Sociomusicology: April 2023

4/21/23

Global Philosophy of Education PhD Course

April 2023, and we are busily preparing to offer the course PhD911 Non-Western Educational Philosophy and Policy, now that the administration has completed its admissions process. I am pleased to report that we had 34 applicants from universities in 17 countries: Ghana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Uganda, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland, UAE, Iran, Bangladesh, India, China, Australia, Canada, and the USA.

The course runs during the first two weeks of May 2023 as an entirely online doctoral seminar, and its live discussion sessions will be planned for compatibility with the various time zones. Later, the students will work on their writing assignment with some individual tutoring. It is exciting to see such interest in this topic, and I am hopeful that we will learn much from each other and collectively produce some unique outcomes.

The first two cohorts of this course (2020-2022) produced the book Comparative and Decolonial Studies in Philosophy of Education, and hopefully the 2023 cohort will also develop plans for a collaborative project of some kind.

The images shown here are from the beautiful Faroe Islands, where I serve on a PhD committee as an Affiliate Professor at University of Faroe Islands.

4/17/23

Music of the Faroe Islands

The Faroe Islands is an autonomous territory of 18 islands located north of Scotland, between Iceland and Norway. With roots traceable to a teacher’s seminary founded in 1870, the University of the Faroe Islands is located in the capital city Torshavn (pictured here).

It is a pleasure to have the opportunity to serve as a supervisory professor on the PhD dissertation committee of Knut Eysturstein at University of the Faroe Islands. Knut is researching music traditions of the Faroe Islands and ways of sustaining traditional music through school education.

4/1/23

Qatari and Uzbek Music Dissertation

I am happy to announce that Dr. Nasser Sahim Aljassim successfully defended his PhD degree in musicology at the Uzbekistan State Conservatory of Music, Tashkent at the end of March 2023. It was a pleasure to serve as the doctoral opponent (external examiner) for his unique doctoral dissertation comparing music traditions in Qatar and Uzbekistan.

Dr. Nasser Sahim is an accomplished musician who works with the Qatar Foundation and Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra. His main supervisor was professor Elnora Mamadjanova. The dissertation is available in multiple languages.

Welcome to Sociomusicology

For over 15 years (since 2007), this website has offered musings on contemporary society and its music by David G. Hebert, PhD. He is a sociomusicologist specializing in global music education who has held academic positions with universities on five continents. Dr. Hebert is now a tenured full Professor with Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen. There he leads the Grieg Academy Music Education (GAME) research group and manages the multinational government-funded Nordic Network for Music Education, which organizes annual intensive Master courses and exchange of teachers and students across eight countries. He is also an Affiliated Professor with University of the Faroe Islands and an Honorary Professor in China with the Education University of Hong Kong.

Professor Hebert's research applies an international-comparative perspective to issues of pluralism, identity, and cultural relevance in music education, as well as processes by which new music traditions emerge and change - both sonically and socially - as they are adopted into institutions. Born in the 1970s, he is among the most widely-published and globally-active music scholars of his generation (h-index:20; i10-index:30), with professional activities in an average of 8 countries per year across the past decade (2008-2020).