Musicologising in the Context of Globalization: Whither Nigerian Music Scholarship?

Abstract

The paper takes a telescopic view of the works of Nigerian scholars of musicology within the last century with the aim of discovering the nature of the “field theory” that characterizes Nigeria‟s contribution to the humanistic discipline called musicology. The paper finds that the “field theory” is not one, not even homogenous but diverse, multifarious and characterised majorly by a mission‟s philosophy influenced by a European/American understanding of the African and of what he/she is doing with sounds. The paper then posits these findings within the present realities of globalization, the needs of the African, the future and identity of musical scholarship and asks whither musical scholarship in Nigeria?