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Jon Bullock

University of Notre Dame, Music, Faculty Member

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Jon Bullock is Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology at the University of Notre Dame. He completed his PhD in ethnomusicology at the University of Chicago in 2022; the title of his dissertation (supervised by Philip Bohlman) is "Radio Kurdistan: Iraqi Kurdish Music, Colonial Power, and the Transmission of Tradition." Jon was a Postdoctoral Associate at Yale University’s Institute for Sacred Music in 2022–23. His research interests include 20th and 21st-century Kurdish musical practice (especially in Iraq), sacred music traditions of the Middle East, decolonial theory, and radio/media studies. He has taught courses on Western art music as well as various world music traditions, including Kurdish music.

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Peer-Reviewed Articles by Jon Bullock

"Decolonizing the Boundaries: Indigenous Musical Discourse in the History of Kurdish Radio Baghdad"

IASPM Journal, 2021

Divided between empires and nation-states for centuries the Kurds have, by and large, been exclud... more Divided between empires and nation-states for centuries the Kurds have, by and large, been excluded from discourses of indigeneity. In a similar manner, musical practice among the Kurds cannot be easily cajoled into Western categories such as folk/popular. How then might scholars begin to approach the decolonization of research describing Kurdish musical practice? In this article, I propose that one important step in this process is learning to pay closer attention to the ways Kurdish musicians themselves have challenged the colonial legacy, adeptly navigating, challenging, and sometimes simply ignoring the political, linguistic, and cultural boundaries established by their colonizers. As an example of this practice, I describe key moments of resistance in the early history of Kurdish Radio Baghdad. I argue that accepting these acts of resistance as a form of indigenous musical discourse is an important first step toward the decolonization of Western knowledge in this regard.

Student Journal (SEM Student News) Articles by Jon Bullock

"'What More Can We Do?' The Ethnomusicologist's Role in Advocating for Communities"

SEM Student News, 2017

This short article appears in the column "Thoughts from the Field" in vol. 13, no. 1 of "SEM Stu... more This short article appears in the column "Thoughts from the Field" in vol. 13, no. 1 of "SEM Student News." In it, I suggest three different ways that ethnomusicologists might advocate for the communities in which they work, as well as a brief description of how these methods have been successful in my own work among diasporic Kurdish communities in the U.S. The link for the entire issue is below: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.ethnomusicology.org/resource/group/dc75b7e7-47d7-4d59-a660-19c3e0f7c83e/Publications/SEMSN13.1.pdf

"Sounds and Subjects: Ethnomusicology and Its Relation to Sound Studies"

SEM Student News, 2017

This article appears in vol. 13, no. 2 of "SEM Student News." In it, I consider the relation of e... more This article appears in vol. 13, no. 2 of "SEM Student News." In it, I consider the relation of ethnomusicology to the interdisciplinary field of sound studies. Reviewing the essential claims of sound studies scholars as well as their influence over the past few decades, I suggest that while sound studies has contributed to the work of ethnomusicologists, it is ethnomusicology's traditional convergence of sound and subject that allows ethnomusicologists to stake their own claim to importance in the growing body of sound studies literature. The link for the entire issue is below:
http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.ethnomusicology.org/resource/group/dc75b7e7-47d7-4d59-a660-19c3e0f7c83e/publications/SEMSN13.2.pdf

"Peacebuilding, Not Politics: Music and MESPO's Model for Changing the World"

SEM Student News, 2018

This article appears in vol. 14, no. 1 of "SEM Student News." It includes portions of an intervie... more This article appears in vol. 14, no. 1 of "SEM Student News." It includes portions of an interview I conducted with Hastiar Sheikhani, the executive director of Middle East Sustainable Peace Organization (MESPO). In the article, I suggest that Hastiar's emphasis on peacebuilding rather than politics provides a challenging way of thinking about the potentialities of ethnomusicological research. The link for the entire issue is below:
https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ethnomusicology.org/resource/group/dc75b7e7-47d7-4d59-a660-19c3e0f7c83e/publications/SEMSN14.1.pdf

"What's in a Name? New Questions Regarding Ethnomusicology of the Political"

SEM Student News, 2018

This article appears in vol. 14, no. 2 of "SEM Student News." In it, I discuss the contemporary r... more This article appears in vol. 14, no. 2 of "SEM Student News." In it, I discuss the contemporary relationship between ethnomusicology and politics. Using Phil Bohlman's 1993 essay "Musicology as a Political Act" as a starting point, I argue that acknowledging the political within our work is insufficient on its own, and that moving forward, we must also examine the implications of naming the political. This process requires interrogating the frames by which this and other designations become meaningful. The link for the entire issue is below: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ethnomusicology.org/resource/group/dc75b7e7-47d7-4d59-a660-19c3e0f7c83e/publications/SEMSN14.2.pdf

"The Importance of Dance at Kurdish New Year's Celebrations: Challenging the Analytical Framework"

SEM Student News, 2019

This article appears in vol. 15, no. 1 of "SEM Student News." In it, I discuss the importance of ... more This article appears in vol. 15, no. 1 of "SEM Student News." In it, I discuss the importance of Kurdish "govend," a popular participatory dance form regularly featured at celebrations of Newroz. I suggest that dance forms such as govend may represent an important step toward refining the analytical frameworks provided by choreomusicology, particularly since they often seem to privilege only certain kinds of staged performance. The link for the entire issue is below:
https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ethnomusicology.org/resource/group/dc75b7e7-47d7-4d59-a660-19c3e0f7c83e/publications/SEMSN15.1.pdf

"The Future of Theory: Cause for Hope?"

SEM Student News, 2020

This article appears in vol. 16, no. 1 of "SEM Student News." In it, I consider the future of the... more

"Productivity in a Global Pandemic: Lessons I've Learned about Writing"

SEM Student News, 2020

This article appears in vol. 16, no. 2 of "SEM Student News." In it, I discuss the challenges I f... more

Papers by Jon Bullock

"A Salaam Alay: Remnants of West African Islam in Haitian Vodou"

It is not uncommon to encounter research in various fields that describes Caribbean music and cul... more It is not uncommon to encounter research in various fields that describes Caribbean music and culture using terms such as "globalization," "modernity," "cosmopolitanism," and "creolization." However, despite the near ubiquity of terms such as these in Caribbean studies, a small group of scholars have begun challenging the meaning and implications of these and similar ideological constructs that tend to reduce centuries’ worth of lived experiences, histories, and encounters to mere points along a single imaginary line. In this paper, I join scholars Stephen Palmié, Jocelyne Guilbault, Aisha Khan, and others in challenging descriptions of Caribbean culture as the unpredictable by-product of contact between black pagan Africans and white Christian Europeans. I examine these concepts in particular relation to scholarship on Haitian vodou that seems to ignore or downplay historical traces of West African Islam in contemporary vodou practices. I attempt to examine the realities of African Muslim slave experience as they apply to the music of Haitian vodou--not as a means of imposing traditional Islamic understandings on vodou practices, but rather as a means of challenging narrow understandings of concepts such as "blackness," "African," "Caribbean," and "Muslim."

"Decolonizing the Boundaries: Indigenous Musical Discourse in the History of Kurdish Radio Baghdad"

IASPM Journal, 2021

Divided between empires and nation-states for centuries the Kurds have, by and large, been exclud... more Divided between empires and nation-states for centuries the Kurds have, by and large, been excluded from discourses of indigeneity. In a similar manner, musical practice among the Kurds cannot be easily cajoled into Western categories such as folk/popular. How then might scholars begin to approach the decolonization of research describing Kurdish musical practice? In this article, I propose that one important step in this process is learning to pay closer attention to the ways Kurdish musicians themselves have challenged the colonial legacy, adeptly navigating, challenging, and sometimes simply ignoring the political, linguistic, and cultural boundaries established by their colonizers. As an example of this practice, I describe key moments of resistance in the early history of Kurdish Radio Baghdad. I argue that accepting these acts of resistance as a form of indigenous musical discourse is an important first step toward the decolonization of Western knowledge in this regard.

"'What More Can We Do?' The Ethnomusicologist's Role in Advocating for Communities"

SEM Student News, 2017

This short article appears in the column "Thoughts from the Field" in vol. 13, no. 1 of "SEM Stu... more This short article appears in the column "Thoughts from the Field" in vol. 13, no. 1 of "SEM Student News." In it, I suggest three different ways that ethnomusicologists might advocate for the communities in which they work, as well as a brief description of how these methods have been successful in my own work among diasporic Kurdish communities in the U.S. The link for the entire issue is below: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.ethnomusicology.org/resource/group/dc75b7e7-47d7-4d59-a660-19c3e0f7c83e/Publications/SEMSN13.1.pdf

"Sounds and Subjects: Ethnomusicology and Its Relation to Sound Studies"

SEM Student News, 2017

This article appears in vol. 13, no. 2 of "SEM Student News." In it, I consider the relation of e... more This article appears in vol. 13, no. 2 of "SEM Student News." In it, I consider the relation of ethnomusicology to the interdisciplinary field of sound studies. Reviewing the essential claims of sound studies scholars as well as their influence over the past few decades, I suggest that while sound studies has contributed to the work of ethnomusicologists, it is ethnomusicology's traditional convergence of sound and subject that allows ethnomusicologists to stake their own claim to importance in the growing body of sound studies literature. The link for the entire issue is below:
http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.ethnomusicology.org/resource/group/dc75b7e7-47d7-4d59-a660-19c3e0f7c83e/publications/SEMSN13.2.pdf

"Peacebuilding, Not Politics: Music and MESPO's Model for Changing the World"

SEM Student News, 2018

This article appears in vol. 14, no. 1 of "SEM Student News." It includes portions of an intervie... more This article appears in vol. 14, no. 1 of "SEM Student News." It includes portions of an interview I conducted with Hastiar Sheikhani, the executive director of Middle East Sustainable Peace Organization (MESPO). In the article, I suggest that Hastiar's emphasis on peacebuilding rather than politics provides a challenging way of thinking about the potentialities of ethnomusicological research. The link for the entire issue is below:
https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ethnomusicology.org/resource/group/dc75b7e7-47d7-4d59-a660-19c3e0f7c83e/publications/SEMSN14.1.pdf

"What's in a Name? New Questions Regarding Ethnomusicology of the Political"

SEM Student News, 2018

This article appears in vol. 14, no. 2 of "SEM Student News." In it, I discuss the contemporary r... more This article appears in vol. 14, no. 2 of "SEM Student News." In it, I discuss the contemporary relationship between ethnomusicology and politics. Using Phil Bohlman's 1993 essay "Musicology as a Political Act" as a starting point, I argue that acknowledging the political within our work is insufficient on its own, and that moving forward, we must also examine the implications of naming the political. This process requires interrogating the frames by which this and other designations become meaningful. The link for the entire issue is below: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ethnomusicology.org/resource/group/dc75b7e7-47d7-4d59-a660-19c3e0f7c83e/publications/SEMSN14.2.pdf

"The Importance of Dance at Kurdish New Year's Celebrations: Challenging the Analytical Framework"

SEM Student News, 2019

This article appears in vol. 15, no. 1 of "SEM Student News." In it, I discuss the importance of ... more This article appears in vol. 15, no. 1 of "SEM Student News." In it, I discuss the importance of Kurdish "govend," a popular participatory dance form regularly featured at celebrations of Newroz. I suggest that dance forms such as govend may represent an important step toward refining the analytical frameworks provided by choreomusicology, particularly since they often seem to privilege only certain kinds of staged performance. The link for the entire issue is below:
https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.ethnomusicology.org/resource/group/dc75b7e7-47d7-4d59-a660-19c3e0f7c83e/publications/SEMSN15.1.pdf

"The Future of Theory: Cause for Hope?"

SEM Student News, 2020

This article appears in vol. 16, no. 1 of "SEM Student News." In it, I consider the future of the... more

"Productivity in a Global Pandemic: Lessons I've Learned about Writing"

SEM Student News, 2020

This article appears in vol. 16, no. 2 of "SEM Student News." In it, I discuss the challenges I f... more

"A Salaam Alay: Remnants of West African Islam in Haitian Vodou"

It is not uncommon to encounter research in various fields that describes Caribbean music and cul... more It is not uncommon to encounter research in various fields that describes Caribbean music and culture using terms such as "globalization," "modernity," "cosmopolitanism," and "creolization." However, despite the near ubiquity of terms such as these in Caribbean studies, a small group of scholars have begun challenging the meaning and implications of these and similar ideological constructs that tend to reduce centuries’ worth of lived experiences, histories, and encounters to mere points along a single imaginary line. In this paper, I join scholars Stephen Palmié, Jocelyne Guilbault, Aisha Khan, and others in challenging descriptions of Caribbean culture as the unpredictable by-product of contact between black pagan Africans and white Christian Europeans. I examine these concepts in particular relation to scholarship on Haitian vodou that seems to ignore or downplay historical traces of West African Islam in contemporary vodou practices. I attempt to examine the realities of African Muslim slave experience as they apply to the music of Haitian vodou--not as a means of imposing traditional Islamic understandings on vodou practices, but rather as a means of challenging narrow understandings of concepts such as "blackness," "African," "Caribbean," and "Muslim."