David Chavannes

David Chavannes<, a sensitive pianist, vocal coach, singer, and songwriter, is a first-year Benjamin Franklin Fellow of Africana Studies and Ethnomusicology. He is curious about the ways that consuming dancehall music can influence the formation and negotiation of identity for same-sex desiring and gender non-conforming Jamaicans, both on the island and throughout the diaspora. Since childhood, David has been immersed in the dialog between Afro-Jamaican and African-American musics, while also completing degrees in Euro-American classical piano, conducting, and accompanying. He views the expressive cultures of the Caribbean as a lens through which to investigate practices and discourses of gender, sexuality, and community in the region. Such an investigation, he hopes, will both uncover ways he can help cultivate more empathetic communities, and facilitate explorations of empathy as a research hermeneutic. He makes music and conversation in Philadelphia and at www.dchavannes.com.