Dr. James Isabirye

Dr. James Isabirye

Lecturer & Head of Department Performing Arts

President: Pan African Society for Musical Education ( PASMAE Executive Committee )

Biography

Dr. James Isabirye has been Head of Performing Arts since January 2024. He is a Lecturer of Music and Music Education, and is the President of the Pan African Society for Musical Arts Education (PASMAE). He is an acclaimed academic who earned a PhD in Music Education from Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan, USA, a Master of Arts in Music, and a Master of Education from Kyambogo University. Dr. Isabirye also served for long as Uganda’s National Committee Chair for the ICTM, and his research integrates music education and ethnomusicological scholarship. Dr. Isabirye’s research focuses on decolonial, cultural-specific, place-conscious music and general education epistemologies, special needs music education, school and community musical arts festivals, and music-mediated wellness in postwar situations, which highlights his important contribution to Uganda’s diverse community cultures. Dr. Isabirye has done many projects to revitalize various community music cultures of Uganda that have threaten extinction due to turbulent national politics and history, for example, the UNESCO funded trumpet music.

Publications

  1. Isabirye, J. (2022). Reclaiming indigenous epistemes: Entenga drums revival at Kyambogo University. In Knaus, Mino, & Seroto (Eds.), Decolonising African Higher Education (pp. 97–107). Routledge. www.routledge.com/Decolonising-African-Higher-Education-Practitioner-Perspectives-from-Across/Knaus-Mino-Seroto/p/book/9780367745189
  2. Isabirye, J. (2021c). Revitalization of the Bigwala gourd trumpet heritage of the Basoga people of Uganda. In E. Falk & S.Y. Park (Eds.), Traditional musical instruments: Sharing experiences from the field (pp. 91–102). UNESCO-ICHCAP and Heritage Alive. www.unesco-ichcap.org/publications-archive/2021-living-heritage-series/
  3. Isabirye, J. (2021b). Can indigenous music learning processes inform contemporary schooling? International Journal of Music Education, 39(2), 151-166. Sage. doi.org/10.1177/0255761421996373
  4. Isabirye, J. (2021a). Indigenous music learning in contemporary contexts: Nurturing learner identity, agency, and passion. Research Studies in Music Education, 43(2), 239-258. Sage. doi.org/10.1177/1321103X20954548
  5. Isabirye, J. (2020). Namadu Drum Music and Dance as Mediation of Healing Rituals among the Bagwere People of Uganda. Muziki, Journal of the Musical Arts in Africa. 17 (1), 46-71. Routledge. doi.org/10.1080/18125980.2021.1885304 
  6. Isabirye, J. (2019). Uganda: History, Culture, and Geography of Music. In the Sage International Encyclopedia of Music and Culture (pp. 2253–2255). Sage.
  7. Isabirye, J. (2012). Tube fiddles in Uganda across boundaries of ethnic groups and digital worlds. In M. Claus-Bachmann (Ed.), Musik Zwischen Materialität und Virtualitä–Musokologische Feldforschung und eLearning in 2D- und 3D- Umgebungen (pp. 41-64). Ulme-mini-verlag Giessen.