Amy Medvick holds a BA in Jazz Performance awarded jointly by Humber College and Thompson Rivers University, and an MA in ethnomusicology from the University of Toronto, Canada. Her Master’s thesis, entitled “Testing the Boundaries of ‘Women’s Music’: Grupos Femininos in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil,” examines how gender, race, and class are conceptualized at the boundaries of musical groups formed of only or predominantly women. She has performed extensively as a vocalist, flautist, and percussionist in many of Toronto’s Brazilian music acts. Her PhD research will continue her examination of issues of gender, race, and class in musical practice, focusing on the roles of women and gender politics in the Afro-Brazilian drumming tradition of maracatu-nação.
