Smithsonian Institution10th St. & Constitution Ave. NW,
Dept. of Anthropology,National Museum of Natural History
Washington, DC, District of Columbia 20560
Email: waugh-quasebarth.1@osu.edu
Phone: 540-398-8414
Visit Jasper's Research Website
Research Disciplines: Research Interests:
Collaborative ethnography, forestry, environmental policy, material culture and craft traditions, global mountain regions, music, land tenure, multi-species ethnography
View Jasper's CVBiographical Sketch
Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth is a research for the Asian Cultural History Program at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History and the Public Folklorist and the Center for Folklore Studies at The Ohio State University. He has researched musical and material craft traditions in global contexts through his work with the Smithsonian Institution’s Asian Cultural History Program and the University of Kentucky Department of Anthropology and Appalachian Center, where he earned his PhD in 2019. His recent research interests have involved craft economies and production in global mountain forests, with a focus on Carpathia and Appalachia and collaborative methods. His upcoming book, Finding the Singing Spruce explores the connections between the meaning of craft work and forest environments in the craft of musical instruments in West Virginia.
Education
- 2019 Ph.D. awarded with distinction. University of Kentucky, Department of Anthropology. Finding the Singing Spruce: Craft Labor, Global Forests, and Musical Instrument Makers in Appalachia. Defended December 12, 2018
- 2016 M.A., Anthropology University of Kentucky, Department of Anthropology
- 2010 B.A., Anthropology and History, University of Virginia, College of Arts and Sciences
Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth is the Public Folklorist and Postdoctoral Scholar at the Center for Folklore Studies at The Ohio State University. He currently teaches the Ohio Field School course and coordinates the Sharing Visions Project (go.osu.edu/sharingvisions). His has researched musical and material craft traditions in global contexts through his work with the Smithsonian Institution’s Asian Cultural History Program and the University of Kentucky Department of Anthropology and Appalachian Center, where he earned his PhD in 2019. His recent research interests have involved craft economies and production in global mountain forests, with a focus on Carpathia and Appalachia and collaborative methods. His upcoming book, Finding the Singing Spruce explores the connections between the meaning of craft work and forest environments in the craft of musical instruments in West Virginia.