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A Florida State University religious studies expert and cultural anthropologist has been designated as a fellow of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music (ISM), the leading center for the cross-disciplinary exploration of sacred music, worship, and the arts.

Joseph Hellweg, an associate professor in the Department of Religion, is among 10 scholars selected to dedicate the 2025-2026 academic year to studying the history and culture of religions at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He is the first faculty member from FSU to receive this esteemed fellowship.

Hellweg will undertake an interdisciplinary initiative focusing on the songs of the late Dramane Coulibaly, a Muslim singer and healer for dozo hunters, a collective of Indigenous hunters and healers from the Ivory Coast, located on the southern shores of West Africa. Since 1994, Coulibaly has welcomed Hellweg during several visits to the Ivory Coast to investigate dozo rituals.

“I’m excited to receive this fellowship and have the opportunity to dedicate a year to writing and researching at Yale University. As a fellow, I’ll be partnered with a faculty member and maintain a consistent presence at the Institute to learn about other fellows’ projects and utilize Yale’s two archives on the Ivory Coast, among other resources.”

— Joseph Hellweg, associate professor in the Department of Religion

“I’m excited to receive this fellowship and have the opportunity to dedicate a year to writing and researching at Yale University,” Hellweg expressed. “As a fellow, I’ll be partnered with a faculty member and maintain a consistent presence at the Institute to learn about other fellows’ projects and utilize Yale’s two archives on the Ivory Coast, among other resources.”

ISM is a collaboration between the Yale School of Music, Yale Divinity School, and various academic and professional departments at Yale University. Fellows like Hellweg are chosen based on their project’s alignment with ISM’s mission of creating interdisciplinary connections from the study and practice of religion to music and art through creative endeavors.

“Dramane was a distinguished healer, adept hunter, and talented artist — he performed songs to soothe the ‘shadows’ of deceased dozo hunters following their passings, and dozos claimed that his melodies facilitated their smooth transition to the afterlife,” Hellweg noted. “I interpret Dramane’s songs as reflections of ancient dozo texts that scholars have read as alternative ‘oral’ sources concerning human rights. Rather than limit dozos’ voices to a bygone era, I aim to involve them in the contemporary context.”

Hellweg will collaborate with musicologists examining ritual music across various cultures, including those within Indigenous and Islamic frameworks. This will enable him to investigate the musical elements of ancient dozo texts through fresh perspectives on global reception, consumption, nationalism, and more.

“I was initially attracted to dozo hunters due to their music and dance performances, but soon became intrigued by the evolving dynamics of their informal security movement and their involvement in the Ivory Coast’s rebellion from 2002 until 2011,” Hellweg stated. “The manuscript I plan to write at Yale will invite ethicists and human rights scholars to engage with Dramane’s songs as significant expressions that surpass the conventional perspective of oral arts lacking depth or worth. Through this work, I aspire to underscore the contributions of formerly colonized populations to human rights policymaking.”

“My research challenges me to reorganize the way I think and feel, to broaden my viewpoints and better understand and empathize with my hosts in West Africa in order to exchange ideas and experiences with them so that we can enrich each other’s lives.”

— Joseph Hellweg, associate professor in the Department of Religion

In his manuscript, Hellweg will explore how Coulibaly’s modern songs and the dances they inspire — including the vital role that dancing plays at dozo funerals — convey human knowledge, abilities, and freedoms from a broader viewpoint of human rights.

“I’m delighted that the ISM has recognized the innovative character of Joseph’s research,” remarked Martin Kavka, chair and professor of religion at FSU. “In the realm of religious studies, we aren’t always aware of how song — especially as a means of connecting with the spirits of the deceased — can express an ethical stance. Joseph’s research aids us in tuning into that by revealing the dozos as they truly are rather than as they are figuratively perceived in a scholar’s imagination.”

Hellweg joined FSU’s faculty in 2003 and teaches courses on African studies, anthropology, and culture, including public health and religions in Africa, through the Department of Religion. His previous work encompasses three books focusing on religion, politics, and anthropology in Africa, alongside numerous publications in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, the journal Africa, the African Studies Review, Africa Today, Afrique contemporaine, the Journal of Africana Religions, the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, and various edited collections.

Hellweg serves as a deputy editor for the Journal of Religion in Africa and is a former president of the Mande Studies Association and co-editor-in-chief of its journal, Mande Studies.

“Returning to Dramane’s songs after publishing two articles on his work over the past six years has enabled me to enhance my approach to my entire body of work,” Hellweg commented. “My research challenges me to reorganize the way I think and feel, to broaden my viewpoints and better understand and empathize with my hosts in West Africa in order to exchange ideas and experiences with them so that we can enrich each other’s lives.”

For additional details regarding research conducted within FSU’s Department of Religion, visit religion.fsu.edu.

The article FSU religion scholar awarded prestigious fellowship to Yale University’s Institute of Sacred Music first appeared on Florida State University News.

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