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Prof Michael Drewett

 

Michael Drewett 

PROF MICHAEL DREWETT 

 

E-mail address:  m.drewett@ru.ac.za

Office number: +27 (0)46 603 8360

  • MSocSc (Rhodes) 
  • PhD (Rhodes)

TEACHING:

  • Introductory Sociology
  • Popular Culture
  • Popular Music
  • Sex and Gender
  • Gender and Development
  • Social Research
  • Social Theory

RESEARCH INTERESTS:

  • The censorship of popular music
  • Popular music
  • Sex, gender and popular culture
  • Teaching Sociology

PROFILE:

My central research area is the politics of popular music and the censorship of popular music in particular. My PhD focused on the censorship of popular music in South Africa during the apartheid era. I co-ordinated a national exhibition on popular music censorship in South Africa (at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in 1999) and a sub-section on resistance music in South Africa for an exhibition hosted by the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2008 and 2009. I produced, researched and co-scripted Stopping the Music, a documentary film about anti-apartheid musician, Roger Lucey. It premiered in Copenhagen at the 2nd World Conference on Music and Censorship in September 2002, screened by the Danish Film Institute. It has since been screened at film festivals and censorship workshops worldwide, including: The WOMEX (World Music Exhibition) in Essen, Germany October 2002; the Folk Alliance Conference in Nashville, U.S.A. February 2003; One World 5th Annual International Human Rights Festival in Prague, Czech Republic April 2003; 3rd International Gathering for Freedom of Expression in Istanbul, Turkey in July 2003; the Zanzibar International Film Festival in August 2003, the Durban Film Festival, South Africa October 2003; Freemuse Censorship of Music Workshop in Harare, Zimbabwe March 2005, the Clandestino Festival in Gothenburg, Sweden May 2005, Wordfest, National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa in July 2006. I have also overseen the re-release of the anti-apartheid A Naartjie in our Sosatie (1999) compilation cd and compiled a new compilation cd of South African resistance music, Shot Down (2007), working in conjunction with Shifty Records.

I am on the advisory board of Freemuse, an international organization concerned with the freedom of musical expression (http://www.freemuse.org/), the Chairperson of the South African branch of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM) and the co-ordinator of the Cutting Grooves Censorship of Popular Music archive (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cutting-Grooves/195586047155683). I am presently involved in developing the archive and researching different issues relating to popular music including popular music and war, popular music censorship, politics and popular music in South Africa and issues relating to sex, gender and popular music. I was awarded a visiting fellowship to the International Institute for Popular Culture, University of Turku, Finland from September to November 2013.  I was awarded a visiting fellowship to the International Institute for Popular Culture, University of Turku, Finland from September to November 2013.  Researcher, writer and co-producer of Mixtapes.ZA, a South African music preservation and promotional project (http://mixtapes.org.za/ and https://web.facebook.com/MixtapesZA)

ARTICLES AND CHAPTERS (SINCE 2000)

  • Drewett, Michael (2023) ‘Religion and popular music censorship’ in Partridge, C. and Moberg, M. (eds). 2nd ed. Bloomsbury Handbook for Religion and Popular Music.
    London: Bloomsbury.
  • Drewett, Michael (2022) ‘“All the hits and more”: Transkei’s Capital Radio non-segregationist play-listing as a challenge to apartheid music radio’ in Journal of South
    African Musicology (SAMUS). Volume 41.
  • Drewett, Michael (2022) “I will do what I can do”: Peter Gabriel and the documentation of human rights issues’ in the Journal of Human Rights Practice Volume 14 Number 1.
  • Drewett, Michael (2021) ‘Rodriguez, apartheid, and censorship: Cold facts, and fiction’ in Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies Volume 22 Number 2.
  • Drewett, Michael (2019) ‘Music and fear in night time apartheid’ in Stahl, G. and Botta, G. (eds). Nocturnes: Popular Music and the Night. London: Palgrave.
  • Drewett, Michael (2018) ‘Stand up and be a real man: Patriarchal patriotism in songs about the USA’s war in Vietnam and South Africa’s apartheid border war’ in Ethnomusicology Journal/ Etnomüzikoloji Dergisi Volume 1 Number 2.
  • Drewett, Michael (2018) ‘Exploring transitions in popular music: Censorship from apartheid to post-apartheid South Africa’ in Hall, P. (ed.) Oxford Handbook on Music Censorship. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Drewett, Michael (2017) ‘Religion and popular music censorship’ in Partridge, C. and Moberg, M. (eds). Bloomsbury Handbook for Religion and Popular Music. London:  Bloomsbury.
  • Drewett, Michael (2016) “A Critical Review of Popular Music Censorship in Africa” in Martin, L, (ed). Les censures dans le monde XIXe-XXIe siècles. Rennes, PressesUniversitaires de Rennes.
  • Drewett, Michael (2016) ‘Shifty Records in apartheid South Africa: innovations in independent record company resistance’ in Journal of South African Musicology (SAMUS). Volumes 35 and 36.
  • Drewett, Michael (2014) ‘Exploring “space” in censorship battles: the case of popular musicians in 1980s South Africa’ in South African Review of Sociology Volume 45 Number 1.
  • Drewett, Michael (2011), ‘The Road from Crisis to Catharsis in the Songs of Roger Lucey’ in the International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music Volume 42 Number 2.
  • Drewett, Michael, Sarah Hill and Kimi Kärki (2010), ‘Peter Gabriel: From Genesis to Growing Up’ with Sarah Hill and Kimi Kärki in Drewett, M, Hill, S. and Kärki, K. (eds). Peter Gabriel: From Genesis to Growing Up. London: Ashgate.

          http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9781409453680

  • Drewett, Michael (2010), ‘The eyes of the world are watching now: the political effectiveness of “Biko” by Peter Gabriel’ in Drewett, M, Hill, S. and Kärki, K. (eds). Peter Gabriel: From Genesis to Growing Up. London: Ashgate.
  • Drewett, Michael (2008), ‘Developing a Retro Brand Community: Re-releasing and marketing Anti-Apartheid Protest Music in Post-Apartheid South Africa’ in Consumption, Markets and Culture Volume 11 Number 4.
  • Drewett, Michael (2008), ‘The Construction and Subversion of Gender Stereotypes in Popular Cultural Representations of the Border War’ in Baines, G. and Vale, P. (Eds.) Beyond the Border War: New Perspectives on Southern Africa’s Late-Cold War Conflicts. Pretoria: UNISA Press.
  • Drewett, Michael (2008), ‘Packaging Desires: Album Covers and the Presentation of Apartheid’ in Olwage, G. (Ed.). Composing Apartheid. Johannesburg: Wits University Press.
  • Drewett, Michael (2007), ‘The eyes of the world are watching now: the political effectiveness of “Biko” by Peter Gabriel’ in Popular Music and Society Volume 30 Number 1.
  • Drewett, Michael (2006), ‘The Cultural Boycott Against Apartheid South Africa: A Case of Defensible Censorship?” in Drewett, M. and Cloonan, M. (eds.) Popular Music Censorship in Africa. London: Ashgate.
  • Drewett, Michael and Johnny Clegg (2006),  ‘Why Don’t You Sing About the Leaves and the Dreams? Reflecting on Popular Music Censorship in Apartheid South Africa’ in Drewett, M. and Cloonan, M. (eds.) Popular Music Censorship in Africa. London: Ashgate.
  • Drewett, Michael and Martin Cloonan (2006), ‘Concluding Comments on the Censorship of Popular Music in Africa’ (with Martin Cloonan) in Drewett, M. and Cloonan, M. and (eds.) Popular Music Censorship in Africa. London: Ashgate.
  • Drewett, Michael (2005), ‘Stop this Filth: The Censorship of Roger Lucey’s Music in Apartheid South Africa’ in Journal of South African Musicology (SAMUS). Volume 25.
  • Drewett, Michael (2004), ‘Remembering Subversion’, in Korpe, M. (ed.) Shoot the Singer! London: Zed Books.
  • Drewett, Michael (2004), ‘Aesopian Strategies of Textual Resistance in the Struggle to Overcome the Censorship of Popular Music in Apartheid South Africa’, in Müller, B. (Ed.) Censorship and Cultural Regulation in the Modern Age. Amsterdam: Rodopi Press.
  • Drewett, Michael (2003), ‘Music in the Struggle to End Apartheid: South Africa’ in Cloonan, M. and Garofalo, R. (Eds.) Policing Popular Music. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
  • Drewett, Michael (2003), ‘Battling Over Borders: Narratives of Resistance to the South African Border War Voiced Through Popular Music’ in Social Dynamics Volume 29 Number 1.
  • Drewett, Michael (2002), ‘Satirical Opposition in Popular Music Within Apartheid and Post- Apartheid South Africa’ in Society in Transition Volume 33 Number 1.

BOOKS (AUTHORED, EDITED)

  • Drewett, Michael, Sarah Hill and Kimi Kärki, eds (2010), Peter Gabriel: From Genesis to Growing Up. London: Ashgate.
  • Drewett, Michael and Martin Cloonan, eds (2006), Popular Music Censorship in Africa. London: Ashgate.

          http://www.ashgate.com/isbn/9780754652915

CONFERENCES (SINCE 2000)

  • 2023 Deciphering Censorship – From regulation to the production of invisibilities, from the archive to the Internet: an interdisciplinary conference in Lisbon, Portugal. Paper entitled: ‘Defining censorship in an age of “cancel culture”’.
  • 2023 South African Society for Research in Music (SASRIM) 17 th Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. Paper entitled: ‘Music and a brighter future? A critical
    exploration of Steve Kekana’s participation in the apartheid Bureau for Information propaganda song’.
  • 2022    European Conference on Arts and Humanities in London, United Kingdom. Paper entitled ‘Queen at Sun City: Controversy and beyond.”
  • 2017    Popular Music Studies Today 19th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music in Kassel, Germany. Paper entitled: ‘Obscene and not heard: The censorship of sexual sounds in music’.
  • 2016    South African Society for Research in Music (SASRIM) 10th Annual Conference in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Paper entitled ‘All the Hits and More: Transkei’s Capital Radio’s Non-Segregationist Play-listing as Anti-Apartheid Music in Motion’. 
  • 2016    Third European Conference on Cultural Studies in Brighton, United Kingdom. Paper entitled ‘“I will do what I can do”: Peter Gabriel, creativity and the documentation of human rights.
  • 2015    Back to the Future: Popular Music and Time 18th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music in Campinas, Brazil. Paper entitled ‘Rodriguez and Censorship: Cold Facts and Fiction’.
  • 2014    Pop Conference, Seattle, United States. Paper entitled ‘All the Hits and More: Transkei’s Capital Radio’s Non-Segregationist Play-listing as Anti-Apartheid Music in Motion’.
  • 2014    Censorship, Yesterday and Today: History of Censorship in the World from the XVIIIth to the XXIst Century International Symposium in Paris, France. Paper (presented by invitation) entitled ‘Popular Music Censorship in Africa’.
  • 2013    Bridge Over Troubled Waters: Challenging Orthodoxies 17th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music in Gijon, Spain. Paper entitled ‘Shifty Records: innovations in indie resistance’.
  • 2012   Crossroads in Cultural Studies 9th International Conference in Paris, France. Paper entitled ‘Popular Musicians and the Economic Crisis in South African post-1994’.
  • 2011    Situating Popular Musics 16th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music in Grahamstown, South Africa. Paper entitled ‘I Love a Man in Uniform! Gender, Militarisation and Popular Music in Apartheid South Africa’.
  • 2010    Musics and Knowledge in Transit: 11th Conference of Sociedad de Etnomusicolgia and 1st Conference of IASPM, Portugal in Lisbon, Portugal. Paper entitled ‘African popular music in the 21st Century: insights and issues’.
  • 2009    Joint Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association Annual Conference in New Orleans, United States.  Paper entitled ‘The Road from Crisis to Catharsis in the Songs of Roger Lucey’.
  • 2008    South African Sociological Conference, Stellenbosch, South Africa. Paper entitled ‘South African Musicians and the HIV/AIDS Conspiracy of Silence’.
  • 2008    Pop Conference, Seattle, United States. Paper entitled ‘Stand Up and Be a Real Man: Patriarchal Patriotism in songs about the USA’s War in Vietnam and South Africa’s Apartheid Border War’.
  • 2007    Music, Theories, Practices: Focus on South Africa: 1st Congress of the South African Society for Research in Music. Paper entitled ‘South African Musicians and the HIV/AIDS Conspiracy of Silence’.
  • 2007    African Sociological Association Conference in Grahamstown, South Africa. Paper entitled ‘Rethinking Popular Music Censorship in Light of the African Experience’.
  • 2007    Que Viva La Música Popular! 14th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music in Mexico City, Mexico. Paper entitled ‘Just Like That: Popular Music Censorship in Africa’.
  • 2007    Pop Conference, Seattle, United States. Paper entitled ‘Retro Protest or What? Resurrecting Censored Anti-Apartheid Music in a Democratic Era’.
  • 2006    3rd World Conference on Music and Censorship, Istanbul, Turkey. Paper (presented by invitation) entitled  ‘The Freemuse South African Schools Workshop: An Assessment’.
  • 2006    Association for Cultural Studies Crossroads Conference, Istanbul, Turkey. Paper entitled ‘The Critical Untrustworthy Narrator: A Post-Colonial Critique’.
  • 2005    32nd Annual Congress of the Musicological Society of Southern Africa and 19th Ethnomusicological Symposium, Cape Town. Paper entitled ‘Stop This Filth’: The Censorship of Roger Lucey’s Music in Apartheid South Africa’
  • 2005    Making Music, Making Meaning: 13th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music in Rome, Italy. Paper entitled ‘The Cultural Boycott in South Africa: A Case of Defensible Censorship?’
  • 2005    Clandestino Talks at the Clandestino Festival, Gothenburg, Sweden. Paper (presented by invitation) entitled ‘Stopping the Music: A Film about Apartheid Censorship and Post-Apartheid Reconciliation’.
  • 2005    Freemuse Music and Censorship in Zimbabwe Seminar, Harare, Zimbabwe. Paper entitled ‘Lessons from South Africa: Music Censorship During Apartheid’.
  • 2004   Ten Years of Democracy Conference, UNISA, Pretoria. ‘Is Anything Undesirable These Days? Changing Dynamics in Popular Music Censorship in Post-Apartheid South Africa’.
  • 2004    Composing Apartheid: New Music Indaba Conference in Grahamstown, South Africa. Paper (presented by invitation) entitled ‘Packaging Desires: Album Covers and the Presentation of Apartheid’.
  • 2003    Practising Popular Music: 12th Biennial Conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music in Montreal, Canada. Paper entitled ‘The Eyes of the World are Watching Now: The Political Impact of “Biko” by Peter Gabriel’.
  • 2002    2nd World Conference on Music and Censorship held in Copenhagen, Denmark in September. Paper (presented by invitation) entitled ‘Subversive Resistance to the Censorship of Popular Music in South Africa During Apartheid’.
  • 2002    17th Symposium on Ethnomusicology, held in Grahamstown in September. Paper   entitled ‘The Critical Untrustworthy Narrator: Is There a Problem?’
  • 2002    Frontlines: Gender, Identity and War Conference, held at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia in July. ‘Fracturing Representations of Militarised Masculinity in Resistance to the South African Defence Force in the 1980s’.
  • 2002    Narrative, Trauma and Memory conference held in Cape Town in July 2002.
  • Paper entitled  ‘It’s My Duty, Not My Choice: Narratives of Resistance to the Border War Voiced Through Popular Music’.
  • 2001    11th Conference of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music in Turku, Finland. Paper entitled ‘Satire and Music in Apartheid and Post-Apartheid South Africa’.
  • 2000    Censorship: Phenomenology - Representation - Contexts conference in Newcastle, England. Paper entitled ‘Strategies of Resistance: The Struggle to Overcome the Censorship of Popular Music in South Africa During the 1980s’.
  • 2000    International Association for the Study of Popular Music (UK) Conference in Guildford, England. Paper entitled ‘Theorising the Censorship of Popular Music in South Africa During the 1980s’.
  • 2000    Joint Popular Culture Association and American Culture Association Annual Conference in New Orleans, United States.  Paper entitled ‘Creating Spaces: The Response of Musicians to the Censorship of Resistance Music in South Africa’.
  • 2000    Silence and Expression: Histories of Permission and Censorship conference at Texas A&M University, United States. Paper entitled ‘Resistant Voices and Creative Spaces: South African Protest Music Within the Context of Apartheid Censorship’.

PHD AND MASTERS STUDENTS – GRADUATED

  • PhD Jacqueline Wilson (2022) An ethnographic exploration of black lesbian rape survivors’ access to support services in Cape Town, South Africa
  • PhD Brenda Muchabveyo (2021) Maternal health care services in waiting mothers’ shelters: The case of Mawadza Village in Bonda, Manicaland, Zimbabwe
  • PhD Thoko Sipungu (2021) Embodied difference in manhood: A sociological analysis of the intersection of visible physical impairments and manhood among Xhosa men in the Eastern Cape
  • PhD Lindiwe Tsope (2021)  A narrative study of students’ and staff’s experiences of living with HIV and AIDS at Rhodes University
  • PhD Tapfuiwa Katsinde (2020) Decentralization of secondary schools amidst political and economic instability in Mashonaland, Central Province, Zimbabwe
  • PhD Michael Kwet (2019) Going digital: South Africa’s education transformation in the shadow of Silicon Valley
  • PhD Nelson Muparamoto (2019) Understanding defiant identities: An ethnography of gays and lesbians in Harare, Zimbabwe
  • PhD Precious Tanyanyiwa (2014) A Sociological analysis of the provision of extended studies as a means of addressing transformation at a historically white university
  • PhD Komlan Agbedahin (2012) Young veterans, not always social misfits: a sociological discourse of Liberian transmogrification experiences 
  • PhD Jo-Anne Vorster (2010) A social realist analysis of collaborative curriculum development processes in an academic department at a South African university
  • Masters Luniko Futshane (2022) ‘Around Hip hop: Rethinking and reconstructing urban youth identities in South Africa – A case study of Fingo Village, Makhanda
  • Masters Sharon Bloem (2021) A sociological study of menstrual hygiene management in schools in the Makana District, Eastern Cape, South Africa
  • Masters Jessica Spyker (2021, with distinction) Negotiating shame: An exploration of the body experience among young South African women who have attended or are attending University
  • Masters Cassandra Guerra (2020, with distinction) The Sex Education of White Womxn and their Understandings and Practices of ‘Safe Sex’
  • Masters Thab’sile Mgwili (2020) Rhodes University students’ experiences of living as students on National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) funding 
  • Masters Milisa Roboji (2020) A sociological analysis of the involvement of men in campaigns against sexual violence towards women at Rhodes University: The Aftermath of the #RUReference protest
  • Masters (2020) Thulani Ntisana Re-adjustment of masculinities and sexualities amongst first year male students at Rhodes University in the wake of the residence consent talks programme
  • Masters Sasha Kabwato (2019) A platform for women’s experiences? A case of the hip hop scene in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape
  • Masters Xolelwa Mantungo (2019) An analysis of understandings and attitudes towards transgender people on a South African university campus
  • Masters Lindiwe Tsope (2018) A narrative study of patients’ illness experiences on antiretroviral treatment
  • Masters Chelsea Brasher (2017 with distinction) A sociological analysis of Rhodes University students previously diagnosed with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and prescribed psychostimulant medication
  • Masters Belinda Matabane (2017) Exploring the need for Academic Support Programmes (ASPs) for returning undergraduates at Rhodes University
  • Masters Benita Bobo (2017) A participant-focused sociological analysis of Beedz, a Grahamstown skills training project for women
  • Masters Thoko Sipungu (2016) A Sociological analysis of the experiences of acceptance by gay Christian men within the Methodist Church of Southern Africa in Grahamstown
  • Masters Kanyabu Kazadi (2015) A Sociological analysis of the promotion, marketing and distribution of contemporary popular Zambian Music
  • Masters Gwendolyn Johnson (2014) An analysis of an official diagnosis and label of ‘dyslexia’ on pupils’ self-concept and self-esteem: A sociological case study involving pupils in Grahamstown 
  • Masters Qondile Maseko (2014) Critical evaluation of medical waste management policies, processes and practices in selected rural hospitals in the Eastern Cape
  • Masters Nombulelo Shange (2014) Shembe religion’s integration of African Traditional Religion and Christianity: A sociological case study
  • Masters Xin Ling Xi (2010 with distinction) Disjunctures within Conventional Knowledge of Black Male Homosexual Identity in Contemporary South Africa

CURRENT

PHD

  • Ayanda Gamedze A sociological analysis of how male students from South African university campuses understand and experience changing views on hegemonic masculinities in mass media
  • Indiphile Vezi Experiencing the transformation of sociology in South Africa: a reflection on postgraduate black women at Rhodes University
  • Mapula Maponya An analysis of the Asset Based Community Development Approach in a service-learning program, from the perspective of students and community partners. A case study of the Allan Gray Centre for Leadership Ethics Service Learning Program

MASTERS

  • Andile Dlamini Music in everyday life: an exploration of the use of music among working-class individuals in Makhanda
  • Declyn Nikiforos Exploring perceptions of negative Body Image amongst gym-going, male students at Rhodes University

 

Last Modified: Mon, 20 Nov 2023 14:38:16 SAST