Fiona Boyd

Fiona Boyd is a PhD Candidate in Ethnomusicology. Her dissertation examines how place is sounded on the radio in live programming and in moments of pre-recorded spontaneity and connection. Through three ethnographic case studies of audiovisual music radio programs across genres, platforms, and locales, the dissertation asks how radiophonic performance shapes meanings and experiences of place in the contemporary U.S.

During 2022-23, Fiona is an Anne Louise Barrett Fellow at Wellesley College, as well as a Southern Studies Doctoral Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She serves on the Graduate Student Council of the Radio Preservation Task Force of the Library of Congress’ National Recording Preservation Board, as well as on the executive board of the Radio, Audio Media, and Podcasting Special Interest Group of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies.

Prior to her studies at UChicago, Fiona attended Wellesley College where she carried out fieldwork in North Carolina and Massachusetts for her thesis on the Triangle old-time scene and the music of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. She has also worked in arts administration and is a classically trained violinist.

• EthNoise! (Coordinator, 2021-22)

• MUSI 10200 Introduction to World Music (Course Assistant, Spring 2022) 
• ENGL 13000/33000 Academic and Professional Writing “The Little Red Schoolhouse” (Lector, Winter 2022)