He is a professor of Anthropology[1] and a member of The Social Dynamics and Complexity Group[2] at the University of California, Irvine as well as a professor at the Japanese National Museum of Ethnology[3] in Senri, Osaka.
During the 1950s Garfias performed for several years in the Sausalito ensemble of Harry Partch, appearing on two LPs (Plectra & Percussion Dances, 1953; and Oedipus, 1954).
[1] In 1955 he produced an 11-part radio series about the music of Japan for the KPFA radio station, and from 1962 to 1968 he served as the first music director for KRAB, a noncommercial listener-supported station in Seattle, WA, producing several hundred programs for a series called "Ethnic Music with Robert Garfias" between 1963 and 1982[2] He completed his doctorate at University of California, Los Angeles and taught at the University of Washington where he established the graduate program in ethnomusicology before coming to University of California, Irvine.
He has also written on The Role of Dreams and Spirit Possession in the Mbira Dza Vadzimu Music of the Shona People of Zimbabwe.
In these areas his primary concern is with ethnicity and cultural diversity.