Jennifer W Kyker
Biographic Data
| ID | 144683 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jennifer W Kyker |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jennifer W |
| FAMILY NAME | Kyker |
| SIGNATURE | KYKER J W |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Rochester |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 8 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 2 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 8 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2009 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 1 |
Decolonial by Design: Building Sekuru's Stories
This case study illustrates how carefully designed digital publications can make significant contributions to decolonial scholarship, with a focus on the humanities. Drawing upon my recent experience creating Sekuru's Stories, a co-authored digital humanities project featuring music from Southern Africa, I suggest several ways to engage this decolonizing potential. Among other issues, I discuss which digital platforms may prove most readily acces…
The Art of Mbira: Musical Inheritance and LegacyMbira's Restless Dance: An Archive of Improvisation, Vols. 1 & 2
Paul Berliner's magisterial new book, The Art of Mbira: Musical Inheritance and Legacy, offers a detailed study of the repertory, playing technique, and musical thinking of Zimbabwean mbira dzavadzimu master Cosmas Magaya. A central figure in his first book, The Soul of Mbira (1978), Magaya worked with Berliner for many decades, serving as his primary mbira teacher and research collaborator. As Berliner reminds readers throughout The Art of Mbira…
Music under the Ground: Ethnomusicological Research on the Ground-Bow in Africa
This article places ethnographic fieldwork in Zimbabwe into dialogue with over a century of literature on the ground-bow throughout sub-Saharan Africa. I begin by arguing that the term "ground harp," which is technically correct according to the rigid demands of Western organology, has obscured the instrument's multivalent relationships to other African musical bows. I proceed to illustrate how the ground-bow's reach extends far beyond the equato…
Oliver Mtukudzi: Living Tuku Music in Zimbabwe
Reassessing the Zimbabwean Chipendani (Article Withdrawn)
Due to an error in the original publication this article will be reprinted in the 2018 edition of African Music. We apologise for any inconvenience. (Editor: African Music)
Listening in the Wilderness: The Audience Reception of Oliver Mtukudzi's Music in the Zimbabwean Diaspora
Documenting the diasporic audience reception of Zimbabwean popular musician Oliver Mtukudzi, I argue that transnational identities and subjectivities are not only shaped through live performance, but are also negotiated, articulated, and produced through musical listening. Foregrounding intersections between diaspora, kinship, and moral obligation, I suggest that Mtukudzi's songs enable audiences to symbolically reposition themselves within the s…
Oliver Mtukudzi's Musical Approach to HIV/Aids
The article profiles Zimbabwe musician Oliver Mtukudzi who appeared on a 2008 Population Services International calendar that promoted HIV/AIDS testing among couples and was distributed by the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health and Child Welfare. The popular musician's commitment to preventing the spread of these diseases and his songs Stay With One Woman and Todii or What Shall We Do? which were used in public health campaigns are noted. The prevalen…
Carrying spirit in song: Music and the making of ancestors at Zezuru kurova guva ceremonies
Among speakers of the Zezuru dialect of Shona in central Zimbabwe, the kurova guva ceremony is held roughly a year after the funeral of an adult man or woman whose spirit is said to be wandering in the bush after death without regulated ties to its kin. Kurova guva is performed to call the spirit of the deceased back from this ambiguous position, transforming it into a recognized mudzimu ancestor. Musical performance is an integral part of ritual…
Listening in the Wilderness: The Audience Reception of Oliver Mtukudzi's Music in the Zimbabwean Diaspora
Documenting the diasporic audience reception of Zimbabwean popular musician Oliver Mtukudzi, I argue that transnational identities and subjectivities are not only shaped through live performance, but are also negotiated, articulated, and produced through musical listening. Foregrounding intersections between diaspora, kinship, and moral obligation, I suggest that Mtukudzi's songs enable audiences to symbolically reposition themselves within the s…
Oliver Mtukudzi's Musical Approach to HIV/Aids
The article profiles Zimbabwe musician Oliver Mtukudzi who appeared on a 2008 Population Services International calendar that promoted HIV/AIDS testing among couples and was distributed by the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health and Child Welfare. The popular musician's commitment to preventing the spread of these diseases and his songs Stay With One Woman and Todii or What Shall We Do? which were used in public health campaigns are noted. The prevalen…
Carrying spirit in song: Music and the making of ancestors at Zezuru kurova guva ceremonies
Among speakers of the Zezuru dialect of Shona in central Zimbabwe, the kurova guva ceremony is held roughly a year after the funeral of an adult man or woman whose spirit is said to be wandering in the bush after death without regulated ties to its kin. Kurova guva is performed to call the spirit of the deceased back from this ambiguous position, transforming it into a recognized mudzimu ancestor. Musical performance is an integral part of ritual…
Oliver Mtukudzi's Musical Approach to HIV/Aids
The article profiles Zimbabwe musician Oliver Mtukudzi who appeared on a 2008 Population Services International calendar that promoted HIV/AIDS testing among couples and was distributed by the Zimbabwean Ministry of Health and Child Welfare. The popular musician's commitment to preventing the spread of these diseases and his songs Stay With One Woman and Todii or What Shall We Do? which were used in public health campaigns are noted. The prevalen…
Listening in the Wilderness: The Audience Reception of Oliver Mtukudzi's Music in the Zimbabwean Diaspora
Documenting the diasporic audience reception of Zimbabwean popular musician Oliver Mtukudzi, I argue that transnational identities and subjectivities are not only shaped through live performance, but are also negotiated, articulated, and produced through musical listening. Foregrounding intersections between diaspora, kinship, and moral obligation, I suggest that Mtukudzi's songs enable audiences to symbolically reposition themselves within the s…
Oliver Mtukudzi: Living Tuku Music in Zimbabwe
Reassessing the Zimbabwean Chipendani (Article Withdrawn)
Due to an error in the original publication this article will be reprinted in the 2018 edition of African Music. We apologise for any inconvenience. (Editor: African Music)
Music under the Ground: Ethnomusicological Research on the Ground-Bow in Africa
This article places ethnographic fieldwork in Zimbabwe into dialogue with over a century of literature on the ground-bow throughout sub-Saharan Africa. I begin by arguing that the term "ground harp," which is technically correct according to the rigid demands of Western organology, has obscured the instrument's multivalent relationships to other African musical bows. I proceed to illustrate how the ground-bow's reach extends far beyond the equato…
The Art of Mbira: Musical Inheritance and LegacyMbira's Restless Dance: An Archive of Improvisation, Vols. 1 & 2
Paul Berliner's magisterial new book, The Art of Mbira: Musical Inheritance and Legacy, offers a detailed study of the repertory, playing technique, and musical thinking of Zimbabwean mbira dzavadzimu master Cosmas Magaya. A central figure in his first book, The Soul of Mbira (1978), Magaya worked with Berliner for many decades, serving as his primary mbira teacher and research collaborator. As Berliner reminds readers throughout The Art of Mbira…
Decolonial by Design: Building Sekuru's Stories
This case study illustrates how carefully designed digital publications can make significant contributions to decolonial scholarship, with a focus on the humanities. Drawing upon my recent experience creating Sekuru's Stories, a co-authored digital humanities project featuring music from Southern Africa, I suggest several ways to engage this decolonizing potential. Among other issues, I discuss which digital platforms may prove most readily acces…
Art (4 works) · Diverse Musicological Studies (4 works) · Music History and Culture (4 works) · Musical (4 works) · Sociology (4 works) · African studies and sociopolitical issues (3 works) · Anthropology (3 works) · Communication (3 works) · Political science (3 works) · Visual arts (3 works)