Shelby Arias-Runyan

Shelby Arias-Runyan is a PhD student in Music Theory. She holds undergraduate degrees in Music Theory and Piano Performance from Florida State University (2022), where she also received the Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award (2021). Shelby primarily researches Mexican music, focusing on the post-Revolutionary era and its ideological impact on Mexico’s musical landscape. Her undergraduate thesis (titled “Ambivalent Patriotism: Two Eras of Mexican Music and Its Nationalist Dilemma”) discusses musical nationalism, portrayals of ethnic identity, and post-Revolutionary thought in works by Silvestre Revueltas and the rock band Café Tacuba. She looks forward to continuing research on Latin American musics and the applications of semiology, topic theory, and interdisciplinary approaches to these repertoires.