Brian Diettrich

Associate Professor of Ethnomusicology, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Brian Diettrich (PhD, University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa) is an internationally recognised ethnomusicologist and a specialist in music and dance of the Pacific Islands. Working at the intersection of ethnography and history, Brian's research reimagines the capacity of music within culture, society, and place. His research interests and publications explore Indigenous performance and decolonisation, ecomusicology and environment, as well as musical instruments, recordings and archives, film and popular music, and online music communities.

Brian has held numerous research leadership positions both nationally and internationally. He serves on the Executive Board of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (A Non-Governmental Organization in Formal Consultative Relations with UNESCO), and he is currently chair of local arrangements for the 48th ICTMD World Conference to be held in Wellington in 2025, a historic first for New Zealand. He chairs the ICTMD prize committee, is a former chair (2015–2021) of its Oceania Study Group, and a recent co-chair of the 47th ICTMD World Conference held at the University of Ghana in 2023. As part of his work facilitating new research initiatives, Brian has curated a philanthropic-funded research award for Indigenous scholars and a new international prize for emerging researchers. Brian has undertaken research collaborations with the East-West Center (Honolulu), the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, the University of Ghana, the Pacific History Association, and he has held residencies as visiting scholar at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, National Taiwan Normal University, and Nara University of Education in Japan. Brian's research has been profiled by the Society for Ethnomusicology for its “Ethnomusicology Today” podcast series. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Lyrebird Press (University of Melbourne), and at VUW he is a member of the Joint Research Committee, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Brian is a regular consultant for international funding bodies as well as cultural organizations in the Asia-Pacific region. As part of his community leadership, Brian is a member of the Wellington Advocate Network, which fosters events and industry opportunities. In 2022, Brian's work received the Research Excellence Award from Victoria University of Wellington.

An advocacy for the peoples and expressions of Oceania has underscored much of Brian’s publications. He has undertaken research projects in the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, the Marshall Islands, on Guam, among migrant communities in Hawai‘i, as well as in Aotearoa. His long-term research the islands of Chuuk since 2000 has resulted in numerous publications. His book projects include the co-authored book, "Music in Pacific Island Cultures" (OUP 2011), including a Chinese language edition, and the co-edited volume, "Perspectives in Motion: Engaging the Visual in Dance and Music" (Berghahn 2021). Brian is currently leading two funded projects: "Listening with Shell, Wood, and Fibre: Decolonisation through Musical Instruments" (2021-2022) and "Musical Travels in Nan’yō" (2020-2022), which will edit and publish an English translation of Hisao Tanabe's historical writings on Pacific music. Brian is currently preparing a new introductory edited volume at the invitation of Cambridge University Press.