EUGENE–A renowned music expert will speak on "Ethical Issues in the Representation of African Music" on Thursday, May 3, at the University of Oregon.

The spring lecture by ethnomusicologist Kofi Agawu, part of the Oregon Humanities Center’s "Engaging Africa" program, will begin at 4 p.m. on Thursday in the Alumni Lounge of Gerlinger Hall, 1468 University St..

"Ethnography, understood as direct observation followed by reportage, remains the privileged mode of knowledge production in African music research," says Agawu, a Princeton University professor of music and a visiting scholar at the University of Ghana, Legon. "Yet ethnomusicologists have been notably reticent about addressing ethical issues."

His talk will draw on a handful of recently published musical ethnographies to stimulate discussion.

Agawu is the author of "Playing with Signs: A Semiotic Interpretation of Classic Music" (Princeton University Press, 1991), which received the Young Scholar Award from the Society for Music Theory in 1994, and of "African Rhythm: A Northern Ewe Perspective" (Cambridge University Press, 1995).

A Guggenheim Fellow in 1990, Agawu has conducted his work with support by the Wenner-Gren Anthropological Foundation, Earthwatch and the Society for Humanities at Cornell University.

He has taught at Haverford College, Duke University, King’s College (London), Cornell University and Yale University. In addition, he has been a visiting professor at Indiana and Hong Kong universities, the University of British Columbia, Harvard and the City University of New York.

Recently elected a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, Agawu received the Dent Medal in 1992 from the Royal Musical Association for outstanding contributions to musicology.

In addition to his public talk, Agawu will give a free Theory, History, Ethnomusicology and Musical Education (THEME) presentation/discussion on "African Music as Text" from 3:30 to 5 p.m. on Friday, May 4, in Room 192 of the School of Music Building, 961 E. 18th Ave.

For more information about the talks, or to arrange for disability accommodations, browse <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~humanctr/> or call the Oregon Humanities Center, (541) 346-1002.

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