Eric Debrah Otchere

About Fellow

Eric Debrah Otchere, PhD, is associate professor of music in the Department of Music and Dance at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, and an internationally recognised scholar in music education, music psychology, and arts-based research. His work centers on the role of music in social inclusion, health and well-being, and sustainable development, with particular attention to African musical cultures and the production of community knowledge. He has led or co-led major multi-country, interdisciplinary research collaborations funded by bodies including CNRS (France), UKRI–GCRF, the DAAD, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation—among them Project MUSICAP, the One Ocean Hub, and the Performing Sustainability SDG Graduate School, for which he serves as Ghana Director. He is currently principal investigator on a University of Cape Coast study of music therapy interventions for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

A widely published author of refereed articles, books, and book chapters—including the coedited Routledge volume Performing Sustainability in West Africa—Otchere is also an accomplished composer and creative practitioner, with works ranging from full choral mass settings to the stage production Kwame Nkrumah: The Musical. He has held prestigious fellowships at Stanford University (CASBS), and the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), and serves the wider field as president of the Ghana Music Teachers’ Association, an editorial board member of African Music, and an external examiner for several leading African universities. Across research, teaching, and service, his work consistently advances equitable, inclusive, and culturally grounded approaches to music-making.

Selected Publications

• Otchere, Eric Debrah, M. Lettau, and C. Y. Mtaku, eds. Performing Sustainability in West Africa: Cultural Practices and Policies for Sustainable Development. London: Routledge, 2022.
• Otchere, Eric Debrah. “Sharing Concerns: A Direction for African Music Education.” In Music Education in Africa: Indigenous Agency, Policy, and Practice, edited by Emily Achieng’ Akuno, 59–75. London: Routledge, 2019.
• Otchere, Eric Debrah. “In a World of Their Own: Memory and Identity in the Fishing Songs of a Migrant Ewe Community in Ghana.” African Music: Journal of the International Library of African Music 10, no. 3 (2017): 7–22.
• Otchere, Eric Debrah. “Toward a ‘Culturally Responsive Music Curriculum’: Harnessing the Power of Ghanaian Popular Music in Ghana’s Public Education Sector.” Ghana Studies 20, no. 1 (2017): 93–110.
• Otchere, Eric Debrah. “Music Teaching and the Process of Enculturation: A Cultural Dilemma.” British Journal of Music Education 32, no. 3 (2015): 291–97.