Banding Together in Cape Town and Lagos: Engaging Reciprocity as Applied Ethnomusicology

Abstract This article discusses reciprocity in research as engaged scholarship and, more specifically, applied ethnomusicology. It draws on two ethnographic studies and their associated activism in Cape Town, South Africa and Lagos, Nigeria. The article investigates the histories of engaged scholarship and applied ethnomusicology and suggests that each community requires a method of engagement based on its contextual specifics. Hence, the case studies may be seen to animate workable approaches in different socio-cultural contexts. The paper concludes that these methods may serve as frameworks for developing site-specific strategies of engaged scholarship in other parts of Africa.