studies—classical piano in China, city pop in Japan, and indie rock in Asian America—my research explores how a crisis in subjectivity and sovereignty is negotiated through the artists’ engagements with these musical genres. Conceptually, I am interested in how musical aesthetics in these cases encroach the regimes of representation to radically question the processes of Asian racialization. The musicians I am currently writing about include Yuja Wang, Haruomi Hosono, Mitski Miyawaki, and Michelle Zauner.

Broadly speaking, my research employs aggressively interdisciplinary means to explore the dissonance such methodological promiscuity produces. My current work resonate the most with Frankfurt school, queer theory, and critical race theory. Aside from my dissertation, I am also thinking about Frantz Fanon’s essay on radio and electronic producer SOPHIE’s work.