Megwen Loveless is finishing her dissertation, Forró Music, Brazil's (Re)Invented Tradition: a 'Routes' Ethnography of Brazilian Musical 'Roots' Discourse, in the Social Anthropology Department of Harvard University.  Her research focuses on forró music in the cities of Recife, Rio de Janeiro and New York as well as regional/national migrations and the juxtaposition of modernity and tradition in Brazilian popular music.  She also enjoys exploring new media in the language classroom, including the use of IM, Skype and youtube.

Her recent publications include: “Popular Brazilian Music: Review of ‘In Defense of Tradition’ by Sean Stroud,” World of Music: Journal of the Department of Ethnomusicology (Bamberg, Germany: forthcoming); “Between the Folds of Luiz Gonzaga’s Sanfona: Forró Music in Brazil,” The Accordion on New Shores, Ed. Helena Simonett (Champaigne, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, forthcoming); “Forró Music in a Transnational Setting,” Revista: Special Edition on Dance (David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University: Fall ’07) and the liner notes and translations for the cd Wha’s Happening?  Recent Music from Pernambuco, Brazil (Luaka Bop Records, Spring ’07).

Megwen teaches POR 108, POR 109, POR 110 and POR 208 in the SPO Department.