Biography

Willemien Froneman is an interdisciplinary scholar specializing in musicology and sound studies, with a focus on the intersections of music, race, and affect. Her research engages South African vernacular traditions, decolonial methodologies, and the affective dimensions of sound. Her recent book, The Groovology of White Affect (2024), explores race-formation through music and has been recognized for its groundbreaking contributions. She is currently an Extraordinary Associate Professor at AVReQ and supervises students enrolled for degrees in music, visual arts, and interdisciplinary arts studies. She is a former co-editor of SAMUS: South African Music Studies and Project Manager of the Wikipedia-based Southern African Encyclopedia of Music & Sound.

Current Research Project

Revival Reimagined is an interdisciplinary project that examines the affective power of religious revivalism through sound. This study analyzes over 6,000 sermons and recordings from the 20^th-century evangelical movement the Africa Evangelistic Band (AEB). By using machine learning tools such as Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) and Natural Language Processing (NLP), the aim is to uncover patterns in rhythm, vocal delivery, and affective charge. The project integrates computational analysis with ethnographic methods and artistic installations, reconstructing the sonic experience of revival meetings. By investigating how religious fervour has been encoded and transmitted through sound, Revival Reimagined bridges archival research with contemporary concerns about faith, identity, and social transformation. This work contributes to broader discussions on religious ecstasy, sonic atmospheres, and affect.

Email: wfroneman@sun.ac.za | Tel: 0218084047

List of Recent Publications

Books

• Froneman, W. (2024). The Groovology of White Affect: Boeremusiek and the Enregisterment of Race in South Africa. Palgrave Macmillan.

Book Chapters

• Froneman, W., & Muller, S. (forthcoming). Singing cowboys and alpine goat herds: The passaggio of nature to culture in Afrikaans yodeling. In C. Walton & S. Muller (Eds.), Cultural Relations between Switzerland and South Africa, 1948–1994.
• Froneman, W., & Muller, S. (2024). Coeval modernism in Priaulx Rainier’s Dance of the Rain. In D. Grimley & S. Lee (Eds.), Music, Sound, and Global Modernism: A Critical History. Cambridge University Press.
• Froneman, W., & Muller, S. (2020). Music’s “non-political neutrality”: When race dare not speak its name. In J. Jansen (Ed.), Fault Lines: A Primer on Race, Science, and Society. Sun Press.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles

• Froneman, W., & van Rhyn, C. (2024). Is there a sonic climate of Zulu history? International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, 55(1), 45–67. https://doi.org/10.21857/yvjrdcdxgy
• Froneman, W., & Muller, S. (2025). A manifesto for musical modernism in South Africa: Stefans Grové’s 1952 articles in Standpunte. LitNet Akademies, 22(1), 1–15. https://www.litnet.co.za/a-manifesto-for-musical-modernism-in-south-africa-stefans-groves-1952-articles-in-standpunte/
• Froneman, W. (2023). The ears of apartheid. Social Dynamics, 49(1), 4–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/02533952.2023.2168596
• Froneman, W., & Muller, S. (2023). A musical offering to the recomposed university. South African Review of Education, 28(1), 154–168.
• Froneman, W. (2023). “Stockhausenesque”: Musical vanguardism during the Durban Moment. Twentieth-Century Music, 20(2), 215–243.
• Froneman, W., & Muller, S. (2022). Editing for change: From global bibliometrics to a decolonial aporetics of form in South African journal publishing. Journal of Transformation in Higher Education, 7, Article 175. https://doi.org/10.4102/the.v7i0.175
• Froneman, W. (2018). After fame: A micro-ethnography of popular late style. Popular Music and Society, 41(4), 424–439. https://doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2017.1345710
• Froneman, W. (2018). Ex-centric hermeneutics in Stephanus Muller’s Nagmusiek. Royal Musical Association Research Chronicle, 49(1), 179–194. https://doi.org/10.1080/14723808.2018.1443730

Editorial Work

• Co-editor (with S. Muller) of SAMUS: South African Music Studies (Volumes 34/35, 2015; 36/37, 2017; 38, 2018).
  • “The Ethical Incomplete” (SAMUS, Vol. 38, 2018).
  • “‘De Lô’ in Fallist Times” (SAMUS, Vol. 36/37, 2017).
  • “Crisis? What Crisis?” (SAMUS, Vol. 34/35, 2015).

Other Publications

• Froneman, W. (2023). Beyond a hollow account of musical interracialism. Moya: Literary Journal of the Atlantic Fellows for Racial Equity. https://afremoya.com/issues/spotlight/beyond-a-hollow-account-of-musical-interracialism
• Froneman, W. (2022). Resisting the siren song of race. herri7. https://herri.org.za/7/willemien-froneman/
• Froneman, W. (2019). Boeremusiek. In Bloomsbury Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World: African Genres.
• Froneman, W. (2018). Stitching up the auto/biographical seam: An interview with Stephanus Muller. In M. Lackey (Ed.), More Truthful Fictions: Conversations with Biographical Novelists around the World. Bloomsbury.