Hymns and Constructions of Race: Mobility, Agency, De/Coloniality (Congregational Music Studies Series)

Hymns and Constructions of Race: Mobility, Agency, De/Coloniality examines how the hymn, historically and today, has reinforced, negotiated, and resisted constructions of race. It brings together diverse perspectives from musicology, ethnomusicology, theology, anthropology, performance studies, history, and postcolonial scholarship to show how the hymn has perpetuated, generated, and challenged racial identities.The global range of contributors cover a variety of historical and geographical contexts, with case studies from China and Brazil to Suriname and South Africa. They explore the hymn as a product of imperialism and settler colonialism and as a vehicle for sonic oppression and/or resistance, within and beyond congregational settings. The volume contends that the lived tradition of hymn-singing, with its connections to centuries of global Christian mission, is a particularly apt lens for examining both local and global negotiations of race, power, and identity. It will be relevant for scholars interested in religion, music, race, and postcolonialism. Cover Half Title Series Title Copyright Contents List of Figures List of Tables Acknowledgments Notes on Contributors 1 Introduction: Constructing Hymns and Race 2 Tonic Sol-fa Abroad: Missionaries, Hymn-Singing, and Indigenous Communities 3 Global Mobility: Hymns and Worship Practices in the Miao (Hmong) Ethnic Group of Southwest China 4 Complicating the Analysis of Chinese Christian Hymns: White Racial Frameworks in the Works of Emily Kathleen Hooper (胡秉道 Hu Bingdao, 1878–1974) 5 “Wash the Ethiop White”: Whiteness and Salvation in the Hymns of Charles Wesley 6 Colonialism, Anglican Ritualism, and Xhosa Hymnody: The Training, Career, and Contribution of Reverend Daniel Malgas 7 We Become What We Sing: Hymnody as Control 8 Co-Writing a Hymn for Liberation 9 Performing Race and Place through Congregational Singing: Perspectives from South Brazil 10 Translation and Endurance: Cherokee Hymnody and the Acculturation of Christianity 11 Sounding Coloniality/Voicing Resistance 12 Decolonizing a Hymn through Its Mobility: A Case of Re-Location and Altered Musical Aesthetics 13 Hymns as Heritage: Decolonizing Javanese Music and Culture in Paramaribo, Suriname 14 Reconstructing Hymn Canons through International Partnership: The Nigerian Christian Songs Project as Cultural Archive, Pedagogical Tool, and Decolonial Resource Afterword: Singing Down the Dividing Walls Index Hymns and Constructions of Mobility, Agency, De/Coloniality examines how the hymn, historically and today, has reinforced, negotiated, and resisted constructions of race. It brings together diverse perspectives from musicology, ethnomusicology, theology, anthropology, performance studies, history, and postcolonial scholarship to show how the hymn has perpetuated, generated, and challenged racial identities. The global range of contributors cover a variety of historical and geographical contexts, with case studies from China and Brazil to Suriname and South Africa. They explore the hymn as a product of imperialism and settler colonialism and as a vehicle for sonic oppression and/or resistance, within and beyond congregational settings. The volume contends that the lived tradition of hymn-singing, with its connections to centuries of global Christian mission, is a particularly apt lens for examining both local and global negotiations of race, power, and identity. It will be relevant for scholars interested in religion, music, race, and postcolonialism.