Kevin C. Karnes

Kevin C. Karnes is a musicologist who studies sounding expressions of identity, difference, and belonging in contemporary eastern Europe. He is the author of four books, most recently Sounds Beyond: Arvo Pärt and the 1970s Soviet Underground (University of Chicago Press, 2021). He has served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Musicological Society (2020-22) and founding series editor of the Oxford Keynotes Series of Oxford University Press (2014-20). His research has been supported by the ACLS, the NEH, and the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies. He is currently writing a new book on techno culture and east/west European integration at the turn of the 1990s, titled Electric Future: Berlin, Techno, the USSR, and the Dream of a New Europe.

As Divisional Dean of Arts and Humanities, Kevin works across the campus to support artistic and humanistic endeavors and to elevate the conversations they spark, often focusing on issues of justice, civil and human rights, and buried or forgotten histories. His work in these areas has been supported by grants from the NEA, the Arison Arts Foundation, the lululemon Centre for Social Impact, and the Simons Foundation.