Min Yen Ong

Biography

Dr Min Yen Ong is an ethnomusicologist at the University of Cambridge Music Faculty with regional interests in Pacific Island cultures and the music of China. She is a research associate at Darwin College and bye-fellow at Homerton College and Murray Edwards, University of Cambridge. Min is interested in the roles that music and dance, aurality and place play in articulating resistance and asserting identity. Her research is informed by notions of agency, belonging, sustainability, and resilience. Within this context, she has examined issues within the processes of safeguarding intangible cultural heritage, as well as the roles that music (in its broadest terms, hence including song and chant) and dance play in defining land and identity, whether it be through ritual, live performance, or the use of digital media (such as music videos). Her research also concerns how local communities use music to combat climate change and rebuild communities in the wake of natural disasters. As well as being an educator, she is also interested in practice-based work to empower people and aid communities confronted by global structures of inequality. She has experience working within UNESCO and has been employed in various sectors of the music industry in London, as well as abroad. Min is also a classically-trained pianist and oboist.

Academic biography

Research topics

Music and politics

Music and agency / advocacy

Music and belonging