DDM Speakers: Michael MacDonald

“Though he does have a beard, Professor MacDonald is not a tweed suit wearing dour academic, rather his passion for cinema and music has led him to the streets, showcasing the hardscrabble life of artists attempting to win fans one gig at a time.” CKUA radio, Alberta

Michael B. MacDonald is an award-winning cine-ethnomusicologist, associate professor of music, and Chancellor’s Research Chair at MacEwan University, Faculty of Fine Arts and Communications located in Amiskwacâskahikan, what settlers call Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. His ongoing cinematic research-creation work investigates the interface of music ethnography and cinema production as documented in “CineWorlding: Scenes of Cinematic Research-Creation” published by Bloomsbury Press in 2023. MacDonald’s films have screened at more than 80 film festivals, winning documentary and experimental film awards. He has published widely on music studies, youth culture, and cine-ethnographic and cine-ethnomusicological theory with book chapters included in influential handbooks. He is the author of “Playing for Change” (2016), “Remix and Lifehack in Hip Hop” (2016), and co-editor for “A History of Progressive Music and Youth Culture” (2020). He is currently writing two books Immanence Sensors and Speculative Worldings: Research-Creation in Music Studies and Free Radicals: CineWorlding's Poetic Posthumanography.

Funded by the Ian Gillespie Faculty of Design + Dynamic Media.