Newcastle University

Research Interests

De Jong's research broadly explores the African diasporic experience through the combined lenses of music and culture. More specifically, it examines the identities forged by diasporic groups, including the cultural continuities and adaptations which contribute to their construction, and the ways in which these identities find expression in music. In addressing these complexities, she stresses three main themes: the cultural emergence of identity; the reshaping of identity; and the interaction of identity and cultural memory.

Her work has focused on two general areas: (1) jazz, with a focus on the avant-garde of the 1960s and 70s; and (2) Caribbean music, with an emphasis on Curaçao, the largest of the Netherlands Antilles. These two areas, although often considered separate, overlap under the broad rubric of diasporic studies and, when viewed together, offer valuable opportunities to examine from different angles the complexities shaping Black identity.

Other Expertise

De Jong is an accomplished classical and salsa flautist, serving as substitute flute with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and performing with such salsa greats as Johnny Pacheco and Celia Cruz.

Current Grant Work

De Jong is Principal Investigator on a recently awarded grant from the European Union’s ‘Investing in People’ scheme, which is funding the project Southern African Cultural Leadership (SACL), taking place in South Africa and Zimbabwe from January 2012 to January 2014.  SACL is a governance and capacity-building initiative that is establishing public and private partnerships within South Africa and Zimbabwe’s cultural and creative industries that effectively bridge regions and nation groups while facilitating exchanges between policy-makers, artists, cultural and development specialists and civil societies on the importance of culture for development.  The project is approached from the perspective that the role of cultural expressions in fighting social inequalities and discrimination can be enhanced when combated through collective sharing of expertise. For more information, please visit the SACL website: http://strengtheningafrica.com/ 

Future Research

Future research projects centre on the ancestral Sangoma ritual from Southern Africa, the trans-Atlantic journey of Afro-Caribbean and jazz rhythms returning to Africa through globalisation, and African popular music, with an emphasis on the development of la Sape [Societe des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elegantes] among Congolese migrants.   

Esteem Indicators

Fulbright Fellowship (2006-2007). Awarded for travel to South Africa, conducting research on the trans-Atlantic interaction and creation of a cultural African Diaspora through mutual influences in music.

Bildner Fellow (2002-2005). Awarded for commitment to curriculum development and interdisciplinary learning.

Undergraduate Teaching (selected listing)

• Ethnomusicology: Issues and Concepts
• World Musics: Approaches and Methods
• Collective Performance (Salsa Band)
• Music and Identity in the Caribbean
• Studying Black Music

Postgraduate Teaching (selected listing)

• Advanced Studies in Ethnomusicology
• Ritual, Rembrance and Recorded Sound
• Music Research Training
• Urban Musicology: Approaching musical spaces 

Postgraduate Supervision (selected listing)

As Primary Supervisor:

• Francisco Javier Bethencourt LLobet (topic: Flamenco music, dance and identity; PhD completed in 2011)
• Thomas Astley (topic: Cuban popular musics and contemporary constructions of identity; PhD expected in 2013)

As Secondary Supervisor:

• Joao Silva (topic: Portuguese popular musics and symbolic constructions of nation; PhD completed in 2011)

• De Jong N. Tambú: Curaçao's African-Caribbean Ritual and the Politics of Memory. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012.
• de Jong N. Curaçao and the Folding Diaspora: Contesting the Party Tambú in the Netherlands. Black Music Research Journal (Special issue, New Perspectives on the Black Music Diaspora: Focus on the Caribbean) 2012, 32(2), 67-81.
• De Jong N. The Tambú of Curaçao: Historical Projections and the Ritual Map of Experience. Black Music Research Journal 2010, 30(2), 197-214.
• de Jong N. The (Cuban) Voice of the (Curaçaoan) People: The Making (and Taking) of Collective Memory. Journal of Historical Sociology 2009, 22(3), 351-365.
• de Jong N. South Africa, Black America, and Jazz: A Trans-Atlantic Dialogue. Jazzforschung / Jazz Research 2009, 41, 83-92.
• De Jong N. Tambú: Commemorating the Past, Recasting the Present. Transforming Anthropology 2008, 16(1), 32-41.
• De Jong N. Kokomakaku and the (Re)Writing of History. Afro-Hispanic Review 2008, 26(2), 87-101.
• De Jong N. Women of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians: Four Narratives. In: Hayes, EM; Williams, LF, ed. Black Women and Music: More Than The Blues. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2007, pp.134-152.
• De Jong N. “Joe’i Kórsou?”(Who is the True Curaçaoan?): A Musical Dialogue on Identity in 20th Century Curaçao. Black Music Research Journal 2006, 26(2), 165-179.
• De Jong N. "You Can't Kill an Organization": Musicians' Collectives and the Black Power Paradigm. Jazzforschung / Jazz Research 2005, 37(1), 133-144.
• De Jong N. “We Are Who We Believe Ourselves To Be”: Curaçao Jazz and the Expression of Identity. Image & Narrative: online magazine of the visual narrative 2005, 5(2 (10)).
• De Jong N. An Anatomy of Creolization: Curaçao and the Antillean Waltz. Latin American Music Review 2003, 24(2), 233-251.
• De Jong N. Forgotten histories and (mis)remembered cultures: the Comback party of Curaçao. British Journal of Ethnomusicology 2003, 12(2), 35-50.
• De Jong, Nanette. Inventions of Identity: An Examination of the Jazz Community of Curaçao and The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. In: Music Studies and Cultural Differences Conference Papers. 1997, London: Open University.
• de Jong N. Carriacou String Band Serenade: Performing Identity in the Eastern Caribbean. NWIG: New West Indian Guide 2011, 85(3-4), 313-315.
• de Jong N. Book Review, Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World (T.J. Desch Obi, University of South Carolina Press, 2008). 2009. In Press.
• De Jong N. Tambú; Antillean Waltz; Seu; Comback Party. In: Shepherd J, ed. Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. London: Continuum Publishing, 2010.
• De Jong N. The Music of Anguilla and Barbuda; The Music of Antigua; The Music of St. Vincent and the Grenadines; The Music of Montserrat. In: Shepherd, J, ed. Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. London, UK: Continuum Publishing, 2006.
• De Jong N. La Lupé; Julian Orbón; Arsenio Rodriguez. In: Pérez Jnr, L.A., Martinéz-Fernandez, L., Figueredo, D.H., González, L, ed. Encyclopedia of Cuba: People, History, Culture. Westport, Connecticut, USA: Greenwood Press, 2003, pp.416; 424; 430.
• De Jong N. Tambú: Curaçao's African-Caribbean Ritual and the Politics of Memory. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 2012.