Maria Papapavlou is Assistant Professor in the field of Ethnomusicology-Mediterranean Music at the Department of Music Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Born in Switzerland, he studied piano and music theory at the National Conservatory of Athens and graduated from the Department of Philosophy and Social Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Crete (1994). She continued with postgraduate studies at the Department of Social Sciences and Anthropology of Non-Western Societies at Leiden University in the Netherlands and holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Leipzig, Germany (2000). Apart from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where he has been teaching since 2005, he has also taught at other universities in Greece (Democritus University of Thrace, University of Thessaly, University of Crete) and abroad (University of Leipzig, Germany, University of Norway, Trondheim).
He conducted field anthropological research in Andalusia, Spain on flamenco, gypsies and their relations with the local community. She has also conducted research in Greece (Rethymno) on music and dance in the city’s carnival.Her recent research and writing work focuses on the relationship between music and politics and specifically on contemporary social movements.