Carol Silverman, Professor of Cultural Anthropology and Folklore/Public Culture at the University of Oregon, has done research with Roma for over thirty years in Bulgaria, Macedonia, Western Europe and the United States. She has explored music, politics, human rights, gender, migration and state policy with a focus on representation.
Her 2012 book Romani Routes: Cultural Politics and Balkan Music in Diaspora analyses how Romani music is both an exotic commodity in the world music market and a trope of multiculturalism in cosmopolitan contexts; it won the Merriam Prize from the Society for Ethnomusicology. Her recent research, supported by the Guggenheim Foundation, examines issues of migration, labour and appropriation in the globalisation of Romani culture.
She has written numerous articles, works with the organisation Voice of Roma and is also a professional vocalist and teacher of Balkan music.
Carol curated the Balkan music exhibits.