University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-2010 Traditional Musician-Centered Perspectives on Ownership of Creative Expressions Dick Kawooya University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Part of the Critical and Cultural Studies Commons Recommended Citation Kawooya, Dick, "Traditional Musician-Centered Perspectives on Ownership of Creative Expressions. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2010. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/711 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Dick Kawooya entitled "Traditional Musician- Centered Perspectives on Ownership of Creative Expressions." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Communication and Information. Benjamin Bates, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: John Shefner, Bharat Mehra, Robert Sundasky Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Dick Kawooya entitled “Traditional Musician-centered perspectives on ownership of creative expressions.” I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy with a major in Communication and Information. Benjamin Bates ____________________________________ Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: __________________________ John Shefner __________________________ Bharat Mehra __________________________ Robert Sundasky Accepted for the Council: ______________________________ Dr. Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies (Original signatures are on file with official student records.) Traditional Musician-centered perspectives on ownership of creative expressions A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of Philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Dick Kawooya May 2010 Copyright © Dick Kawooya, 2008 All rights reserved ii Dedications To my wife Betty and son Michael who continue to be a great source of inspiration. To my mother whose love and perseverance saw me through the most difficult moments in my live. Lastly, to my sisters Daphine and Immaculate, and brother Vincent. We‘ve walked a long journey together. iii Acknowledgments I owe a great deal to a number of people for supporting me throughout my studies, specifically the completion of this study. First, I am grateful to Professor Benjamin Bates for his continued support and guidance in the course of preparing this dissertation. I am particularly grateful for tolerating the many interruptions along the way. Other committee members, Professors Bharat Mehra, John Shefner, Robert Sundasky have been accommodating as well. I am indebted to Professor Wallace Koehler at Valdosta State University for introducing me and making my graduate studies in United States possible. It was his wise counsel that attracted me to graduate studies at Valdosta State University in 2001. His continued advice made it possible for me to go through the PhD at Tennessee. Prof Koehler has worked behind the scene in the course of writing of this dissertation. I am equally indebted to Dr.Kendra Albright at the University of South Carolina. Early on Kendra became my mentor and her family became my family. Kendra continues to be a great source of inspiration. The peoples of Georgia and Tennessee have made it possible for me to attain graduate studies through their generous support through graduate assistantships. The two institutions I have attended in Georgia and Tennessee being publicly supported institutions, I cannot but be grateful to the taxpayers in the two states and other donors to the two institutions. iv My mother emphasized education and the window of opportunities. I never doubted her and hope I have not disappointed. I cannot emphasize how much influence she has been on me, my sisters and brother. She is an incredible woman. Traditional musicians in Uganda opened their doors to me and embraced this work. Not because they stood to gain from this work but because they thought it was important. Thank you for helping me appreciate what you do and teaching me so much in so short a time. v Abstract Historically, traditional music in Africa was attributed to the collective society and not to individual musicians. Given the changing socioeconomic, cultural and political environments prevalent in most African societies, collective ethos are increasingly problematic to the very survival of expressive cultures like music. Individual musicians cannot effectively live off the traditional music they make without offending their traditional societies. Without meaningful incomes from traditional music, musicians cannot contribute to traditional music because it is difficult in a collectivist environment to exploit the opportunities of the global intellectual property regimes. This situation is likely to undermine the future of traditional expressive cultures. Given the problematic nature of the collective ownership of music, this study examined the perspectives of traditional musicians towards ownership of traditional music in Uganda in light of the changing socioeconomic, cultural and political environments. The study framed the collective approach to ownership of traditional music as problematic to musicians. Three central questions were examined: What are the traditional musician’s life experiences and work environments in Uganda’s current socioeconomic and cultural environment? What are the perceptions of Uganda’s traditional musicians towards ownership of creative works or expressions? How do musicians’ life experiences and work environments shape their perceptions and construction of ownership of creative expressions? The study employed a critical cultural analytical and theoretical framework to question the value of collectivism that requires musicians to live by an increasingly misplaced cultural practice. Qualitative data was collected using a phenomenological tools and procedures to capture musicians‘ life experiences and impact of those vi experiences on their views on ownership of traditional music. Nine individual and two group interviews were collected over a period of one month in two regions in Uganda, Busoga and Buganda. It was established that the current socioeconomic environment calls for a break from, or flexibility in, certain traditional views and approaches to traditional music. Specific legal remedies were recommended to enable musicians live off traditional music at the same time attempting to preserve the cultural elements in the music. That entails striking a balance between economic interests of individual musicians and the cultural values of their societies. vii Table of Contents Dedications ............................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgments ................................................................................................. iv Abstract .................................................................................................................. vi Table of Contents ................................................................................................ viii List of Tables ......................................................................................................... xi List of Figures ....................................................................................................... xii Chapter One ........................................................................................................... 1 1.0 Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 1.2 Western Intellectual Property views in Africa .......................................... 7 1.3 Persistence of collectivism but at what cost? ............................................ 9 1.4 Scholarship on Ownership of African traditional music ........................ 12 1.5 Purpose and justification of the study ..................................................... 14 1.6 Research question ................................................................................... 15 1.7 Significance ............................................................................................. 16 1.8 Limitations ............................................................................................... 17 1.9 Structure of the dissertation .................................................................... 19 Chapter Two ......................................................................................................... 24 2.0 Introduction ............................................................................................. 24