This collection brings together many African voices expressing their ideas and conceptions of musical practice and arts education in Africa. With essays from established scholars in the field as well as young researchers and educators, and topics ranging from philosophical arguments and ethno-musicology to practical classroom ideas, this book will stimulate academic discourse. At the same time, practical ideas and information will assist teachers and students in Africa and elsewhere, bringing fresh musical perspectives on instrument playing, singing, childrenis literature and play.

Written by an international team of experts, this is the first work of its kind to offer comprehensive coverage of folklore throughout the African continent. Over 300 entries provide in-depth examinations of individual African countries, ethnic groups, religious practices, artistic genres, and numerous other concepts related to folklore. Featuring original field photographs, a comprehensive index, and thorough cross-references, African Folklore: An Encyclopedia is an indispensable resource for any library's folklore or African studies collection. Also includes seven maps.

Papers originally presented at a workshop held Nov. 26-28, 2003 at the University of Botswana and supported by the World Association for Christian Communication.

Song Walking explores the politics of land, its position in memories, and its foundation in changing land-use practices in western Maputaland, a borderland region situated at the juncture of South Africa, Mozambique, and Swaziland. Angela Impey investigates contrasting accounts of this little-known geopolitical triangle, offsetting textual histories with the memories of a group of elderly women whose songs and everyday practices narrativize a century of borderland dynamics. Drawing evidence from women’s walking songs (amaculo manihamba)—once performed while traversing vast distances to the accompaniment of the European mouth-harp (isitweletwele)—she uncovers the manifold impacts of internationally-driven transboundary environmental conservation on land, livelihoods, and local senses of place. This book links ethnomusicological research to larger themes of international development, environmental conservation, gender, and local economic access to resources. By demonstrating that development processes are essentially cultural processes and revealing how music fits within this frame, Song Walking testifies to the affective, spatial, and economic dimensions of place, while contributing to a more inclusive and culturally apposite alignment between land and environmental policies and local needs and practices.

This volume discusses a number of issues on the contested nature of intellectual property rights (IPR) and Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) in the context of Southern Africa. The issues addressed include the protection of folklore, IKS in a digital era, the valuation and safeguard of heritage sites, the need for appropriate IKS legislation, community based control of natural resources and the role played by traditional music in the maintenance of community. It is this extensive exploration of IKS from the vantage points of communication and culture, and explored in terms of policy, cultural survival, international as well as intra-national politics, economics, philosophy and ethics that makes this empirical grounded collection of papers unique, a distinctive contribution to the literature and 'cause' of IKS. The specific IKS-related issues raised and dealt with in this volume are generic in the sense that the very same issues are being contested in different parts of the world. In this respect, this book highlights the particular as a means of comprehending the universal.

How does a peoples’ music reflect their history, their occupations, cultural beliefs and values? These are the core questions that this book addresses in rela-tion to the Aawambo people of Namibia. The author brings to the fore the nuanced views of different people, describing their personal musical experiences – past as well as present. This is the first time that the music and stories of contemporary Namibian musicians is shared alongside those of the elderly. Similarly, it is the first time that some of the traditional Aawambo dances are analysed and described, abundantly illustrated with colourful photographs and several songs. Based on years of personal research, this book will appeal to research scholars, students and other interested readers alike, since its style is accessible but detailed, personal yet objective.

Marshall leads the reader through the intricacies, ambiguities, and silences of !Kung beliefs. Based on fieldwork among the Bushmen of the Kalahari in the early 1950s, she presents the culture, beliefs, and spirituality of one of the last true hunting-and-gathering peoples by focusing on members of different bands as they reveal their own views.