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Liu Keyi

Biography

Dr. Keyi Liu holds PhD in Ethnomusicology from University College Cork (2023), which was partially funded by a College of Arts, Celtic Studies and Social Sciences Excellence Scholarship. She earned her MA in Ethnomusicology from the University of Manchester (2018), and a BA in Musicology from the China Conservatory of Music (2016). Her research primarily focuses on the music and dance of indigenous minorities in China, as well as exploring the broader scope of East Asian music.  

Her PhD study explores Lisu music from the perspective of Lisu community members, delving into cultural and social connections within the two Lisu communities in SW China, musical connections with the natural environment, and connections with other communities and nationalities in Asia. Through extensive immersive fieldwork in mountainous regions and participant observation, she provides a nuanced and multi-layered account of Lisu cultural resilience and identity, highlighting how their diverse musical and dance traditions deal with external challenges of modernization and homogenization processes.

She is currently a postdoctoral researcher on the ERC research project ECura, Everyone’s a Curator: Digitally Empowering Ethnic Minority Music Sustainability in China. Working with villagers in Bai, Miao, and Yi ethnic minority communities in southwestern China, ECura is studying how they use digital media technologies to support their traditional expressive practices and aims to develop new supports for Indigenous communities in this field.