Stephanie Khoury
(617) 627-2421
20 Talbot Ave, Room 272
Research/Areas of Interest
Arts in post-colonial, post-war, migration and diasporic contexts; Music and dance in the formation of collective memory; Music and social justice; Intangible cultural heritage in relation to transnationalism and globalization; Digital humanities and digital sound archives; Soundscapes and the musical construction of place; Southeast Asian performing arts, and contemporary pop music.
Education
- PhD, Anthropology, Université de Paris Ouest Nanterre (aka Univ. of Paris X), France, 2014
- MPhil, Université de Paris Ouest Nanterre, France, 2004
- MA, Université de Paris Ouest Nanterre, France, 2003
Biography
Stéphanie Khoury's work draws on extensive fieldwork experience in mainland Southeast Asia, and with Southeast Asian communities in France and the US, and analyzes the political, social, gendered, and artistic dimensions of Cambodian musical theater and its secularization in post-colonial, post-war, and migration contexts. In her research, she examines performing arts through the interrelated frameworks of religion, collective memory, social justice, the concept of intangible heritage, and the notion of a globalized space for performance.
Recently, Stephanie Khoury started to look at the formative role of music and dance within local immigrant communities in the Greater Boston area in order to understand how people navigate between the preservation of performing arts as heritage, the negotiation of cultural identity, and the expression of individual creativity.
Additionally, Stéphanie Khoury is interested in questions of digital sound archives in the humanities and of the production of collective memory, a topic on which she worked as a research fellow for the French National Agency for Scientific Research (CNRS).
Stéphanie Khoury's work has been supported by French government-sponsored research grants and she is a recipient of the Florence Gould Foundation/Center for Khmer Studies doctoral fellowship (2006), the Quai Branly's Museum doctoral fellowship (2007), and the postdoctoral fellowship from The Laboratory of Excellence Creation, Arts and Heritage (2015), the Autoritas Program/Paris Sciences et Lettres (2017), and more recently a research grant from Tufts University's Tisch College Community Research Center (2020).
Stephanie's work is published in peer-reviewed journals (Asia-Pacific Journal of Anthropology, Mousson, Péninsule, First Monday), edited volumes, and anthologies (Sage, Edward Elgar), in both English and French. She is currently working on her first book, a monograph based on the Cambodian all-male musical theater adapting to the drastic cultural and political shifts experienced in Cambodia from the colonial period until now. Expanding from this work, she is looking at the formation of idioms of national culture in the context of Cambodia and Cambodian diasporas, relying on an intersectional framework to discuss the complex and interlocking ways intangible heritage is produced and situated both globally and locally. She is contributing to and co-editing a volume tentatively titled Stagecraft and Cultural Expressions: The Intersectionality of Cambodia's Intangible Heritage to address these issues.
She has served as an advisory board member and elected secretary to the Société Française d'Ethnomusicologie, SFE (2014-2017) and is currently co-chair of the Crossroads Section on Difference and Representation for the Society for Ethnomusicology, SEM (2019-2024). Since 2024, she is also Board of Directors for the Cambodian American community-facing performing arts organization Angkor Dance Troupe, located in Lowell, Mass.
At Tufts, Stephanie teaches at undergraduate and graduate levels, supervises Senior and MA thesis, and mentors students in Tufts-based programs (Laidlaw scholars, Summer Scholars, GREAT, etc.).
Expertise: Ethnomusicology
Recently, Stephanie Khoury started to look at the formative role of music and dance within local immigrant communities in the Greater Boston area in order to understand how people navigate between the preservation of performing arts as heritage, the negotiation of cultural identity, and the expression of individual creativity.
Additionally, Stéphanie Khoury is interested in questions of digital sound archives in the humanities and of the production of collective memory, a topic on which she worked as a research fellow for the French National Agency for Scientific Research (CNRS).
Stéphanie Khoury's work has been supported by French government-sponsored research grants and she is a recipient of the Florence Gould Foundation/Center for Khmer Studies doctoral fellowship (2006), the Quai Branly's Museum doctoral fellowship (2007), and the postdoctoral fellowship from The Laboratory of Excellence Creation, Arts and Heritage (2015), the Autoritas Program/Paris Sciences et Lettres (2017), and more recently a research grant from Tufts University's Tisch College Community Research Center (2020).
Stephanie's work is published in peer-reviewed journals (Asia-Pacific Journal of Anthropology, Mousson, Péninsule, First Monday), edited volumes, and anthologies (Sage, Edward Elgar), in both English and French. She is currently working on her first book, a monograph based on the Cambodian all-male musical theater adapting to the drastic cultural and political shifts experienced in Cambodia from the colonial period until now. Expanding from this work, she is looking at the formation of idioms of national culture in the context of Cambodia and Cambodian diasporas, relying on an intersectional framework to discuss the complex and interlocking ways intangible heritage is produced and situated both globally and locally. She is contributing to and co-editing a volume tentatively titled Stagecraft and Cultural Expressions: The Intersectionality of Cambodia's Intangible Heritage to address these issues.
She has served as an advisory board member and elected secretary to the Société Française d'Ethnomusicologie, SFE (2014-2017) and is currently co-chair of the Crossroads Section on Difference and Representation for the Society for Ethnomusicology, SEM (2019-2024). Since 2024, she is also Board of Directors for the Cambodian American community-facing performing arts organization Angkor Dance Troupe, located in Lowell, Mass.
At Tufts, Stephanie teaches at undergraduate and graduate levels, supervises Senior and MA thesis, and mentors students in Tufts-based programs (Laidlaw scholars, Summer Scholars, GREAT, etc.).
Expertise: Ethnomusicology