JOSEPHINE NGOZI MOKWUNYEI, Ph.D - An Autobiography

Dr. Josephine Ngozi Mokwunyei of Idumu Ozoma, Ogbeidibo, Issele-Uku is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Theatre Arts and Mass Communication, University of Benin, Benin-City, Nigeria.  She holds a B.A. (second class upper division) Honors Degree in Music; M.A. in Theatre Arts and a Ph.D. in African Studies, from the University of Nigeria Nsukka; University of Ibadan and University of Ghana, Legon, respectively.

She teaches music and theatre courses to undergraduate and post graduate students at the Department of Theatre Arts and Mass Communication, University of Benin, Nigeria and she is actively involved in music and theatre performance productions as a singer, actor or director.  With a teaching credential in Music Education from the University of Nigeria Nsukka, she takes interest in the educational implications and application of African music and African musical instruments to the development of children in Africa and the Diaspora.

She has attended several local and international conferences where she presented scholarly papers.  She has published in several local and international journals, including the British International Journal of Music Education (BIJME); African Performance Review (APR) and Legon Journal of the Humanities.  

She belongs to professional bodies of music and theatre practitioners, including the Musicological Society of Nigeria (MSN) which she served as Vice President, Conference Convener and Editor of their first ever published journal.  She is a member of the Pan African Society for Musical Arts Education (PASMAE) to which she is currently Regional Vice President and convener of the first Sub-Regional Conference and also PASMAE West Africa to which she is founding chairman.  She is Vice President West Africa of the International Music Council (IMC) and also a member of Nigerian Theatre Artists (SONTA) which she served as National Vice President.