Cross-Cultural and Standards-Based Assessment of the African Musical Arts

Abstract

This chapter contextualizes the measurability of African musical arts (including music, dance, drama, poetry, and costume art as an integrated whole), through the introduction of a generic evaluation system, which can be implemented outside its culture of origin as recontextualized authenticity. An assessment system is developed, titled The Generic Crosscultural Assessment Framework for African Musical Arts. The framework illustrates that the cultural-educational void between African/indigenous/informal and international/formal music education can be crossed and that the development of a reliable, valid, and objective evaluation system for African musical arts assessment, which can be recognized internationally to the satisfaction of Western and African cultures, is possible. The framework is informed by Western and African indigenous philosophies. A multidisciplinary approach toward the development of cross-cultural assessment standards comprises the syntheses of social studies (including ethnomusicology, translation studies, and cross-cultural studies), educational studies (including international assessment standards, philosophies, and systems) and sub-Saharan African musical arts through documentary research and deconstruction theory designs.