Assistant Professor of Music and Graduate Program Coordinator
College of Arts, Media & Design
Rebekah E. Moore Biography
Rebekah E. Moore
Areas of Expertise
Music
Graduate Program
About
Dr. Rebekah E. Moore returned to the United States and American academe in 2017 after a decade-long career in international public and private sectors. Her professional scope has included performance production, band and tour management, media and sponsor relations, and social justice work. Her research is informed by the ethnomusicological concern with music’s meaning and impact as an instrument of social and environmental justice and the public health imperative to advance health equity. Her written work as appeared in the Asian Journal of Communication, Asian Music, and Collaborative Anthropologies, and her forthcoming book, The Rise of Rock Gods and Eco Warriors in the Last Paradise, examines popular music as ecocriticism and ecoactivism in Indonesia.
Project Description
“Art, Race, and Health Equity in the City of Boston” commences a new collaboration between the College of Arts, Media & Design; College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Bouvé College of Health Sciences; and the School of Law to generate needed knowledge of the role of the arts in advancing racial and health equity in the City of Boston. At the core of this project is the belief that research examining creative practice may foster and promote community empowerment, equitable governance, and public health. Racism negatively affects health at multiple levels, from poor mental health and premature death at the individual level, to insecurity, disunity, and collective apathy at the level of community. Inclusive participation in the arts, ranging from music, dance, and theatre to visual arts and expressive writing can be an effective public health intervention, which could inform just governing structures for building inclusivity and trust. During the exploratory research period (Phase 1), funded by an internal Tier-1 grant, a combination of law and policy and health science literature reviews, cultural asset mapping, ethnographic interviews, and community surveys will generate needed knowledge on the history and diversity of Black and Latinx art in Boston and challenges facing artists and the historically Black and Latinx neighborhoods in which they live and work, and will support the next experimental phase of the research investigating arts participation as a public health intervention.