Dr Luis-Manuel Garcia-Mispireta’s book awarded Ruth Stone Prize by the Society for Ethnomusicology

Together, Somehow : Music, Affect, and Intimacy on the Dancefloor won the ‘Best First Monograph’ award

Front cover of 'Together, Somehow : Music, Affect, and Intimacy on the Dancefloor' by Dr Luis-Manuel Garcia-Mispireta

The Ruth Stone Prize for Best First Monograph recognises ‘the most distinguished English-language monograph in the field of ethnomusicology, published as the author’s first monograph.’

In his winning book, Together, Somehow: Music, Affect, and Intimacy on the Dancefloor (Duke U Press, 2023), Dr Garcia-Mispireta draws on his time in the minimal techno and house music subscenes in Chicago, Paris, and Berlin to explore how ‘stranger-intimacy’ forms in electronic dance music parties.

What an honour it is to be awarded a prize named after Ruth Stone, an ethnomusicologist known both for her landmark books on methods and theory as well as for her mentorship of early career scholars.

Dr Luis-Manuel Garcia-Mispireta, Associate Professor in Ethnomusicology and Popular Music Studies, Department of Music

Justifying their decision to award the book, the judging panel said: “It is engagingly written, ethnographically evocative, deeply musical, and conveys the author's heartfelt love of the scenes and people he describes.”