Johnston Njoku

 

Johnston Njoku

 
Associate Professor, Folk Studies

Fine Arts Center 278
Office Phone: 745-5907
johnston.njoku@wku.edu
web page 

Current Office Hours: Monday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and by appointment

 

Degrees:

BA Music, University of Nigeria
MA Historical Musicology, Michigan State University
PhD Ethnomusicology/Folklore, Indiana University

 

I profess and teach folklore as group knowledge.  Specifically, I teach group knowledge as the basis of community or folklife. Against the background that group knowledge precedes social action, I research what people produce as members of a community (any given community) to understand the lore, the values, belief systems, collective memory, common experiences, and the continuing traditions that they share in common. In my present research I am looking at place names, songs, folktales, and historical narratives about material objects and places in order to learn about the folklore of the Atlantic slave trade.

 

Courses I teach:

FLK 276 Introduction to Folk Studies

FLK 277 Introduction to World Folk Music

FLK 280 Cultural Diversity in the US

FLK 350 Peoples and Cultures of Africa

FLK 377 African-American Folklore

FLK 400 Ethnomusicology

 

Selected publications:

Enyi Biafra: Regional Drill, Duty Songs, and Cadences from Biafra. Goldline E Jacobs, 1992.

 

 

 

 

---