It is time to revive this dusty old blog, and a note from a current Fulbrighter in Uganda this morning reminded me of one reason why: it helps to create connections among the people I work with in Uganda (only some of whom use social media tools themselves) and my family, friends, and colleagues elsewhere in the world.
This summer, I’ll embark on an eight week journey back to Uganda with generous support from a UNCF Mellon Summer Research Residency Fellowship. Once there, I’ll be working with Dr. Sylvia Nannyonga-Tamusuza, the founding curator of the Makerere University Klaus Wachsmann World Music Archive and the director of that university’s ethnomusicology program, to reach out to the communities who facilitated some of the recordings that informed my dissertation research. I’ll be working with these communities to see how we might archive some of the audio and video recordings for further access and future research.
The e-mail I got this morning was a great excuse to re-connect with Ssematimba Frank Sibyangu. I had worked previously with him and had contacted him about working together again during this trip. The woman who e-mailed me is teaching on a Fulbright in Mukono District, where Uncle Ssema lives. She had seen my earlier post about him and reached out to see if she might take some lessons with him. Given that her Fulbright has just been renewed, I’m hoping we will all meet up once Ssema and I resume working together.
Meanwhile, I’m also planning visits to some other field sites that I’ve written about here in the past…if you haven’t been back in a while, if you’re taking my online summer course, or even if you’re just discovering this site, stay tuned!
Peter Hoesing 