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AAWM Special Topics Symposium 2026
“Repositioning Local Epistemologies in African Music Research: Toward Advancing Theory and Analysis”
October 1–3, 2026 | Online | Free Admission
Hosted by Cornell University and the University of Ghana, the symposium will explore the role of local and indigenous epistemologies in the study of African music and dance, with particular attention to how musical knowledge is produced, embodied, transmitted, and analyzed. The symposium seeks to consider how local ontologies, philosophical frameworks, and systems of knowledge can inform and reshape approaches to theory and analysis.
Topics include decolonizing music theory and indigenous analytical frameworks; the body as an epistemic site; organological ontologies; language, orality, and sounded truth; timbre as epistemology; multisensoriality; dance pedagogy; AI and decolonizing methodologies; African popular genres including Afrobeats and Amapiano; and intersectionality and gendered knowledge.
Keynote speakers include Steven Friedson (University of North Texas), Damascus Kafumbe (Middlebury College), Martin Scherzinger (New York University), and Andile Khumalo (University of the Witwatersrand), alongside a distinguished group of invited speakers working across African music theory, analysis, performance practice, dance, sound studies, and related fields.
Selected invited presentations and accepted papers will also be considered for publication in special issues of Analytical Approaches to African Music.
The abstract submission window has closed, but inquiries may be directed to aaafmus.26@gmail.com.
Please see the full announcement at the link below for the complete list of invited speakers, symposium themes, organizing information, and additional details:
