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'{{short description|American anthropologist}} [[File:Professor Debbie Klein.jpg|alt=Professor Debbie Klein|thumb|Professor Debbie Klein]] '''Debbie (Debra Lynn) Klein''' (born in 1970) is an American anthropologist. She is a professor in the [[Anthropology]] Department at [[Gavilan College]]. Since 1990, Klein has been conducting extensive collaborative research in Nigeria with [[Yoruba people|Yorùbá]] performing artists. In 2017, recognizing Klein's decades of collaborative written and video documentation of Yorùbá culture, the town of Èrìn-Òșùn, Nigeria bestowed an honorary chieftaincy title,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-04-03|title=Gavilan professor named honorary chieftain by Nigerian town|url=https://benitolink.com/gavilan-professor-named-honorary-chieftain-by-nigerian-town/|access-date=2020-12-28|website=BenitoLink|language=en-US}}</ref> [[Iyalode (title)|Iyalode]] of Èrìn-Òșùn, upon Klein alongside her long-term mentor and collaborator, Chief Làmídì Àyánkúnlé.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Klein|first=Debra|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/767838646|title=Dictionary of African biography|date=2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|others=Akyeampong, Emmanuel Kwaku., Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.|year=2011|isbn=978-0-19-985725-8|location=Oxford|pages=307-309|oclc=767838646}}</ref> ==Education== Klein received her B.A. from [[Brown University]] (1992) and completed her M.A. (1994) and Ph.D. (2000) in anthropology at the [[University of California, Santa Cruz|University of California at Santa Cruz]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ph.D. Recipients|url=https://anthro.ucsc.edu/graduate/phd-recipient-dissertations1.html|access-date=2020-12-29|website=anthro.ucsc.edu}}</ref> In Nigeria, Klein studied as an undergraduate at the [[University of Ibadan]] (1990-1) and returned to the University of Ibadan as a doctoral student and [[Fulbright Program|Fulbright]] scholar<ref>{{Cite web|title=UC Santa Cruz Fulbright Students|url=https://global.ucsc.edu/opportunities/fulbright-program/student-directory.php|access-date=2020-12-29|website=global.ucsc.edu}}</ref> affiliated with the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology (1996-98). ==Teaching and research== Upon receiving her doctoral degree, she served as a postdoctoral research fellow at the [[University of California, Davis|University of California at Davis]] (2000) and visiting assistant professor at [[Vassar College]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Archive from Thursday, September 23, 2004 - Nigerian Drum and Dance Troupe to Perform - News - Info - Vassar College|url=http://info.vassar.edu/news/announcements/2004-2005/040923-nigerian-dance-troup.html|access-date=2020-12-29|website=info.vassar.edu}}</ref> (2004-5). In 2005, she joined Gavilan College.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Staff Page- Gavilan College|url=https://www.gavilan.edu/staff/bio.php?p=468|access-date=2020-12-29|website=www.gavilan.edu}}</ref> She has contributed and written many articles and an [[ethnography]] on a range of anthropological subjects within [[African studies]], [[performance studies]], and [[ethnomusicology]]. She has created numerous video shorts documenting Yorùbá performance genres. ==Notable works== Some of Klein's notable works include: ; ''Yorùbá Bàtá Goes Global: Artists, Culture Brokers, and Fans'' (2007)<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/Y/bo5471671.html|title=Yorùbá Bàtá Goes Global}}</ref> Klein's first ethnographic work, funded by the Fulbright and Wenner-Gren Foundations, documents how practitioners of [[Batá drum|bàtá]]—a centuries-old drumming, dancing, and singing tradition—have recast themselves as traditional performers in a global market. This book delves into the lives of Yorùbá musicians, focusing on their strategic collaborations with artists, culture brokers, researchers, and entrepreneurs worldwide. This book contributes to the field of [[global studies]] and analyzes the inequitable power dynamics characterizing transnational collaborations in the [[world music]] market. ;A Political Economy of Lifestyle and Aesthetics - Yorùbá Artists Produce and Transform Popular Culture (2012)<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Klein|date=2012|title=A Political Economy of Lifestyle and Aesthetics: Yorùbá Artists Produce and Transform Popular Culture|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/reseafrilite.43.4.128|journal=Research in African Literatures|volume=43|issue=4|pages=128|doi=10.2979/reseafrilite.43.4.128}}</ref> This article pays tribute to the work of [[Karin Barber]] by analyzing the political and economic conditions of Yorùbá performance, arguing that the process of innovation and preservation of traditional and popular culture produces an aesthetics rooted in the material conditions of the everyday lives, lifestyle, of the culture producers. Filmic portrayals of Yorùbá traditional culture often produce an aesthetics of nostalgia, a longing for a mythic past disconnected from the everyday lives of artists presently transforming traditional and popular culture. The paper analyzes Klein's original ethnographic data from Yorùbá singing, dancing, drumming, and masquerade performances and a Yorùbá film by [[Tunde Kelani]] to illustrate the interconnections between everyday life and aesthetic production. ;Fújì - Indigenous and Islamic Popular Music Fusions in Nigeria (2019)<ref>{{Cite book|last=Klein|first=Debra|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50235133|title=Continuum encyclopedia of popular music of the world|publisher=|others=Shepherd, John, 1947-|year=2019|isbn=0-8264-6321-5|location=London|pages=145-151|oclc=50235133}}</ref> This article draws upon original ethnographic research,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Latestnigeriannews|title=How Were, Fuji hook Anthropologist Debra Klein|url=http://www.latestnigeriannews.com/news/307478/|access-date=2020-12-28|website=Latest Nigerian News|language=English}}</ref> sponsored by the [[National Endowment for the Humanities]], and documents the musical genre of [[Fuji music|fújì]], a fusion of an Islamic-influenced vocal style, Yorùbá praise poetry ([[oríkì]]), and driving percussion. Fújì’s popularity hit a peak in Nigeria and on the global stage in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and fújì bands continue to record their music and perform throughout Nigeria and across the globe into the twenty-first century. During the course of her research, Klein was hosted by the Department of Performing Arts at the [[University of Ilorin]] as a visiting research scholar. ;Yorùbá Performance Videos Klein's video shorts<ref>https://www.debbieklein.org/videos.html</ref> provide documentation of a range of Yorùbá performance genres and events. With the assistance of research collaborators, Rasheed Ayandele, Rafiu Ayantayo, and Jeleel Ojuade, Klein has recorded, edited, and produced these videos as forms of cultural documentation. ==Social and Economic Justice Advocacy== Throughout her career, Klein has advocated at local, state, national, and international levels on behalf of faculty and students within the realm of public higher education. She has served as an organizer for her graduate student and faculty unions and president of the faculty union of Gavilan College. She has advocated for part-time faculty equity<ref>{{Cite web|title=COMMENTARY: Calbright funds would be better spent on health benefits for part-time community college faculty|url=https://edsource.org/2020/calbright-funds-would-be-better-spent-on-health-benefits-for-part-time-community-college-faculty/628975|access-date=2020-12-28|website=EdSource|language=en}}</ref> and was appointed to serve on the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Implementation Task Force of the California Community Colleges,<ref>{{Cite web|title=Diversity, Equity and Inclusion {{!}} California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office|url=https://www.cccco.edu/About-Us/Vision-for-Success/diversity-equity-inclusion|access-date=2020-12-29|website=www.cccco.edu}}</ref> whose charge is to transform the [[California Community Colleges]] into a more equitable system for its students and those who work within the system. Klein served as president (2019-21) of the statewide Faculty Association of California Community Colleges (FACCC),<ref>{{Cite web|title=Home|url=https://www.faccc.org/|access-date=2020-12-29|website=www.faccc.org}}</ref> during which she advocated for increased investment in public education as a means for the residents of California to achieve economic and social justice. == References == {{reflist}} == External links == *{{official|https://www.debbieklein.org/}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Klein, Debbie}} [[Category:Women anthropologists]] [[Category:Gavilan College faculty]] [[Category:Brown University alumni]] [[Category:University of California, Santa Cruz alumni]] [[Category:University of Ibadan alumni]] [[Category:1970 births]] [[Category:Living people]]'