Boudina McConnachie

I am an ethnomusicologist based in the Eastern Cape in South Africa, a beautiful, often rugged space. I love performing, making sound-based creative output and listening to world around me – for clues about how the world ticks. This has made me fiercely proud of all things African and opened opportunities for transdisciplinary research based on indigenous knowledge systems and traditional creative expressions.

Publications

McGarry, D. & B. McConnachie. 2025. Our Ocean is Sacred, You can’t Mine Heaven. Routledge Handbook of Arts-Based Research in Global Development: Performing Knowledge, edited by Vicki-Ann Ware, Kirsten Sadeghi-Yekta, Tim Prentki, Wasim Al-Kurdi and Patrick Kabanda. Taylor and Francis. https://www.routledge.com/Arts-based-Research-in-Global-Development-Performing-Knowledge/Ware-Sadeghi-Yekta-Prentki-alKurdi/p/book/9781032464718

McConnachie, B, F. Porri & R. Weinberg. 2025. Shifting from development to empowerment through eco-creative knowledge transmission to achieve environmental sustainability in contemporary indigenous societies. Routledge Handbook of Arts and Global Development, edited by Vicki-Ann Ware, Kirsten Sadeghi-Yekta, Tim Prentki, Wasim Al-Kurdi and Patrick Kabanda. DOI: 10.4324/9781003289838-42

McConnachie, B., T. Makamure, P. Mathebula, B. Mavuso, H. McCarthy, & Y. Ntshakaza. 2024. Podcasting as a teaching and learning intervention. Reimagining South African Higher Education, African Sun Media. https://doi.org/10.52779/9781991260468/08

Porri, F., McConnachie, B., Van der Walt, K., Wynberg, R., & Pattrick, P. 2023. Eco-creative nature-based solutions to transform urban coastlines, local coastal communities and enhance biodiversity through the lens of scientific and Indigenous knowledge. Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, 1, E17. DOI:10.1017/cft.2022.10

McConnachie, B., 2021. Copyright complications and consequences at the International Library of African Music, Rhodes University: A case study. South African Music Studies, 41(1), pp.183-197. ISSN 2223-635X

Watkins, L., Madiba, E. and McConnachie, B. 2021. Rethinking the decolonial moment through collaborative practices at the International Library of African Music (ILAM), South Africa. Ethnomusicology Forum, pp. 1-20. Routledge.DOI: 10.1080/17411912.2021.1938628

McConnachie, B., 2021. Reshaping our musical values: decolonising teaching and curricular frameworks in the Eastern Cape. Ethnomusicology Forum, pp. 1-12. Routledge. DOI: 10.1080/17411912.2021.1930090
Recent Creative Output
May 2024. Curator and PI – Indigenous Marine Innovations for Sustainable Environments and Economies (IMIsEE) project – Harmony of Science and Art, A Sound Postcard Series. SoundBoxvii (Oregon State University, USA). https://sites.google.com/view/soundboxfestival/featured-artists

January 2024. Curator and PI – Indigenous Marine Innovations for Sustainable Environments and Economies (IMIsEE) project – Harmony of Science and Art, A Sound Postcard Series. Rhodes University Library, Makhanda South Africa.

24 November – 6 December 2023. Curator and PI – Indigenous Marine Innovations for Sustainable Environments and Economies (IMIsEE) project – Harmony of Science and Art, A Sound Postcard Series. Amazwi South African Museum of Literature, Makhanda South Africa.

August -November 2023. Co-curator with Dylan McGarry. Our Ocean is Sacred, You Can’t Mine Heaven – Public Storytelling initiative and exhibition. ZEITS Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa

June-July 2023. Co-curator with Dylan McGarry. Our Ocean is Sacred, You Can’t Mine Heaven – Public Storytelling initiative and exhibition. National Arts Festival, Mkahanda South Africa.

June-July 2023. Africa Music Activists – Madosini, a collaborative honouring. National Arts Festival, Grahamstown National Monument, South Africa.
1. Producer and narrator. Podcast series. Songs of the Ocean – Series 1. https://iono.fm/c/7335
2. Producer and narrator. Podcast series. African Music Activists – Series 1. https://iono.fm/c/6306
Recent Professional Performance Record
Makana Community Orchestra with the Soweto String Quartet (May 2024). First Flute and Production Manager. Guy Butler Theatre. Makhanda, Eastern Cape.

Makana Community Orchestra, Rhodes University, Nelson Mandela Symphony Orchestra, Rhodes University Chamber Choir and Kwantu Choir (October 2023). Symphony Spectacular. First Flute and Production Manager. Guy Butler Theatre, Makhanda, and NMU auditorium, Gqeberha, Eastern Cape.

The South Africa/America Music Exchange (SAME) and Education Africa (November 2022), IMBUMBA orchestra performing Ed Sarath’s His Day is Done. Third Flute and Picolo. Guy Butler Theatre, Makhanda, Eastern Cape. https://sundayworld.co.za/ziwaphi/education-africa-and-same-partner-to-honour-mandela/