Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje

Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje, an American ethnomusicologist, is emerita Professor of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), former Chair of the UCLA Department of Ethnomusicology (2005–2010), and former Director of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive (2000–2007). Her research and publications focus on the music of Africa, Black people in the United States, and the global African diaspora.

Early life and education DjeDje was born in Jesup, Georgia, not far from the Sea Islands. For her K-12 school education, DjeDje attended public and private institutions with predominantly Black populations: Wayne County Training School (grades 1–9) and Boggs Academy (grades 10–12), a boarding school in Keysville, Burke County, Georgia. Her training in music began when she took piano lessons from teachers in her local community. In addition to providing piano accompaniment (playing hymns, gospel, and spirituals) for church activities, choirs, and other cultural events locally, she accompanied music groups at her schools. She received additional formal training in piano at Boggs.

For her undergraduate education, DjeDje attended Fisk University, a historically Black university in Nashville, Tennessee, where she studied piano with Anne Gamble Kennedy and was introduced to the field of ethnomusicology through the teachings of Darius Thieme. After receiving her BA degree in music from Fisk in 1970, she pursued graduate studies in music at UCLA, specializing in ethnomusicology with a focus on African and African American music, and completed her PhD degree in 1978. At UCLA, not only did she study with J. H. Kwabena Nketia, the advisor for her research on African music,DjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell. "The One String Fiddle in West Africa: A Comparison of Hausa and Dagomba Traditions." PhD Dissertation, UCLA, 1978. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/84g997vh she worked closely with other faculty in the Program of Ethnomusicology.

Career In 1975, DjeDje began her college teaching career in music at Tuskegee University (formerly Tuskegee Institute) before accepting a position at UCLA in fall 1979 where she remained until she retired in spring 2013. In addition to theoretical courses in ethnomusicology, she taught courses in world music, African and African American music and was founding director of the UCLA African American vocal ensemble. DjeDje served as interim chair of UCLA's Department of Ethnomusicology (winter-spring 2003), Department chair (fall 2005-fall 2010), and Director of the UCLA Ethnomusicology Archive (2000–2007)."Professor Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje to be Honored, Online Oral History." January 9, 2019. https://schoolofmusic.ucla.edu/professor-jacqueline-cogdell-djedje-to-be-honored-oral-history-now-online/

Major works and contributions Although many of DjeDje's publications focus on fiddling both in West AfricaDjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell. Fiddling in West Africa: Touching the Spirit in Fulbe, Hausa, and Dagbamba Cultures. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2008. https://iupress.org/search-results-grid/?keyword=djedje and among Blacks in the United States,DjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell. Fiddling Is My Joy: The Fiddle in African American Culture. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2025. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/64k2c051 she has produced works on other topics: religious music,DjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell. "Change and Differentiation: The Adoption of Black American Gospel Music in the Catholic Church." Ethnomusicology: Journal of the Society for Ethnomusicology Volume 30, Number 2, pp. 223–252, Spring–Summer 1986. https://doi.org/10.2307/851995DjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell. "Signifying in Nineteenth-Century African American Religious Music." In Theorizing Scriptures: New Critical Orientations to a Cultural Phenomenon, edited by Vincent L. Wimbush. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2008, pp. 134–144. https://doi.org/10.36019/9780813544625-018 diaspora studies,DjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell. "Music and Diasporas within West Africa: The Pre-colonial Era." In Discourses in African Musicology: J. H. Kwabena Nketia Festschrift, edited by Kwasi Ampene et al. Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Legon, Ghana: African Studies Center and Office of the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, University of Michigan (USA) and Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, 2015, pp. 256–275. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/49m9729f women and music,DjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell. "Women and Music in Sudanic Africa." In More than Drumming: Essays on African and Afro-Latin American Music and Musicians, edited by Irene V. Jackson. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1985, pp. 67–89.DjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell. "Doris Akers," "Margaret Pleasant Douroux," "Bessie Griffin," "Tramaine Hawkins," "Gwendolyn Cooper Lightner," "Cora Martin Moore," "Dorothy Simmons." In Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, Volumes 1 and 2, edited by Darlene Clark Hine. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing Inc., 1993, pp. 16–17; 353–354; 503–504; 547–548; 720–721; 751–752; 1035–1036. pre-20th century Black music,DjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell. "African-American Music to 1900." In The Cambridge History of American Music, edited by David Nicholls. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 103–134; 577–580. https://doi.org/10.1017/CHOL9780521454292 and regional studies.DjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell. "West Africa: An Introduction." In Africa: The Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 1, edited by Ruth M. Stone. New York: Routledge, 1997, pp. 458–486. https://archive.org/details/garlandencyclope0001unse/page/n7/mode/2upDjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell. "Los Angeles Composers of African American Gospel Music: The First Generations." American Music: A Quarterly Journal Devoted to All Aspects of American Music and Music in America Volume 11, Number 4, pp. 412–457, Winter 1993. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3052539?seq=1DjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell. "Context and Creativity: William Grant Still in Los Angeles." Black Music Research Journal Volume 31, Number 1, pp. 1–27, Spring 2011. https://doi.org/10.5406/blacmusiresej.31.1.0001 One of the reviewers of California Soul, a book co-edited by DjeDje and Eddie S. Meadows, comments on the importance of examining under-researched areas: “Most regional works on African American music and culture focus on the South, North, and Midwest. In contrast, this pioneering collection looks at the culturally complex, racially/ethnically diverse, and geographically expansive state of California with its enduring image as the golden land of greater freedom and opportunity.”Waldo E. Martin Jr. Book review. The Journal of American History Volume 86, Number 1, p. 308, June 1999. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2567538 Making her findings accessible to a diverse audience, particularly the community that was its source, is important in DjeDje's research. A reviewer of the book, Fiddling in West Africa, notes: “Beyond her systematic organization of an enormous amount of material, both in terms of research years and regional diversity, DjeDje’s writing style is fluid and accessible. The text never recedes into dry academic writing.”

Awards and honors In 1970, DjeDje was awarded a Ford Foundation doctoral fellowship to pursue post-graduate studies."Seven in State Get Minority Fellowships." The Tennessean, Nashville, Tennessee, June 25, 1970, p. 49. https://www.newspapers.com/image/108996737/?article=706fca92-28b5-11ed-8924-56d13e9bc634&xid=4514&_gl=1*1jpm161*_gcl_au*MTE5NzgzMzQzNi4xNzcyODI0ODk4*_ga*OTg1MDI5NTE1LjE2OTMwOTcxNzI.*_ga_4QT8FMEX30*czFiZWZjYzNkLTJhMmQtNDkxZi04MmNkLTk0YWVmYTRlY2I5MCRvNTYwJGcxJHQxNzczMTY0NzI2JGozMiRsMCRoMA..*_ga_LMK6K2LSJH*czFiZWZjYzNkLTJhMmQtNDkxZi04MmNkLTk0YWVmYTRlY2I5MCRvNTYyJGcxJHQxNzczMTY0NzI2JGozMiRsMCRoMA. She “is a two-time award recipient from the National Endowment for the Humanities and has received distinguished service and contribution awards from the Los Angeles Chapter of the Gospel Music Workshop of America, the Mu Beta Omega Chapter and Ivy Philanthropic Foundation of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, and the Los Angeles Music Award from the Cultural Affairs Department of the City of Los Angeles.” To acknowledge her service to the field, in 2020 she was selected to be an Honorary Member of the Society for Ethnomusicology,"Honorary Membership. The Society for Ethnomusicology." https://www.ethnomusicology.org/general/custom.asp?page=Prizes_HonMmbr and for the 70th Annual Meeting of SEM in 2025, she was chosen to present the Charles Seeger Lecture, the centerpiece of the Society's annual meeting."Charles Seeger Lecturers. The Society for Ethnomusicology." https://www.ethnomusicology.org/page/History_Seeger

Selected publications Books and articles (single-authored)

Edited books DjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell (editor), and William G. Carter (associate editor). African Musicology: Current Trends, Volume 1. A Festschrift Presented to J. H. Kwabena Nketia. Los Angeles and Atlanta: UCLA African Studies Center and African Arts Magazine and Crossroads Press/African Studies Association, 1989. DjeDje (editor). African Musicology: Current Trends, Volume 2. A Festschrift Presented to J. H. Kwabena Nketia. Los Angeles and Atlanta: UCLA International Studies and Overseas Program (ISOP)/The James S. Coleman African Studies Center and African Studies Association Press, 1992. DjeDje and Eddie S. Meadows (co-editors). California Soul: Music of African Americans in the West. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998. DjeDje (editor). Turn Up the Volume! A Celebration of African Music. Los Angeles: UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, 1999. Turn up the volume! : a celebration of African music

Recordings DjeDje, Jacqueline Cogdell (compiler and author of liner notes). Black American Religious Music from Southeast Georgia. Folkways Records FS 34010, 1983. Black American Religious Music from Southeast Georgia; Spotify – Web Player DjeDje (compiler and author of liner notes). Fiddling in West Africa (1950s–1990s): The Recording. Ethnomusicology @ UCLA Archive Series, Volume 2, EUCLA CD 2, 2007. Fiddling in West Africa (1950s-1990s): The CD Recording, Ethnomusicology Archive Series Vol. 2

References

Jacqueline Cogdell DjeDje

Bron en licentie