Professor Sara Cohen BA, DPhil, FBA

Personal Statement

I am a Professor of Music with a DPhil in Social Anthropology from Oxford University. I have specialised in the anthropology of music and in ethnographic and participatory research on popular music, defined in its broadest sense. My research interests have centred on questions of place, migration, heritage and identity. My work has generally been largely collaborative, involving research conducted with scholars based at universities in the UK and beyond, and through partnership with a wide range of non-academic groups and organisations, including museums and galleries, governing bodies and heritage managers, community activists, music businesses and associations, media companies, music businesses and associations, and other cultural organisations.

I am a Fellow of the British Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, and a Visiting Professor at the University of Turku. At the University of Liverpool I am Director of the Institute of Popular Music and have taught undergraduate and postgraduate modules on various topics, including music policy, music and politics, music and everyday life. My doctoral students have worked on topics such as music scenes and identities, cities and urban regeneration, creativity and sound recording, cultural policy and the music industries.