Dr. Gearhart received a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Florida in 1998. She takes an interdisciplinary approach (Visual Anthropology, History, and Performance Studies) to her research on non-western music and dance performance traditions. Her area of interest is East Africa, where she has frequently lived over the past twenty years, primarily among the Swahili people of the Kenya coast. Professor Gearhart is currently working on a book-length manuscript on Swahili expressive arts. To view a partial collection of images from Professor Gearhart's research, please visit the Swahili Expressive Arts Collection (link below).
Articles
Observations on Eye Care in Lamu, Kenya: Overlooked Needs and Proposed Interventions (with Erick Henderson '12), Journal of Global Health (2013)
These notes draw attention to the underserved eye care needs of residents of Lamu, Kenya....
Purity, Balance and Wellness Among the Swahili of Lamu, Kenya (with Munib Abdulrehman), The Journal of Global Health (2012)
The Swahili of Lamu Island, Kenya, are part of a larger Swahili nation that extends...
Ngoma Memories: How Ritual Music and Dance Shaped the Northern Kenya Coast, African Studies Review (2005)
This essay integrates ethnographic data collected between Mombasa and the Lamu archipelago in Kenya into...
4 Days for the Prophet, World and I (1998)
Reports on the Lamu Maulidi festival, a celebration in Kenya being held in commemoration of...
Image Collection
Swahili Expressive Arts Digital Media Collection, Illlinois Wesleyan University (2007)
The Swahili Expressive Arts collection represents the research and scholarship of Professor Rebecca Gearhart, Ph.D.,...
Dissertation
Ngoma Memories: A History of Competitive Music and Dance Performance on the Kenya Coast (1998)
A dissertation presented to the graduate school of the University of Florida in partial fulfillment...