Leadership

Program Director

B.F.A. Music (Performance), York University, Canada; M.A. Music (Ethnomusicology), Wesleyan University; Ph.D. Candidate Music (Ethnomusicology), Wesleyan University.

Professor Nicholas Hockin is an ethnomusicologist completing his doctorate at Wesleyan University. The working title of his dissertation is, “Drumming Modernity: Musical Transformation and the Rise of the Jenbe in Bamako, Mali.”

In addition to an active career as a percussionist in various jazz, pop, and world music ensembles, and as creative collaborator with modern dance schools and troupes in his home city of Toronto, Nick has extensive experience teaching  Malian and Guinean jenbe and dunun repertoire and Senegambian kuotiro, as well as some Shona mbira music from Zimbabwe. His work at Wesleyan has run the gamut from editing English translations of Sanskrit and Tamil song texts, to teaching courses on Mande music and culture, and creating the original library catalogue for the World Music Archives' African Market Cassette Collection, comprised of over 300 audio tapes of Malian, Guinean, Senegalese and Gambian popular and traditional music.

Professor Hockin's research in Mali began in 1999. Extensive audio and visual documentation and interviews supplement his experiences as a student and performer of Malian music, providing the practical grounding for his theoretical work on indigenous, local engagement with tradition and modernity in an increasingly globalized world economy. Over the last eight years he has developed an extensive network of contacts both in and outside of the Malian culture industry, including visual and performing artists who personify Mali's unique bridging of historical and contemporary cultural elements.

In addition to his ongoing research on Bamakois wedding ceremonies and Malian drum ensembles, Nick is currently a member of a multidisciplinary research team studying and documenting the D'mba mask ceremonies of the Baga people of coastal Guinea, funded in part by the Fulbright Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Program Director conducts the Orientation session, leads seminars, makes apprenticeship placements, guides the independent field study projects, and evaluates students' work.  He is assisted by the Resident Coordination Team and by guest lecturers.

Residential Coordination Team

A team of on-site program assistants are each responsible for different aspects of on-site coordination. The members of the Residential Coordination Team and their responsibilities are:

Koumba Keita: Team Coordinator, housing, and guest lecturers

Sekou Camara: Academics

Abdoulaye Coulibaly: Languages

Bekaye Coulibaly: Transportation and travel

Daye Kone: Artist Liason

Other Faculty

While in Mali, each student will apprentice with a master artist:  an artisan, dancer or musician. The master artists are typically practicing artists who live in Bamako. They may work at the Bala Faseke Conservatory of the Arts, the National Institute of the Arts, the National Museum, perform with one of the many local, regional, or national performing arts troupes, or work independently.

Administrative Support

The Antioch Education Abroad office provides administrative support for the Arts and Culture in Mali, West Africa program.