Collegiate Affiliation

Mara Pedelty is an Emeritus Professor of Communication Studies, Anthropology, and Fellow at the Institute on the Environment. She retired from most active service at the University of Minnesota and is now working full time on a film about human interactions with animals and plants in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. Her research deals with music and sound as environmental communication. Dr. Pedelty has published a number of books and journal articles. She also produces, directs, and composes for environmental film project collaborations with community partners. Visit Ecosong.Net to see her most recent media projects and follow her current work on Instagram at DockumentaryFilm.

Dr. Pedelty published "A Song to Save the Salish Sea: Musical Performance as Environmental Activism" (Indiana University Press, 2016), a book about environmentalist musicians and movements in Washington State and British Columbia. In 2012, Dr. Pedelty published “Ecomusicology: Rock, Folk, and the Environment” (Temple University's Music Matters Series, 2012), and her fieldwork in Mexico and Central America resulted in two earlier books (Routledge, 1995, and University of Texas Press, 2004). Pedelty has published numerous articles about music, media, and environment.

Pedelty taught environmental communication, audio production, musical communication, ethnographic methods, media studies, and global seminars in the UK and Latin America. Dr. Pedelty's community engagement, research, and teaching are dedicated to the University of Minnesota's land grant mission to sustainably steward our public lands, waters, and resources.

Educational Background & Specialties
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Educational Background

  • Ph.D.: Anthropology, University of California, 1993

Specialties

  • Music as Environmental Communication
  • Ethnographic research in the USA, El Salvador, and Mexico
  • Sound and Environment