Book Review

Eric Akrofi, Maria Smit and Stig-Magnus Thorsen (Eds.). Music and Identity: Transformation and Negotiation. Stellenbosch, South Africa: African Sun Media (Sun Press), 2007, 414 pages, pp I-X, no price indicated.

Abstract

Background: Representing one concrete, tangible outcome of the Swedish South African Research Network (SSARN) on Music and Identity, (a collaborative  research partnership between two areas of the world, Sweden and South Africa,) the book under review was to be the culmination of a research project with the main objective "to develop research discourses around music, identity and culture, shared between two areas of the world, Sweden and South Africa" (Introduction, p. iii). However, as the work progressed, participation in the project grew exponentially in geographical terms, with the result that, as the projected book came to fruition, the South African constituency of the Network included inputs from Namibia, Kenya, the CSA and Ghana, while the Swedish counterpart included participation from Denmark. Finland and Australia, a dimension that is evident in the contents that now make up the published volume.