Peter Hoesing

Topics: Anthropology, Discussion Leader, Education, Ethnomusicology, Medicine/Healing, Music

Community: Sioux Falls

Program Types: Book Club to Go, Speakers Bureau, Virtual Program(s)

https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p085819
kigozi@peterhoesing.com | (605) 256-5028

Musical Healing Repertories and Ecologies of Wellbeing in Uganda
Uganda’s healing repertories emerge from two of southern Uganda’s ethnolinguistic groups, the Baganda and the Basoga. They reveal traditional healing in Uganda to be a highly social activity in which musical sound features prominently at nearly every stage throughout the diagnostic and therapeutic trajectory. They also highlight the close linkages among people, their lands, their crops, animals both domestic and wild, and the medicinal plants of the forest that they use so well. This program is a malleable, 30-60-minute presentation featuring live and recorded musical examples, and it is best suited to adult audiences.

Humans’ Oldest Hobby: Why we Sing and Play, Why it Matters, and How Music Makes us Human
This program is a broader introduction to the humanistic social science called ethnomusicology. The 45-60 minute program for adult audiences uses a variety of examples from across the globe to examine the ancient, cross-culturally relevant phenomenon we call music. Hoesing teases out the cultural embeddedness of music in Western Antiquities, comparing it with ancient antiquities from differing geo-cultural and spiritual traditions. Ultimately, the program grapples with the challenging space between the universality of music-making as a human concept and the specificity of its apparently infinite cultural variety.

African Songs and Stories for Young Listeners: An Interactive Experience in Music and Culture for K-6 Audiences
Based on stories and songs from mainland Africa with emphasis on East Africa’s Great Lakes region, this 20-40-minute presentation brings lessons from colorful songs, stories, and characters to young listeners. It is excellent for a first-time introduction to the continent and can be adapted for a variety of content standards according to instructional goals.

African Cities and Soundscapes: An Interactive Experience in Music and Culture for 7-12 Audiences
Based on experiences in Uganda and South Africa, as well as popular repertories that span the continent and the globe, this 30–50-minute offering opens young ears and minds to contemporary African life. Depending on the classes and instructors hosting, it can be adapted for a variety of discipline-specific content standards and instructional goals.

Book Club to Go
Building on a background in Africana Studies, I am well-suited to lead discussions on fiction or non-fiction titles related to Africa and/or post-colonial themes.