Davis received her B.A. (Magna Cum Laude) in
Anthropology from the
University of California and a Ph.D. from the
University of Illinois. Her graduate field work took her to various Caribbean islands, of which she has published,[4] but it was in the
Dominican Republic where early on in her graduate career she established her reputation as an
iconoclast,
critic and dedicated scholar to
Black culture. In 1972, she arrived at the island of
Hispaniola with the suspicion that
Dominicans owned more to the
Afro-Caribbean culture than what had been documented yet. In an article published in a leading
Dominican newspaper, Xiomarita Perez wrote candidly about Davis' style and links to the country: "Martha works from the heart and with the heart... Her job is essential to the country's social memory" (
Spanish:«Martha trabaja de corazón y con el corazón... Su oficio es delicado e importante para la memoria social del país»).[5]
Institutional involvement
Part of Davis' legacy includes co-founding the Committee of Applied Ethnomusicology within the
Society for Ethnomusicology in 1998,[6][7][8] writing four seminal books,[9] producing documentaries,[10] and writing numerous scientific articles. She has been considered an authority in
Afro-Caribbean music and is quoted extensively in the literature. Davis' book, La otra ciencia, earned the National Nonfiction Award of the Dominican Republic. While continuing as an affiliate professor at the University of Florida, since ca. 2003 Davis has spent most of her time in the Dominican Republic as honorary researcher of the Museo del Hombre Dominicano (Museum of the Dominican Man) and oral-history expert and researcher of the Archivo General de la Nación (The National Archives), offering lectures, advising young scholars, and writing. On November 1, 2012, the Museo celebrated her 40 years of research in the country.[11]
Scholarly contributions
Davis' long-standing interest in the Dominican and Haitian cultures derives from her belief that "The island of Hispaniola—the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo and first colony in the New World—was the initial diasporal crucible and cultural bridge of
the Americas."[12] In 1976, Davis, who rivals
Fernando Ortiz in years of research into Afro-Caribbean culture, challenged the Dominican cultural establishment. According to Peter Manuel from
CUNY, she convincingly suggested "that if there is any rightful 'national' music of the Dominican Republic, it would be not the
Merengue, with its specifically regional origin in the
Cibao, but rather the various types of salve, which have flourished throughout the country."[13][14] Her work has also crossed into the realm of religion, and here she also suggested that what is commonly called Dominican "Folk Religion" is more accurately described as folk Catholicism of which one component is "Dominican
Vodou".[15]
1972 "The social organization of a musical event: The fiesta de cruz in San Juan, Puerto Rico." Ethnomusicology 16 (1): 38-62.
1975 "The changing role of the Dulzainero in León, Spain." The Journal of American Folklore 88 (349): 245-53.
1980 That Old-time Religion: Tradicion y Cambio en el Enclave Americano de Samana." Boletin del Museo del Hombre Dominicano Saint-Domingue 9, (14): 165-196.
1992 "Careers, 'alternative Careers,' and the Unity Between Theory and Practice in Ethnomusicology." Ethnomusicology 36 (3): 361–87. doi:10.2307/851869.
1994 "'Bi-Musicality' in the Cultural Configurations of the Caribbean" Black Music Research Journal 14 (2): 145-60.
2007 "Vodú of the dominican republic: Devotion to "la veintiuna división." Afro - 'Hispanic Review 26 (1): 75.
2007 (with Jovanny Guzmán, and Norma Urraca de Martínez) "Vodú of the Dominican Republic: Devotion to" La Veintiuna División"." Afro-Hispanic Review (2007): 75-90.
2011 Davis, Martha Ellen. "La Historia de Los Inmigrantes Afro-Americanos Y Sus Iglesias En Samaná Según El Reverendo Nehemiah Willmore." Boletín Del Archivo General de La Nación 36 (129): 237–45.
^Davis, Martha (1987). La otra ciencia: el vodú dominicano como religión y medicina populares. Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic: Editora Universitaria (UASD).
OCLC28668246.
^Manuel, Peter (2007). "El Merengue: Musica y Baile de la Republica Dominicana, and: El Merengue en la Cultura Dominicana y del Caribe: Memorias del Primer Congreso Internacional "Musica, Identidad, y Cultura en el Caribe"". Latin American Music Review. 28 (1): 170–173.
doi:
10.1353/lat.2007.0020.
S2CID191301796.
^Bars, Karoline (2011). "El origen de sones afroantillanos: perspectivas dominicanas con respecto a "Son de la Ma' Teodora"". Latin American Music Review. 32 (2): 218–239.
doi:
10.1353/lat.2011.0024.
JSTOR41348253.
S2CID191441169.
^Mapril, Jose (2013). Sites and politics of religious diversity in southern Europe: the best of all gods. Brill. p. 39.
ISBN978-90-04-25523-4.