Jessica Hajek

Jessica Hajek is a PhD candidate in musicology and student of Thomas Turino at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Her research, funded in part by Tinker Field Research Grants, focuses on Dominican carnival music and the music-making habits of Haitians in the Dominican Republic.  In general, Jessica’s interests include the impacts of colonialism, race, politics, religion, and identity on the music of the Afro-Caribbean, particularly Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba.