Katelyn Hearfield

Katelyn Hearfield holds a PhD in Music from the University of Pennsylvania with a graduate certificate in Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies. Her dissertation, titled Singing Through The Pain: Popstars' Trauma and Women's Labor in the Twenty-First Century, argues for the potential of popular music in the twenty-first century to encompass various forms of affective labor in response to trauma and violence. She has written about popstars including Kesha, Lady Gaga, and Ariana Grande, among others, and is especially interested in gender, labor, trauma, and media studies. In her teaching, she uses familiar popular culture materials in order to challenge students to engage with novel theoretical concepts. She is a proud first-generation college student and is invested in supporting students from all backgrounds and experiences.