Lauren Eldridge Stewart is an Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology in the Department of Music at Washington University in St. Louis. Her research interests include the cultural uses of classical music, folklore, and material culture across the African diaspora, as well as sampling and interpolation across genres and cultural boundaries. She is currently writing a book about the contemporary practice of classical music in Haiti, and has been published in journals such as Music and Politics, Women & Music, and Twentieth-Century Music. Her next book continues the work of assessing the function of classical music in contemporary society by examining the community relations and educational outreach programs of US orchestras and the efficacy of their claims toward social justice. She also cohosts the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra broadcasts on St. Louis Public Radio.