About Ryan


Ryan Bunch
ryan@ryanbunch.com


I study cultures of childhood, including music, theater, media, and literature. I recently completed my Ph.D. in the Department of Childhood Studies at Rutgers-University Camden, where I wrote a dissertation on mass-market children's music in the United States. I previously studied musicology at the University of Maryland and am a scholar of stage and screen musicals, leading to the publication of my book, Oz and the Musical: Performing the American Fairy Tale by Oxford University Press. I've been a singing teacher, a community theater music director, and a puppeteer. I’ve taught courses in childhood studies, children's literacies, music history, and music appreciation at Rutgers University-Camden, Temple University, and the Community College of Philadelphia. I'm the Vice President of the International Wizard of Oz Club, and the co-founder and co-chair of the American Musicological Society's Childhood and Youth Study Group.