Towards a Decolonial Musicology: Methodological and Theoretical Innovations for Studying Sub-Saharan African Music

This research develops an original decolonial methodological and theoretical framework for the study of Sub-Saharan African music, with particular grounding in Nigerian musical traditions and scholarly contexts. Existing musicological methodologies, including those employed in African ethnomusicology, carry embedded epistemological assumptions derived from Western disciplinary origins that constrain the scope and validity of African music research. This study engages critically with the methodological canon of ethnomusicology, systematic musicology, and cultural musicology, identifying their colonial genealogies and propounding substantive alternatives grounded in African philosophies of knowledge, community-based research ethics, and the lived experience of African musicians as primary knowledge producers. The research employs a theoretical-philosophical methodology, drawing on extensive engagement with African philosophy, decolonial theory, Southern epistemologies scholarship, and existing decolonial work in African ethnomusicology. Case studies from Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, and Ijaw music research contexts illustrate methodological propositions concretely. The study also conducts a systematic review of methodological discussions in major African ethnomusicology journals from 2015 to 2025. An original decolonial research protocol for African music study is developed, addressing community consent, knowledge sovereignty, co-authorship, and dissemination ethics. Findings will make a major theoretical contribution to global musicology and advance the decolonisation agenda in African humanities scholarship. Keywords: Decolonial musicology, African music research, epistemology, methodology, sub-Saharan Africa.