<P><EM>Critical Themes in World Music</EM> is a reader of nine short essays by the authors of the successful <EM>Excursions in World Music</EM>, Eighth Edition, edited by Timothy Rommen and Bruno Nettl. The essays introduce key and contemporary themes in ethnomusicology-gender and sexuality, coloniality and race, technology and media, sound and space, and more-creating a counterpoint to the area studies approach of the textbook, a longstanding model for thinking about the musics of the world. Instructors can use this flexible resource as a primary or secondary path through the materials, on its own, or in concert with <EM>Excursions in World Music</EM>, allowing for a more complete understanding that highlights the many continuities and connections that exist between musical communities, regardless of region. <EM>Critical Themes in World Music</EM> presents a critically-minded, thematic study of ethnomusicology, one that serves to counterbalance, complicate, and ultimately complement the companion textbook.</P>