Lauron J. Kehrer Interview

Dr. Lauron J. Kehrer is Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology and Musicology at Western Michigan University. Their new book is Queer Voices in Hip-Hop: Cultures, Communities, and Contemporary Performance. Lauron has published articles on queer identity and women’s music, white rapper Macklemore, and Beyoncé in journals like American Music, the Journal of the Society for American Music, and Popular Music and Society.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?

I started in college as a flute performance major with the goal of becoming an orchestral flutist! I have always enjoyed writing and when I took my first music history classes and learned you can write about music, it changed everything for me. When I further learned I could combine my interests in women and gender studies and popular music, I changed paths. I did a master’s degree in ethnomusicology and a graduate certificate in gender studies, took a year off, and then did a PhD in musicology. I wanted to bring together these fields in the methodologies that I use in my own research. I taught for two years at the College of William and Mary and then came to my current position at Western Michigan University. In my teaching as in my research, I take an interdisciplinary approach.

Did you have any mentors along the way? What did they teach you?