Chris Gibson

Guitars are ubiquitous yet mysterious (their ultimate origins are unknown) and inspire strong feelings for both music players and listeners. The 2021 book The Guitar: Tracing the Grain Back to the Tree unravels one aspect of the modern instrument: the woods they are made from, and where the trees are that the wood comes from. Co-author Chris Gibson, a social scientist at the University of Wollongong, Australia, will present a virtual discussion of the book hosted by the UW Institute for International and Regional Studies National Resource Center.

media release: This event is presented by the Institute for International and Regional Studies National Resource Center (IRIS NRC) at UW-Madison.

Guitars are played by millions of people around the world; but what gives each one a unique sound and feel? The technique of the player, the skill with which its wood was cut, or the tree from where that wood was sourced? Professor Chris Gibson, co-author of The Guitar: Tracing the Grain Back to the Tree (2021), will take us on a globe-spanning journey from guitar shops and factories to remote sawmills and distant rainforests, in order to understand the chains of exploitation and care that make the musical instrument. 10 registrants will be entered to win a FREE copy of the book!

About Chris Gibson

In the 1990s Chris Gibson kicked around as a musician, swing dancer and record store tragic before settling into a career as professor of geography at the University of Wollongong, Australia. In an effort to combine a musical background with a "proper" academic job he wrote a Ph.D. on the geography of the music industry, tracing links between urban and regional scenes and globalisation. With his supervisor, John Connell, he turned much of the Ph.D. into his first book, Sound Tracks. Since then Chris and John have written books on music, tourism, and festivals. With Andrew Warren, he wrote a history of surfboard-making, and a book tracing guitars from factory to forest. His most recent book is The Church's Starfish, for Bloomsbury's 33 1/3 series.

Special thanks to the Mead Witter School of Music and the Department of Geography at UW-Madison for co-sponsoring this Global Dialogues event.