Sociomusicology: 2025

1/30/25

Global Music Organizations

It was a pleasure to participate in two events in January 2025 with major arts organizations that are connected to UNESCO, a reassuring reminder (during a global surge in far-right protectionist populism) of the promising but often elusive dream of equitable and effective global cooperation in the sphere of educational and cultural activities.

Through the International Music Council, the International Society for Music Education (ISME) maintains an affiliation with UNESCO, being the global organization concerned with supporting music teaching and learning. Also, the International Council for Traditions of Music and Dance (ICTMD) is an NGO in formal consultative relations with UNESCO that supports the study of all traditional music and dance worldwide.

I currently serve on the Executive Committee and Board of ISME, which recently met in Thailand to plan our upcoming activities. Also, at ICTMD in New Zealand, I gave a presentation along with colleague David Johnson related to the Empowering Voices project for which we have sought funding from the EU.

While international organizations are invariably complex, they play a uniquely important role by raising the visibility of professional concerns and offering specialized knowledge and support. In these complicated times, we need international arts organizations to be proactive, which requires participation and input from those who have suggestions for how they can develop a more sustainable and impactful quality and scope of activities.

Keynote for Music Research Today 2025

I look forward to giving a keynote speech for the Music Research Today 2025 conference in Sweden, which this year is on the theme of Music and Politics.

“Musikforskning idag (Music Research Today) brings music researchers in all disciplines together. This year's conference is hosted by the School of Music, Theatre and Art at Örebro University. The conference will take place on October 22rd - 24^th…”

Click on the links below for more information:

https://www.oru.se/english/schools/music-theatre-and-art/research/music-research-today-2025/music-research-today-2025---call-for-papers/

https://www.oru.se/english/schools/music-theatre-and-art/research/music-research-today-2025/

Decolonization of Academia in Norway

It was a great pleasure to participate in a recent panel discussion on Decolonization of Academia with two brilliant colleagues based in Bergen, Anwesha Dutta and Wesley Maraire, moderated by Maria Lie Jordheim, vice president of the SAIH organization.

It is exciting to see growing interest and support for decolonization among university students in Norway, even while there is a very slow response, and stubborn resistance, from some professors and university management.

Here is a link to a relevant article about decolonization and SAIH: https://journals.oslomet.no/index.php/nordiccie/article/view/3903

Here are links to a few of my recent publications related to decolonization:

Ways to decolonize philosophy of education:

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-99-0139-5

Why university studies (in music) need to be decolonized:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/02557614241281992

Ways of decolonizing approaches to cultural diplomacy and music research:

https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793642929/Ethnomusicology-and-Cultural-Diplomacy

Ways of decolonizing intercultural collaborative arts projects:

https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/abs/shared-listenings/42CBDD3A9729681176DBB7502796D56A

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).