Women played an essential role in the creation and incorporation of the Society for Ethnomusicology. Charlotte J. Frisbie uses participant observation, multiple voices and lenses, and a wide range of interviews to chronicle the women of the era, their contributions to the emerging discipline, and the reasons for their involvement in the Society. Candid and revealing, the women offer their personal and professional stories and provide observations of the Society over time. They also describe experiences with discrimination and unequal access to opportunities while discussing the slights, cruel jokes, and other insensitive behaviors of some of the men in the Society’s leadership.

An enlightening eyewitness account, Founding Mothers of the Society for Ethnomusicology is an invaluable window into the work and contributions of women scholars and the obstacles they faced.

Charlotte J. Frisbie is a professor emerita of anthropology at Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville. Her books include Food Sovereignty the Navajo Way: Cooking with Tall Woman and Tall Woman: The Life Story of Rose Mitchell, a Navajo Woman, c. 1874–1977.

“Curious about the contributions of women in the early years of ethnomusicology—amidst the era’s discrimination and exclusions? Charlotte Frisbie’s long-term project is a model of mixed methodologies, research, and determination, uncovering insights into the lives of ten founding mothers of the field.”
—Tomie Hahn, author of Arousing Sense: Recipes for Workshopping Sensory Experience