List of Titles

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Our Ocean Is Sacred, You Can't Mine Heaven

- McGarry, Dylan K, McConnachie, Boudina E

Authors: McGarry, Dylan K , McConnachie, Boudina E
Date: 2025
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , book chapter
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480205 , vital:78406 , ISBN 9781003381846 , https://doi.org/10.4324/978100338184
Description: ‘Our Ocean Is Sacred, You Can’t Mine Heaven’ was a ground-breaking South African public storytelling initiative that not only emphasised the intrinsic and cultural value of the ocean but also served as a living-customary lore/law classroom. This exhibition challenged conventional archiving, promoting diversity, sovereignty and evolving ‘meaning-making,’ fostering inclusivity and justice-oriented documentation in ocean knowledge. The authors worked alongside Indigenous coastal communities and Small-Scale Fishers (SSF), who were aligned with movements defending the ocean against unchecked Blue Economy expansion in South Africa. The chapter delves into how artist-led practices, strategically embedded with legal research, played a pivotal role in a recent court ruling favouring Indigenous and SSF applicants. This victory renewed attention on ocean heritages in legal processes, highlighting the potential for expanding evidence ‘an-archives.’ The collaboration with coastal communities and SSF against unbridled ocean development used art to secure a court win, reshaping South African law and challenging norms in ocean development. This chapter explores art’s role in legal innovation, contributing to the ongoing struggle for justice and the decolonisation of blue economy narratives and processes in South Africa.
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Date Issued: 2025

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Shifting from Development to Empowerment Through Eco-Creative Knowledge Transmission

- McConnachie, Boudina E, Porri, Francesca, Wynberg, Rachel

Authors: McConnachie, Boudina E , Porri, Francesca , Wynberg, Rachel
Date: 2025
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , book
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480246 , vital:78410 , ISBN 9781003289838 , https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003289838
Description: Conventional definitions of development can be linked to socio-economic and cultural impositions of the Global North on developing societies. These development frameworks were inherited from the colonial system, which devalued local ways of knowing, being, and developing and continues to do so. Through a transdisciplinary or Boundary Crossing environmental case study that interrogates the use of heritage skills and knowledge for nature-based solutions relating to coastal shore regeneration, this chapter reflects on experiences of knowledge co-creation in the rural Eastern Cape Province setting of South Africa. Through the lens of African Musical Arts, which includes song and dance, storytelling, heritage skills, soundscapes, and more, this research seeks to shift the project perceptions of the scientists, engaged scholars, pracademics, practitioners and community researchers involved, from simple to multi-dimensional viewpoints. Using Traditional Cultural Expressions (TCEs) as catalysts, our goal is to emancipate transmission of knowledge from a developmental to an empowerment framework. Using the diverse disciplinary backgrounds of the authors, this chapter allows for a holistic examination of the development of an Audio Postcards exhibition, while interrogating the project centred on African theories, ecologies, and knowledge development.
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Date Issued: 2025

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Sound Matters: Podcasting As A Learning And Teaching Intervention To Enhance Reading And Writing Skills

- McConnachie, Boudina E, Ntshakaza, Yamkela, McCarthy, Holly, Mathebula, Praise, Mavuso, Bonelela L, Makamure, Tinayeshe

Authors: McConnachie, Boudina E , Ntshakaza, Yamkela , McCarthy, Holly , Mathebula, Praise , Mavuso, Bonelela L , Makamure, Tinayeshe
Date: 2024
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , book chapter
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/450182 , vital:74890 , ISBN 97819912604689 , https://books.google.co.za/books?id=EtcPEQAAQBAJandprintsec=frontcover#v=onepageandqandf=false
Description: In this chapter, a group of student-researchers and their lecturer discuss their findings relating to a podcasting intervention which took place in an Ethnomusicology thirdand fourth-year class at Rhodes University in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, South Africa. As part of a larger project, in which the class explored podcasting in general, they experimented with the medium in order to ascertain in what role it could be used as a learning and teaching aid in tertiary pedagogy. Audio recordings of the lecturer discussing journal articles relating to the module were sent to students. They listened to and used them in different scenarios, orchestrated to research their effectiveness in diverse learning and teaching situations. Using a qualitative case study research design methodology, the student researchers and their lecturer present these findings through a participatory lens. They analyse the podcasts’ efficacy and limitations from various perspectives through coding responses. Finally, they discuss future usage of the medium as a way to enhance students’ understanding of academic readings.
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Date Issued: 2024

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Sound matters: Podcasting as a learning and teaching intervention to enhance reading and writing skills

- McConnachie, Boudina E, Ntshakaza, Yamkela, McCarthy, Holly, Mathebula, Praise, Mavuso, Bonelela, Makamure, Tinayeshe

Authors: McConnachie, Boudina E , Ntshakaza, Yamkela , McCarthy, Holly , Mathebula, Praise , Mavuso, Bonelela , Makamure, Tinayeshe
Date: 2024
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , book
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480268 , vital:78412 , ISBN 9781991260468 , https://doi.org/10.52779/9781991260468
Description: In this chapter, a group of student-researchers and their lecturer discuss their findings relating to a podcasting intervention which took place in an Ethnomusicology third- and fourth-year class at Rhodes University in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, South Africa. As part of a larger project, in which the class explored podcasting in general, they experimented with the medium in order to ascertain in what role it could be used as a learning and teaching aid in tertiary pedagogy. Audio recordings of the lecturer discussing journal articles relating to the module were sent to students. They listened to and used them in different scenarios, orchestrated to research their effectiveness in diverse learning and teaching situations. Using a qualitative case study research design methodology, the student researchers and their lecturer present these findings through a participatory lens. They analyse the podcasts’ efficacy and limitations from various perspectives through coding responses. Finally, they discuss future usage of the medium as a way to enhance students’ understanding of academic readings.
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Date Issued: 2024

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Eco-creative nature-based solutions to transform urban coastlines, local coastal communities and enhance biodiversity through the lens of scientific and Indigenous knowledge

- Porri, Francesca, McConnachie, Boudina E, Van der Walt, Kerry-Anne, Wynberg, Rachel, Pattrick, Paula

Authors: Porri, Francesca , McConnachie, Boudina E , Van der Walt, Kerry-Anne , Wynberg, Rachel , Pattrick, Paula
Date: 2023
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480194 , vital:78405 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1017/cft.2022.10"
Description: Increasing anthropogenic pressure on the sea and alteration of coastscapes challenge the functioning of marine ecosystems and long-term reliance on blue economies, especially for developing southern economies. The structural hardening of shores can result in ecological disruptions, with cascading effects on the wellbeing and livelihoods of marginalised groups who depend on marine resources. Mitigation, adaptation and rehabilitation options for coastal developments should include innovative, socially responsible solutions to be used to modify shorelines and ensure long-term functionality of metropolitan coastal ecosystems. Nature-based innovations are being developed to improve surrogacy for natural marine ecosystems. The co-creation of nature-based structures, entailing partnerships between scientists and a local rural communitys currently being considered in South Africa and we present this regional case study as a transdisciplinary framework for research in nature-based, ecological engineering of coastal systems. Novel transdisciplinary approaches include ecomusicological interventions, where traditional cultural expressions (TCEs) create opportunities for transgressive pedagogy. This step aims to ensure that the knowledge gathered through nature-based scientific research remains a part of community developed Indigenous knowledge systems. The merging of innovative, eco-creative approaches and TCEs has the potential to sustainably and ethically improve the functioning and diversity of coastal urban habitats. This review tackles the potential of transdisciplinary settings to transform urban coastlines using “low-tech” engineering and Indigenous eco-creative innovations to pedagogy, to benefit the people and biological communities as well as reduce social and gender inequalities.
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Date Issued: 2023

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- McConnachie, Boudina E

Authors: McConnachie, Boudina E
Date: 2022
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480183 , vital:78404 , xlink:href="https://hdl.handle.net/10520/ejc-samus1-v41_42-n1-a11"
Description: This research aims to explore the position of copyright in contemporary South African legislation, with the International Library of African Music (ILAM) being used as a case study. The catalyst was a contract between the Smithsonian Institution, U.S.A. and ILAM for the Smithsonian Global Sound Network project which requested ILAM to trace and find performers of archived materials to pay out royalties. The research was conducted using various approaches, namely qualitative, quantitative and historical methods which were accomplished through substantial internet and library research coupled with source field research. Recorded interviews provided essential historical and qualitative data, while quantitative data was gathered from various sources. The focus of the investigation concentrated on the 1000 tracks from the Sound of Africa Series, which were delivered to the Smithsonian Global Network under a licensing agreement. In an endeavour to assess the feasibility of the GSN/ILAM Contract stipulations, field work was undertaken using both video and audio recordings to detail the complications of trying to locate, if not the original performer of the contracted tracks, then the surviving members of their families in South Africa. The bulk of the research, however, related to deciphering the contract and its associated implications for ILAM and the musicians recorded. The research took place in the Eastern Cape of South Africa and the trial research intervention was confined to a single performer who was recorded by Hugh Tracey in the Ngqushwa (Peddie) District. The research remains relevant, and findings show that all archives currently involved in field recording need to put careful policies in place. Benefit-sharing agreements and Memoranda of Understandings relating to clear copyright and intellectual property ownership declarations must be signed upfront to reassure creatives and musicians that their rights are valued and that the researchers’ obligations will be followed through.
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Date Issued: 2022

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Reshaping our musical values: decolonising teaching and curricular frameworks in the Eastern Cape

- McConnachie, Boudina E

Authors: McConnachie, Boudina E
Date: 2021
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480216 , vital:78407 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17411912.2021.1930090"
Description: Musical ideals set by European standards and values, entrenched through colonial oppression and promoted by the continued veneration of Western culture need to be re-evaluated. This short essay in an alternative format of a critical report records the development and implementation of an African instrumental music studies course at Rhodes University, introduced to re-value and promote African ways of making and interacting with music. As a result of in-depth research with regard to the ailing Indigenous African Music (IAM) syllabus in the South African national school music curriculum, this university-level course has been designed to generate future teachers and culture-bearers who will possess a deeper understanding of, and feeling for, Indigenous African musics and who, as a result, will be able to engage with African musics through teaching and learning. Highlighting the crisis in South African music education decolonisation, this paper will also present other proposed solutions to this problem.
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Date Issued: 2021

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Rethinking the decolonial moment through collaborative practices at the International Library of African Music (ILAM), South Africa

- Watkins, Lee W, Madiba, Elijah M, McConnachie, Boudina E

Authors: Watkins, Lee W , Madiba, Elijah M , McConnachie, Boudina E
Date: 2021
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480227 , vital:78409 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1080/17411912.2021.1938628"
Description: Until recently the International Library of African Music (ILAM) was at the receiving end of widespread criticisms because most of its collections were acquired through the colonial privilege of its founder, Hugh Tracey. Tracey recorded music and collected musical instruments in many countries of sub-Sahara Africa without following the rigorous ethical practices which are a necessary requirement for collectors these days. Since its establishment in 1954 until the early 2000s, moreover, ILAM had largely been inaccessible to black South Africans who comprise the majority of the population. Its presence, therefore, is complicated by a racist past associated with apartheid and a colonial past characterised by the misappropriation of the colonised's resources. In view of this history, ILAM had to shape a new reality which fell in line with calls and demands for decolonised practices such that the archive became an agent for transformation on numerous fronts. This series of articles describes the efforts undertaken by ILAM so that it could develop and implement policies which would place it at the vanguard of ethical archival practices on the continent. It is argued that the decolonial could be realised only through collaboration with entities which shared our interests in participatory and transformed archival practices.
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Date Issued: 2021

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Sylvia Bruinders, Parading Respectability: The Cultural and Moral Aesthetics of the Christmas Bands Movement in the Western Cape, South Africa

- McConnachie, Boudina E

Authors: McConnachie, Boudina E
Date: 2018
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480735 , vital:78471 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v10i4.2247"
Description: In this book, Sylvia Bruinders, in her clear, articulate writing style intimately shares her personal experiences of, and research into, the Christmas Band Movement in the Western Cape of South Africa. Three interrelated disciplines (as referred to by the musicians themselves), namely, the Christmas Bands, the Malay choirs and the klopse (carnival troupes) take place during the summer months in the Western Cape each year. Although the Christmas band members are Christian and the Malay choirs predominantly Muslim, part of the ancestry of these performers can be traced back to the Southeast Asian slaves brought to the Cape during the rule of the Dutch East India Company. The klopse, influenced by the US blackface minstrelsy, consists of performers from both religious groups and are regarded in a more derogatory manner than the other performance cultures. As all three styles are characterised by a particular ghoema rhythm, Bruinders refers to the phenomenon as the “ghoema musical complex” (2017:2). Documented evidence suggests that Christmas Bands have been in existence since the mid-1800s but Bruinders writes that the 80, or so, bands that perform now emerged during the 1920s and 1930s, coinciding with the two worlds wars. This military influence had a major role in the developing character of the bands and is discussed throughout the book.
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Date Issued: 2018

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The Changing Faces of Aawambo Musical Arts: A review

- McConnachie, Boudina E

Authors: McConnachie, Boudina E
Date: 2017
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480754 , vital:78473 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v10i3.2205"
Description: One does not often have the opportunity to review a book that one reads with relish from cover to cover. Minnette Mans’ approach to documenting her extensive research on the musical arts of the Aawambo people in Namibia is delightfully intimate and reads like a narrative through which the voices of her co-researchers, Ismael Sam, Shishani Vranckx, Trixie Munyama and Jacques Mushaandja, are expertly woven.
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Date Issued: 2017

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Listen and learn: Music made easy

- McConnachie, Boudina E, Thram, Diane J

Authors: McConnachie, Boudina E , Thram, Diane J
Date: 2012
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , book
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480699 , vital:78468 , ISBN 978-0-620-53702-5
Description: Every now and again a little indigenous gem rises unpretentiously above the South African socio-political-educational landscape and fills me with patriotic pride. Listen and Learn – Music made Easy is one of those down-to-earth examples of what we aspire to in our nationalist rhetoric but seldom understand or achieve. In one deceptively simple little book, Bo McConnachie and collaborators have revealed a hidden path to the heart of so much that occupies our country’s attention – African pride, education, identity, culture, diversity, passion.
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Date Issued: 2012

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Siaka, an African Musician DVD: a review

- McConnachie, Boudina E

Authors: McConnachie, Boudina E
Date: 2008
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480725 , vital:78470 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v8i2.1790"
Description: Selenium Films has released Hugo Zemp’s1 two most recent films about African music, Siaka, an African Musician and An African Brass Band in DVD format. Both were shot in July and August 2002, a few weeks before the outbreak of the civil war in the Cote d’Ivoire and show the country in peaceful times. Siaka (pronounced Shaka) Diabate is a musician from Bouake, the second largest city in the Cote d’Ivoire. With a mixed ancestry, he is not a pure Mande griot but considers himself to be one. He certainly has the musical talent to be recognized as an accomplished musician. This film documents Siaka performing with the “Soungalo Group” led by Soungalo Coulibaly while practicing his various instruments and includes interviews with Siaka and Soungalo regarding Siaka’s musical history.
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Date Issued: 2008

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The Flamboyant Rooster and other Tshivenda Song Stories: A review

- McConnachie, Boudina E

Authors: McConnachie, Boudina E
Date: 2008
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/481417 , vital:78549 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v8i2.1788"
Description: Salungano! Salungano- Here comes a story! Jaco Kruger and Ina le Roux present a beautifully illustrated collection of Tshivenda song stories (Ngano) in a compilation of twenty-seven translated oral narratives from Venda living in the mountainous Soutpansberg region of South Africa. The Nganoare not only entertaining tales which conjure up images of grandmothers and children gathered around evening fires, but are also ancient artistic maps of the human condition that provide a privileged view of human relationships in an African society. Often using animals as metaphoric characters, these stories are reminiscent of The Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling and are a delightful vehicle for imparting important social themes and moral lessons.
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Date Issued: 2008

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Poetry and Languid Charm, 2007

- McConnachie, Boudina E

Authors: McConnachie, Boudina E
Date: 2007
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480714 , vital:78469 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.21504/amj.v8i1.1707"
Description: In keeping with its aim for a wide dissemination of the music and information held in its considerable archive, the British Library Sound Archive presents a compilation of Swahili music from Tanzania and Kenya recorded from 1920 to 1950. The name of the compilation - Poetry and languid charm, as explained in the booklet text, is taken from a direct quote from recordist Hugh Tracey’s article “Recording Tour, May to November 1950 East Africa”. published in the African music Society Newsletter. After a particularly successful tour to East Africa in 1950 during which Tracey recorded over 1000 tracks (six of which are included in the compilation), he stated that he was impressed with the musical feeling of the Swahilis and that “Mombasa, like Dar es Salaam, proved to be a place of poetry and languid charm” (Tracey 1951:50)
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Date Issued: 2007

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Langarm in and around Grahamstown: the dance, the social history and the music

- McConnachie, Boudina E

Authors: McConnachie, Boudina E
Date: 2005
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480685 , vital:78466 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.2989/18121000509486702"
Description: Langarm is a popular dance form in South Africa and appeals to people from diverse cultural backgrounds. This paper reports on Langarm music and dance as it is practised by members of the coloured community in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. Documenting the performances of the band Coysan, it looks at the social aspects of the dance and music style, and recalls local community members’ memories of the development of Langarm in and around Grahamstown.
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Date Issued: 2005

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