THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA

Department of Music School of Performing Arts & Institute of African Studies

PO Box LG 73

Legon, Accra, Ghana

CURRICULUM VITAE

http://beaconpros.com

Daniel Kodzo AVORGBEDOR, PhD (INDIANA U--Bloomington, 1986) Mailing Address: PO Box LG 73, Institute of African Studies University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana

Home Address: 103 Guava Lane, Lakeside Estates Community 8, Ashaley Botwe, Accra

US Address: 3469 Beulah Rd, Columbus, OH 43323

Telephone: +233(0)207060435; Global Googlevoice: +1 614-859-5735

Email: perazimm@gmail.com; davorgbedor@ug.edu.gh; avorgbedor1@yahoo.com

Summary

Professor Daniel Kodzo Avorgbedor (PhD, IU--Bloomington, 1986) is currently a post- retirement Associate Professor on teaching and research contract in the School of Performing Arts and in the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana. Major research and teaching areas include performance theories, African Diaspora studies, contemporary Black art music and questions of cultural autonomy and politics of identity, music as cultural signifier in contemporary Ghanaian visual arts, and urban ethnomusicology with primary research focus on rural-urban dynamics in reconstructing Ewe sociocultural and musical identities. Professor Avorgbedor held a joint appointment in the School of Music and in the Department of African American and African Studies at The Ohio State University, Columbus where he also served as coordinator of the Ethnomusicology program, 2004 - 2008. Major grants received include Wenner-Gren, H.F. Guggenheim, NEH (OSU team), and Carnegie Mellon (Legon team) awards and is a partner in the University of Bayreuth‘s Africa Multiple Cluster of Excellence ―Beyond

the digital Return‖ project https://www.africamultiple.uni-bayreuth.de/en/african-cluster- centres/index.html). In addition to frequent international speaking engagements, Professor Avorgbedor has published essays in several journals and entries in encyclopedias such as Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford Bibliographies Online, Sage Encyclopedia of Ethnomusicology,

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music (Vol. 5, 1998), Encyclopedia of Shamanism (Vol. 1, 2004), and African Folklore: An Encyclopedia (2004). He edited The Interrelatedness of Music, Religion, and Ritual in African Performance Practice (2003), and served as guest-editor of the special issue of World of Music on Cross-Cultural Aesthetics (2003). He was visiting scholar at Leibniz-und Zentrum für Literatur- und Forschung, Berlin (2009) and at Gutenberg University, Mainz (2012). He contributed to the EVIA Digital Archive Project (http:/eviada.org) and is Editor-in-Chief of Analytical Approaches to African Music. He is a member of the Executive Board of the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD), and Advisory Board member of MGG Online. Professor Avorgbedor recently served as invited keynote speaker for the international conference of Analytical Approaches to World Music Special Topics Symposium 2023 (New York, 2023), and also for the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana for their ―(Re)Developing Creative Arts Education Policy and Research for Sustainable Industrial Development‖ conference, 2022. Additional international speaking engagments include the 2022 annual meeting of the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung on ―Nach der Norm:

Musikwissenschaft im 21. Jahrhundert‖ (Humboldt University, Berlin, 2022); and Belt and Road Festival and Symposium, Central Conservatory of Music (Beijing, China 2023).

Details

Associate Professor (post retirement) School of Performing Arts & Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana

Visiting Scholar, Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, China (October, 2023) Visiting Scholar, Zentrum für Literatur- und Forschung,, Berlin, Germany (2009; 2010) Visiting Scholar Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany (2012)

Academic Director, World Learning, Inc., USA. Ghana GHD program (2010-2013) Associate Professor (1995-2009) School of Music /Dept of African American & African Studies, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

Head/Coordinator (2004-2008), Ethnomusicology Program, Ohio State University, Columbus Co-Director (2007-2009) Lusophone Research Group, Ohio State University, Columbus President (2006-2007) Midwest Chapter of Society for Ethnomusicology

Member, Executive Board, International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD)

Member, Editorial Board:

--Temple University Press (African Expressive Cultures)

--African Music

--African Musicology Online

--Journal of African Musical Arts

--Ethnomusicology Forum [GB]

--MGG

.EDUCATION

PH.D. (1986) Ethnomusicology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

M.MUS (1978) Truman State University, Kirksville, MO, USA

GEN. DIP MUS (1975) University of Ghana, Legon

TECHNICAL:

1995 CNA (Certified Novell Administrator (License #710DTT0148; New York)

1995 Computer/LAN Technician (Netcom Technical Services, Inc.; New York)

TEACHING/PROFESSIONAL WORK

• Post-Retirement Contract (Associate Professor), School of Performing Arts & Institute of African Studies & School of Performing Arts, University of Ghana (2013—Present)

• Academic Director, World Learning/SIT (USA, 2010-2013)

• Associate Professor, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (1995-2009)

• Adjunct Assistant Professor, City College of New York, USA (1990-1994)

• Visiting Lecturer, Bretton Hall College, Wakefield (UK, 1989)

• Lecturer, Department of Music, University of Ghana, Legon (1986-1989)

• Editor, RILM Abstracts International, City University of New York (1989-1994)

PUBLICATIONS

2025 (in press): Hesinɔ Jeremiah Vinɔkɔ Akpalu (Biography; Chapter in Vol 2 of biography series Building the Nation. Ed. Mercy Akrofi-Ansah, Daniel Avorgbedor, Hasiyatu Abubakari)

2025 (in press)‖ J.H. Kwabena Nketia: A Biography (Chapter in Vol.2 of biography series

Building the Nation. Ed. Mercy Akrofi-Ansah, Daniel Avorgbedor, Hasiyatu Abubakari)

2022: ―Ruptures, Junctures, and Difference: The Role of Music and Ritual Performance in Framing ―Tradition‖ in Contemporary Royal Ceremonies, Ghana. Musicological Annual, Vol. 58, No. 1, pp. 7-42.

2019: ―Ghana: History, Culture, and Geography of Music.‖ Sage Encyclopedia of Music and Culture, pp. 1007-1010. Ed. Janet Sturman. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications.

2019: ―Ghana: Modern and Contemporary Performance Practice.‖ Sage Encyclopedia of Music and Culture, pp. 1011-1016. Ed. Janet Sturman. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. 2014: ― Interview With Joseph Hanson Kwabena Nketia.‖ · Bulletin of the International

Council for Traditional Music, No. 125 (2014), pp. 5-7.

2013: ―Körperliche und nicht-körperliche Expressivität in der afrikanischen PerformanceTheoretische Perspektiven und Feldevidenz in der Erstellung eines

interdisziplinären Bezugssystems‖ [Bodily and Non-Bodily Expressivity in African Performance: Theoretical Perspectives and Field Evidence in Building an Interdisciplinary

Framework]‖ In Erik Porath and Tobias Robert Klein, eds., Kinästhetik und Kommunikation: Ränder und Inteferenzen des Ausdrucks, pp. 139-162. Berlin: Kadmos.

2011-2015: Annotated Bibliography entries—―Music of East and West Africa,‖ Oxford Bibliographies Online: [http://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/obo/page/music]

2008: Review Essay: ―Steven Mithen, The Singing Neanderthals: Th Origins of Music, Language, Mind, and Body.‖ [http://emusicology.org/v3n1/bookreview.html]

2009: “Public Enemy, Or, Sensing Censorship: Musical Performance and

Semiotic Disobedience—Popular Music Censorship in Africa (2006) in Perspective.‖ Research in African Literatures 40/3(Feb. 2009):220-235.

2008: ―In and Out of Song: Female Song Tradition and the Akan of Ghana: The Process in Nnwonkoro‖ Research in African Literatures, 29.2:131-137.

2007: "Language Plots in Musical Spaces: A Response to Adams Bodomo and Manolete Mora," Empirical Musicology Review, 2.3 (2007). [http://emusicology.org/v2n3/contents.html] 2006-2008: Special Internet Research Archive Contribution (sponsored by the Carnegie-

Mellon Foundation and Indiana University and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; equivalent to Book-length project) Contributions of African American Preaching and Liturgical Dance, Step Shows, Urban Churches in Accra, Ewe performing groups and voluntary Associations, Auction Speech, Ghanaian Art Music [http://www.iub.edu/~eviada/]

2005: ―Musical Traditions of the Ewe and Related Peoples of Togo and Benin.‖In The Ewe of Togo and Benin: A Handbook of Eweland, pp. 197-214. Ed. Benjamin N. Lawrance. Accra, Ghana: Woeli Publishing Services.

2004: ―Sources and Processes of Musical Innovation in African Independent Churches.‖ In African Folklore: An Encyclopedia, pp. 268-272. Philip Peek and Kwesi Yankah, eds. New York: Routledge.

2004: ―Music in World Shamanism.‖ In Shamanism : An Encyclopedia of World Beliefs, Practices, and Culture, pp. 179-186. Ed. Mariko Walter and Eva Fridman. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO.

2003: (Editor) The Interrelatedness of Music, Religion and Ritual in African Performance Practice. Lewiston, NJ: Edwin Mellen.

2003: ―Stumbling with/over Scripts: Vignettes.‖ Oral Tradition, 18.1:118-120.

2001: ―‘It‘s a great song!‘ Haló Performance as Literary Production.‖ Research in African Literatures, 32.2:17-43.

2000: ―Competition and Conflict as a Framework for Understanding Performance Culture among the Urban Anlo-Ewe.‖ Ethnomusicology, 45.2:260-282.

2000: "Dee Hoo! A Typology of Sonic Articulations in Healing and Exorcism Practices of the Anlo-Ewe." Worlds of Music, 42.2:9-24.

1999: "The Turner-Schechner Model of Performance as Social Drama: A Re-Examination in the Light of Anlo-Ewe Haló." Research in African Literatures, 30.4:144-155.

1998: "Anlo-Ewe Music and Society in the Light of Urgent Anthropo-Musicology." Bulletin of the International Union of Ethnonological Sciences, No. 39:17-26.

1998: “Rural-Urban Interchange: Anlo-Ewe Music.‖ Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Africa, Vol. 1; ed. Ruth Stone, pp. 389-399. New York: Garland Publishing.

1994: “Freedom to Sing, License to Insult: The Influence of Haló Performance on Social Violence among the Anlo-Ewe." Oral Tradition, 9.1:83-112.

1994: ―Un Voyage vers l‘inconnu: Conventions esthésiques dans la musique des Anlo-Ewe du Ghana‖ [A Journey into the Unknown: Aesthetics Conventions in Anlo-Ewe Music.] Cahiers de Musiques Traditionnelles, Vol. 7: Esthetiques (1994), pp. 105-120.

1992: "The Impact of Rural-Urban Migration on a Village Music Culture: Some Implications for Applied Ethnomusicology." African Music, 7.2:45-57.

1990-91: "Some Contributions of Haló Music to Research Theory and Pragmatics," Bul. of the Int. Comm. on Urgent Anthr. & Ethnol. Research, 32-33:61-80.

1986-87: "Objectivity Without a Subject? Autochthonous Research and the Scientific Method.‖ Bul. of the Int. Comm. on Urgent Anthr. & Ethnol. Research, 28-29:9-19.

1986: "The Construction and Manipulation of Temporal Structures in Yewe Cult Music."

African Music, 6.4:4-18.

1985: "The Transmission, Preservation, and Realisation of Song Texts: A Psycho-Musical Approach.‖ Cross Rhythms: Occasional Papers in African Folklore, 2:67-92; also in Isidore Okpewho, ed., The Oral Performance in Africa, pp 208-214. Ibadan: Spectrum Books, 1990.

1983: "The Psycho-Social Dynamics of Ewe Names: The Case of the Ahanonko." Folklore Forum, 16.1:21-43.

Book/Multimedia Reviews

2019: Pieces of the Musical World: Sounds and Cultures by Rachel Harris & Rowan Pease, eds. (New York: Routledge, 2015.) Yearbook for Traditional Music, Vol. 51, pp. 269–271.

2014: Music in Kenyan Christianity: Logooli Religious Song by Steven Feld. (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2013.) The International Journal of African Historical Studies, Volume 48, 1 (2015), pp. 159-161.

2014: Jazz Cosmopolitanism in Accra: Five Musical Years in Ghana by Steven Feld (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2012). American Anthropologist, 116/3, pp. 6-7.

2013: Remains of Ritual: Northern Gods in a Southern Land. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010). Ethnomusicology Forum, 22.3, pp. 379-382.

2012: Medicinal Plants of South Africa. (Ben-Erik van Wyk, Bosch van Oudtshoorn and Nigel Ericke. Pretoria: Briza Publications, 2009). African Book Publishing Record

2011: Linking African Traditional Dance and History: A Study of the Muchongoyo Dance among the Ndau of Southeastern Zimbabwe. Occasional Paper No. 29. (Fidelis Duri and Gadziro Gwekwerere. Cape Town: The Centre for Advanced Studies of African Society, 2007). African Book Publishing Record.

2011: Instruments de Musique Communs aux Iles de L’Ocean Indien (Yu Sion Live.

Sainte-Marie: Azalées Editions, 2006.) African Book Publishing Record.

2010: Pathways in Christian Music Communication: The Case of the Senufo of Côte D'ivoire

(Roberta R. King. Pickwick Publications). Religious Studies Review 36/1:62.

2008: Towards a Christian Theology of African Religion: Issues of Interpretation and Mission (Francis Anekwe Oborji. Eldoret, Kenya: AMECEA Gaba Publications). African Book Publishing Record.

2008: African Women, Religion, and Health: Essays in Honor of Mercy Amba Ewudziwa Oduyoye (Isabel Apawo Phiri and Sarojini Nadar, ed. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books). African Book Publishing Record.

2008: The Will to Arise: Women, Tradition, and the Church in Africa. (Mercy Amba Oduyoye and Musimbi R. A. Kanyoro, eds. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books). African Book Publishing Record.

2007: Musical Instruments of Africa, (Kurt Huwiler, …) H-AfrArts, H-Net Reviews, June, 2006. [http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=320731159035562.]

2005: La Naissance et la mort en Afrique: le cas des Bamileké du Cameroun. (Jean Tchegho.

Yaoundé: Editions Démons). African Book Publishing Record.

2004: Mande Music (Eric Charry, University of Chicago Press, 2000). World of Music 42/2.

2003: Dinka Christianity: The Origins and Development of Christianity among the Dinka of Sudan with Special Reference to the Songs of Dinka Christians. (Mark Niggel. Nairobi: Pauline Publishers, 2001). African Book Publishing Record 29(4):357-358.

2003: Rituals of Fertility and the Sacrifice of Desire: Nazarite Women's Performance in South Africa (Carol Muller. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1999). Research in African Literatures 34/1:192-198.

2002: Herbs of Ghana (Oscar Dokosi. Accra: Ghana Universities Press, 1998). African Book Publishing Record 28/1:1.

2002: Zambian Theatre: From Traditional Arts to Movements for Cultural Expression

(Dickinson Mwana. Lusaka: Multimedia, 1999). African Book Publishing Record 28/1:16.

2001: Intercultural Music, vol. 2. Ed. Cynthia Kimberlin and Akin Euba. Richmond, CA: Music Research Institute, 1999. Intercultural Musicology 3 (1-2):3, 21.

2001: Music and Culture of West Africa: The Strauss Expedition (Prod. Gloria Gibson and Daniel Reed. 2 CD-Rom package and teacher/user manual. Distributed by Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 2000). Research in African Literatures 32/2:211-213.

2001: Dancing Prophets: Musical Experience in Tumbuka Healing (Steven Friedson, 1999).

Research in African Literatures 32/2:213-219.

2001: Nigerian Art Music, with an Introductory Study of Ghanaian Art Music (Bade Omojola. Ibadana: Institut de Recherche en Afrique, 1995. Research in African Literatures 32/2:219-222.

2000: Africa; Folk Music Atlas (Ed. Leonardo D‘Amico and Francesco, 1996), International Journal of African Historical Studies 32/2.

1999: Seeing with Music: the Lives of Three Blind African Musicians (Simon Ottenberg, 1996). Notes (June): 939-940.

1998: Nightsong: Performance, Power, and Practice in South Africa (Veit Erlmann. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996, African Studies Review 41/1:195-198.

1997: Five Dialects in African Pianism (Gyimah Labi, 1994). African Publishing Book Record 23/2:144.

1996: African Rhythm: A Northern Ewe Perspective (Kofi Agawu, 1995). Yearbook for Traditional Music Council 28:200-202.

1997: Theory of African Music, 1 (Gerhard Kubik, 1994). Research in African Literatures 28/1:232-239.

1996: Contemporary African Music in World Perspective (N. N. Kofie, 1994). Research in African Literatures 27/3:164-168.

1996: Festschrift for Kubik. Yearbook for Traditional Music, 28:194-195.

1995: Lyrics of the Afro-American Spiritual: A Documentary Collection (Erskine Peters, 1993). Research in African Literatures 26/2:223-224.

1994: The World of African Music (Ronnie Graham, 1992). Research in AfricanLiteratures

25/6:192-193.

1992: African Music: A Bibliographic Guide to the Traditional. Popular, Art, and Liturgical Musics of Sub-Saharan Africa (John Gray, 1991). Journal of Modern African Studies, 30/3:527- 528.

1989: The Da Capo Guide to Contemporary African Music (Ronnie Graham, 1988). Journal of Modern African Studies 27/1:154-155.

1986: Social Research in Rural communities (P.A. Twumasi, 1986). Journal of Modern African Studies 24/4.

1985: Bibliography of Black Music. IV (De Lerma, 1984). Journal of Modern African Studies 23/3.

1984: African Philosophy: Myth or Reality (Leo Apostel, 1981). Journal of Modern African Studies 22/4, No. 3.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2024: ―Transcending Research Conventions and Canonic Repertoires: The Case of Anlo Ewe

Ritual Sound Performance Practices as Living ‗Endangered Heritage.‘‖ Paper presented at Workshop titled ―Sounding African Music Heritage --3‖ under the auspices of University of Bayreuth‘s Africa Multiple: Reconfiguring African Studies‘s project, ―Beyond the Digital Return: New Heritage/s, Sustainability, and the Decolonisation of Music Archives in South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana.‖ November 19-21, 2024, Univ. Bayreuth.

2024: ―Participatory Archiving: Challenges and Opportunities in Building and Sustaining Living Heritage – Lessons and Resources from the Anyako (Volta Region, Ghana) Project.‖ Paper presented at Workshop Workshop titled ―Sounding African Music Heritage‖ under the auspices of University of Bayreuth‘s Africa Multiple: Reconfiguring African Studies‘s project, ―Beyond the Digital Return: New Heritage/s, Sustainability, and the Decolonisation of Music Archives in South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana.‖ April 23-24, 2024, Univ. Bayreuth.

2023: “Knowledge Production, Access and the Decolonial Challenge: The African

Experience.‖ 47th ICTM International Conference Plenary Roundtable on (Re)writing The (Ethno)musicological Canon: Africa, Music Historiography, and their Others. July 2023, University of Ghana, Legon.

2023: ―Questions of ‗Return‘ and ‗Reverse‘ Migration: Some Critical Reflections.‖ 47th

ICTM International Conference, University of Ghana, Legon, July 2023.

2023: ―The Place of Haló Performance in Inciting and Exacerbating Inter-group Feud: Towards a Sustainable Peace Initiative in a Post-Conflict Society.” MIASA Thematic

Conference on ―The Role of Traditional Institutions in Promoting Sustainable Peace in Africa,‖ Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 30 November - 2 December 2023.

2023: Invited Speaker, ―Western Art Music Heritage In Ghana: Local Appropriation, Creativity, and Pedagogies of The Future.‖ Belt and Road Conference and Festival, Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing, China, October 2023.

2023: Keynote Speaker, ―Audiencing, Sensorial Affectivities and the Construction of Liminal Spaces in Anlo-Ewe Performance Traditions.‖ AAWM Special Topics Symposium 2023:2 Theoretical, Analytical, and Cognitive Approaches to Rhythm & Meter in World Musics. Hosted by the CUNY Graduate Center, The Brook Center, and IFTAWM June 1-2, 2023.

2022: Invited Speaker, ―African Art Music and Postcoloniality: Reinventions and

Interventions of Art Music in Contemporary Music.‖ Annual meeting of the Gesellschaft für Musikforschung on ―Nach der Norm: Musikwissenschaft im 21. Jahrhundert.‖ September 28 - October 1, 2022. Humboldt University, Berlin.

2022: Keynote Speaker, ―The Art(s) of Being-in-the-world: Some Implications for Critical Pedagogies and National Development.‖ Creative Arts Conference on ―(Re)Developing Creative Arts Education Policy and Research for Sustainable Industrial Development.‖ University of Education, Winneba, June 28-30, 2022.

2021: “Ruptures, Junctures, and Difference: The Place of Music and Dance in Framing

―Tradition‖ in a Plural Religious-Ritual Setting.‖ International Symposium on Music, Religion, and Spirituality. August 26 – 28, 20201, Ljubljana, Slovenia (Virtual)

2021: ―Exploring Sensiotics in the Context of Anlo-Ewe Haló Performance.‖ Roundtable discussion paper presented at the 2021 Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA) Triennial (virtual), June 2021.

2020: ―Ethnomusicology and Cultural Heritage: Theoretical Issues and Lessons from the Field.” Paper presented at the Heritage in Perspective Symposium held at the Goethe Institut, Accra, March 3 – 5, 2020.

2020: ―Building and Maintaining Personal, Cumulative Mixed-Media Archive :

Challenges and Strategies.‖ 55th Annual ARSC Conference and Pre-Conference Workshop - May 2021 (Virtual, Montreal, Canada)

2018: ―Politics of Performance and Approaches to Musical Diplomacy in African Contexts;‖

―Toward Understanding Embodied Musical Practice among the Ewe, Ghana;‖ ―Intersections of Place, Space and Mobility in Urban Ewe Performance Traditions;‖ ―African Music:

Interdisciplinary Approaches‖

(as part of Colloquium on ―Music Diplomacy: Global Perspectives,‖ National University of Columbia, Bogotá, November – December, 2018)

2018: “Liminality, Copresence, and Pneumareisis: Pathways to Knowing Ancestors in Anlo- Ewe.‖ Paper presented ―Honoring Ancestors in Africa: Arts and Actions,‖ a symposium held at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, April 6 – 8, 2018.

2018: ―Critical Mobilities, Displacement, and Precarity: Perspectives Toward ―Culture, Performance, and Sustainable Development.‖ Paper and workshop presented at Sustainable Development Goals (SGD) 3rd Biannual Graduate School (DAAD-funded) Workshop on the theme ―Performing Sustainability. Cultures and Development in West Africa,‖ February 25 – March 10, 2018 hosted at the University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast.

2018: ―Power of Performance: Interpreting Haló Performance among the Southern Ewe as Significant Cultural Heritage with Implications and Extensions for African Diaspora Studies.‖ Paper presented at the symposium and workshop, ―The Impact of Africa‘s Fractal Codes:

Connections and Linkages.‖ University of California, Irvine, January 12- 15, 2018.

2017: “Interrogating Genre-Crossing and Hybridity: Examples from Africa and the African Diaspora.‖ Paper presented at the International Council for Traditional Music meeting, University of Limerick, Ireland, July 12-19, 2017.

2016: (Chair and Presenter): ―Borders of Home: New Directions in Approaching Notions of Home and Return in African Diaspora Discourses.‖ V International Conference on Afro- Hispanic, Luso-Brazilian, and Latin American Studies (ICALLAS), August 3 – 5, 2016, University of Ghana Legon.

2015: (Chair and Presenter): ―Invention, Resistance, and Resiliency: the Pan-African Orchestra in Context.‖ Paper presented on the panel, ―Performance, Power, and Identity: Case Studies from Ghana‖ at the 2015 World Conference of the International Council for Traditional Music, Astana, Kazakhstan, July 14-22, 2015.

2013: (Chair and Presenter): “Eternal Braid/Bread: Revisiting Music-Language-Gesture- Brain Discourses in the Light of Select African Performance Traditions.‖ Paper presented at the International Conference on African Studies, October 24-26, University of Ghana, Legon.

2013: Chair, panel: ―Religion and Community.‖ Annual meeting of the Society for Ehnomusicology, November 14-17, Indianapolis, IN.

2012: Chair and presenter: ―The Place of Haló in Peacebuilding and Social Reconstruction among the Anlo-Ewe.‖ Paper presented under the panel ―Repositioning the Arts in Conflict Resolution and Shared Violent Pasts: Four Cases Studies In Peacebuilding, West Africa‖ for the interdisciplinary symposium on Conflict, Memory, and Reconciliation. Bridging Past, Present and Future, Kigali, Rwanda, January 10-13, 2012.

2012: ―The Place of The Visual in Constructing and Extending Affect and Meaning in Ewe Performance Traditions with Attention to Duƒozi: Some Theoretical and Methodological

Implications.‖ Symposium on ―African Music in the 21st Century – An Ic‖onic Turn? An

International Symposium Celebrating the 21st Anniversary of the African Music Archives Mainz (AMA)‖, June 13-16, 2012. Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.

2010: Invited Speaker, From Mithen (2006) to Falk (2009): Naming And Calling Music's Origins: Reconsidering Perspectives From Mithen And Falk To Ewe Ahanoŋkɔ.‖ International Research Project on "Expressive Gestures in EvolutionaryTheories and Cultural History." Zentrum für Literatur- und Kulturforschung Geisteswissenschaftliche Zentren, Humboldt University, Berlin.

2008: Invited Speaker, “The Black Music Diaspora: Developing a Framework for Theory and Method.‖ Conference on Black Music Research, Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College, Chicago, February 14-17.

2007: Invited Speaker, “Sacred Spaces in Secular Places: Popular Culture, Commodification and Dialectics of the Sacred and Secular in Contemporary African-American Christian Music and Dance.‖ Second Annual Conference on Black Religion and Spirituality in the 21st Century,‖ November 7-9, Michigan State University, East Lansing.

2007: ―Situating the ‗Uprooted‘: Dynamics and New Contexts of Learning Ewe Music and Dance—The Urban Evidence.‖ 52nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Columbus, OH, Oct.

2007: Invited Speaker, "Belief, Memory, and Cultural Autonomy: Performance Traditions in the Contemporary Ghanaian Church." National Symposium on Music and Missions in Africa at Wheaton College, Illinois, September 21-23.

2007: ―Performance as Site for (Re)Membering Africa in Diasporan Spaces." Annual meeting, National Society of Black Engineers, March 31, Columbus.

2006: Invited speaker, International Symposium, ―African Diaspora Studies and the Disciplines,‖ March 23-26, 2006, Madison, Wisc.

2006: Invited moderator and panel paper, ―Multimedia and the Spectacular: Visual and Usual Aesthetics and the Challenges of Teaching Black Musical Traditions,‖ March 15-19, Chicago. Center for Black Music Research.

2005: Chair, panel: ―Bending, Melding, and Mending Pitches: Hybridity and the Critic‘s Voice in African American Art Music.‖ Title of both panel and paper presented at the 50th anniversary meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology in Atlanta, Nov. 16-20.

2004: Chair, session on ―Pedagogy and Epistemology at the 14th Annual Conference Of The Pan African Anthropological Association, 2nd – 6th August.

2003: Invited Speaker, ―Sound in/and Context: Critical Paths toward Understanding Music in Everyday Life.‖ Int. Symposium on the Music of Africa. Princeton University, October 10- 11.

2003: Invited Speaker, ―Integrating Indigenous Practices in Christian Worship.‖ Global Consultation on Music and Missions, Sept 15-18, Fort Worth, TX.

2003: Chaired a session on "Negotiating Identities" at the 27th Comparative Drama Conference, April 24-26, Columbus, Ohio.

2003: Chaired a panel titled ―Musical memories of Loss and Trauma‖ at the 48 Annual meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Miami, Florida Oct 1-5.

2001: Chaired a session on ―Ethnomusicology in Africa: Theory And Education.‖ 2001 annual meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, Detroit, October 2-28.

2001: ―Investigating The Subterranean Dimension of the Performative in Anlo-Ewe Haló‖ at the 44th meeting of the African Studies Association in Houston, November 15-18.

2000: Chaired a session on "Collaboration and Negotiation" at 2000 annual meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology in Toronto, Canada, November 1-5.

2000: “'Netopia' and 'Homelessness': A Critical Look at Patterns of Communication in Cyberspace." Conference on "Internet and National Cultures: Problems and Prospects.‖ June 1- 3, Columbus, OH. Battelle Endowment and Center for African Studies.

1999: “Literary Discourse as Musical Advantage in Ewe Haló Performance." 42nd Annual Meeting of the African Studies Association, Nov. 11-14, Philadelphia, PA. (Also organizer and Chair of the panel, ―Texts in Context: Aesthetics of Resistance and Subversion‖).

1999: Invited Speaker, “Voiced Noise: The “Heterogeneous Sound Ideal” As Preferred Acoustic Environment In Selective Sub-Saharan African Instruments And Ensembles.” American Society for Acoustics annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio, Nov. 1-5 (also Co-Chair of panel on Musical Acoustics: African Musical Instruments and Traditions).

1999: Invited Speaker, ―Internet Information and Search Strategies.‖ Workshop presented at the College of Humanities conference on ―Technology across the Humanities Classroom,‖ October, OSU, Columbus.

1998: "African Art Music: Analyzing Its Intercultural Dimensions." The 5th Biennial International Symposium and Festival, Centre for Intercultural Music Arts, City University of London, London, March 30 - April 4.

1997: “The Impact of Rural-Urban Links on The Performance Practices of Urban Anlo-Ewe Ensembles.‖ Paper presented at the 40th meeting of the African Studies Association, Columbus, Ohio, October 13-16.

1997: ―The Practice of Ethnomusicology And The Challenges of Christian Accountability." 5th Summer Institute of Linguistics Ethnomusicology Conference, Dallas, Texas, October 16-17.

1997: ―Cultural Display and the Construction of Ethnic Identities in a Contemporary

Independent Church: The Apostolic Revelation Society (A.R.S.) of Ghana.” Conference on Holidays, Ritual, Festival, Celebration, and Public Display, May 29-31 Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green.

1997: "Resources and Problems in Studying the African Continuum in African-American Performing Genre." International Conference on African Music and Dance, U. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, April 3-5.

1997: "Shifting Identities and Problems in Studying the African Continuum in Contemporary African-American Musical Traditions." Sidney Bechet Symposium, Indiana Univ. Penn., March 21.

1996: "Musical Invention as Cultural Rhetoric: The Case of Selective Ghanaian Churches."African Studies Association in San Francisco, November 23-26.

1996: "The Turner-Schechner Model of Performance As Social Drama: A Re-Examination In the Light of Anlo-Ewe Haló." Society for Ethnomusicology in Toronto, October 31 - November 3.

1996: "Church Pops into Pop Charts: The Impact of Contemporary Church Music Industry on Popular Culture in Ghana." American Folklore Society in Pittsburgh, October 17-20.

1996: "Field and Library Methods in Studying the Continuum of African Dance in the Diaspora: Lomax and Emery Re-Considered." Congress on Research in Dance [CORD] Special Topics Conference, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

1995: Chair, panel on "Hearing, Seeing and Moving: Music, Dance and the Visual Arts in East Africa," Symposium on African Art, April 19-25, New York.

1993: "The Limits of Artistic License: A Study of Haló Performance and its Influence on Social Violence." Society for Ethnomusicology, Annual Meeting, Oxford, MI.

1991: "The Musical Construction of Social Reality: A Symbiotic Perspective." Society for Ethnomusicology, Annual Meeting, Chicago.

1991” "The Pan-African Orchestra of Ghana: Analysis of The Music within its Sociopolitical Manifesto." Mid-Atlantic Chapter Meeting, Society for Ethnomusicology, New York City.

1989: "Music and The Related Arts: New Perspectives from Haló Music of the Anlo-Ewe."

African Studies Association, Atlanta.

1988: "Aspects Of Cultural Identity as Reflected in Contemporary Christian Music of Ghana." African Studies Association, Chicago.

1988: "Objectivity without a Subject? Some Problems of Autochthonous Research in Ghana."

American Folklore Centennial Conference, Cambridge, Boston.

1988: ―Relationships between Paramusical Devices and Incisive Communication of Insults among the Anlo-Ewe." 1st Ghana Oral Literature Conference, Legon, Ghana.

1987: "Indigenous Popular Music in an Urban Setting." 4th International Conference on Popular Music, Accra, Ghana.

1986: "The Impact of Media and Cultural Policy on Music Broadcast in Ghana: Strategies and New Resources for the Music Educator." MEDIACULT, Vienna, Austria.

1986: "Musical Conservatism and Textual Renewal: Aesthetic Foundation of the Creation of New Songs among the Anlo-Ewe of Ghana." 17th African Literature Conference, Bloomington, Indiana.

1984: "Children in Search of the Self: Patterns of Cultural Continuity in an Urban Environment." 2nd International Colloquium on African Folklore, Budapest.

1983: "The Impact Of Rural-Urban Migration on A Village Music Culture: Some Implications for Applied Ethnomusicology." ICTM, Columbia Univ., New York.

1982: "The Place of The Folk in Ghanaian Popular Music." International Society for Music Education, Trento, Italy.

1982: "African Literature Association, Washington, D.C. The Interaction of Music and Spoken Texts in The Context of Anlo-Ewe Music."

1982: "The Transmission, Preservation, and Realisation of Song Texts: A Psycho-Musical Approach." 7th Ibadan Literature Conference, Nigeria.

PUBLIC LECTURES & WORKSHOPS

2010: “Private Symbols and Public Spectacle: The Increasing Display and Performance of Ritual and Symbol as Popular Culture in Ghana.‖ Seminar talk, African Studies Centre, Humbold University, Berlin (May 22, 2010).

2009: “The Primacy of Local Ontologies in Understanding the Sacred-Secular Continuum in African and African-American ‗Religious‘ Orientations.‖ Center for the Study of Religions, OSU, Feb 22, 2009.

2009: “Radical Or Rational Traditions? A Reconsideration Of The Role Of Women In African Performing Arts. Symposium on ―African Women and the Arts.‖ Ohio University, Athens, March 30 - May 2.

2008: “Autochthonous Research and Biographical Evidence: Knowledge Construction, Interdisciplinarity, and Ethnomusicological Research in Africa with Focus on Religious-Ritual Traditions‖ Center for African Studies (OSU) Brownbag series.

2006: ―Bending, Melding, and Mending Pitches: Hybridity and the Critic‘s Voice in African American Art Music.‖ Lectures in Musicology series, OSU.

2005: participated in a panel discussion on the life, music and politics of the late legendary West African musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti at the Cincinnati Contemporary Arts Center, Jan. 20.

2004: ―Intersections of the Sacred and Secular in African and African American

Christianity with Emphasis on Music and Dance.‖ Lecture presented at the Nazarene University, Mt. Vernon, OH. February 10.

2002: “The Work of the Performative: Constructions of Cultural Autonomy in Contemporary African Christianity.‖ Faculty Lecture, Department of African American and African Studies, November 22.

2001: ―Locating the Middle Passage Be-twin the works of Two African-American Composers.‖ School of Music Faculty Musicology Lecture Series, October 8.

2000: ―Mario Bunge‘s Epistemologies and the Inquiring Mind in Ethnomusicology.‖ School of Music Faculty Lecture Series, November 10.

1998: "African Musical Instruments as Objects of Art." The Art Institute of Chicago, March 21.

1998: "Unity in the Arts: Sub-Saharan Musical Traditions." The Art Institute of Chicago, March 24.

1998: Demonstration of West African Narrow Strip Weaving (horizontal loom) a 4-day residency at the Art Institute of Chicago, March 19-24.

1998: "A Sound Life: Sound, Sight, and Celebration among the Baulé." The Art Institute of Chicago, in conjunction with the exhibit on the Baulé, Feb 24.

1997: "Internet Resources for Teaching about Africa." Summer Institute for Teachers, Center for African Studies and College of Humanities, OSU--conducted hands-on session for 25 Grade and High School teachers.

1997: Presenter at "Seminar on Music in Worship" organized by the Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Worthington, Ohio, 10-12 October.

1997: “Resonances of Africa in African-American Performing Arts.‖ Sponsored by the African Students Association and Le Cercle Français, Oct 30, OSU.

1997: Presenter at the Summer Global Institute for Teachers, Dublin, (Dublin, Ohio, June 17-20) on the topic, "Resources and Contemporary Challenges for Teaching African Music."

1997: ―Reinventing Musical Culture in Urban Spaces: The Case of Contemporary Anlo- Ewe Society.‖ Lectures in Musicology series, OSU.

1996: ―Ways of Being: The Urban Factor in Anlo-Ewe Music Dance Traditions.‖ OSU Folklore Center Spring Symposium.

1996: ―How to do Things with Music: Music and Social Aggression Re-considered.‖ Lectures in Musicology series, OSU.

1991: ―Some Common Elements of Sub-Saharan African Music.‖ American Museum of Natural History, New York City.

1988: ―Art Criticism and its Relevance to the Ghanaian Society.‖ Radio Talk, Ghana.

1988: “The Role of Spatio-Temporal Dimensions in the Construction of Affective Strategies in African Music.‖ University of Ghana Inter-Faculty Lecture.

1987: ―A Review of Brass Band Music in Ghana.‖ Radio Talk, Ghana.

1985: ―The Unbroken Thread: Innovation in Traditional and Contemporary Music in Africa.‖ Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, MI.

1982: ―Beyond the Noise: Some Aspects of Affective Strategies in African Music.‖ Evanston, Northwestern University.

1982: ―Women's Role in African Music.‖ Evanston Public Library, Evanston. 1979: ―Basics to Appreciation of African Music.‖ Chicago Conservatory of Music, Chicago.

MAJOR GRANTS & RESEARCH AWARDS

2021: BaNGA African postdoctoral fellowship (University of Ghana) 2017: Carnegie-Mellon (Team), University of Ghana

2007: Lilly Endowment for Library Research

2006: EVIADA/Mellon toward collaborative online digital archive (eviada.org) 2005: College of Arts Faculty Level 2 Research Grant, Ohio State University 2004: College of Humanities Seed Grant, Ohio State University

2000: (team) NEH grant proposal to support the prepa ration and circulation of multimedia pedagogical materials on South African praise poetry.

2001: College of the Arts Multicultural and Global Understanding through the Arts Grant 2000: College of the Arts special "Action" fund for summer research travel.

1998: International Travel and Research Grant (College of Humanities).

1997: Nominated for Outstanding Teaching Award, Colleges of Arts and Sciences. 1997: Faculty Innovator Grant (OSU) .

1996: College of Arts Faculty Development Grant (OSU). 1991: Wenner-Gren Postdoctoral Grant.

1989: H.F. Guggenheim Research Grant. 1987: University of Ghana Research Award

REFEREES