William Matczynski

William Matczynski is a photographer, writer, and cultural anthropologist whose work explores the cultural politics of festivals, sound, and performance in West Africa. As a Mellon International Dissertation Research Fellow (2020–2021), he conducted long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Ghana focused on the Ga Homowo Festival in the Ga-Mashie community of Central Accra. His current project is a documentary film which profiles the originators of Kpanlogo, a contemporary style of dance-drumming which emerged in the 1960s blending Ga traditional music with highlife, rock and roll, and African-American musical aesthetics.

William received a PhD in ethnomusicology from the University of California, Los Angeles (2022) and a BA in music, anthropology, and African studies from Macalester College (2011). At UCLA, he pursued an interdepartmental specialization in music and anthropology, was Reviews Editor for the journal Ethnomusicology Review, and served as president of the Ethnomusicology Graduate Student Organization. William’s research has been supported by the Social Science Research Council and the Fowler Museum, and he has presented his work at national conferences of the African Studies Association and Society for Ethnomusicology. As a percussionist and guitarist, he has performed and taught Ghanaian music for over 15 years with a specialization in hand percussion and guitar-band highlife.