Liberation, (De)Coloniality, and Liturgical Practices: Flipping the Song Bird (New Approaches to Religion and Power)

Becca Whitla uses liberationist, postcolonial, and decolonial methods to analyze hymns, congregational singing, and song-leading practices. By way of this analysis, Whitla shows how congregational singing can embody liberating liturgy and theology. Through a series of interwoven theoretical lenses and methodological tools—including coloniality, mimicry, epistemic disobedience, hybridity, border thinking, and ethnomusicology—the author examines and interrogates a range of factors in the musical sphere. From beloved Victorian hymns to infectious Latin American __coritos__; congregational singing to radical union choirs; Christian complicity in coloniality to Indigenous ways of knowing, the dynamic praxis-based stance of the book is rooted in the author’s lived experiences and commitments and engages with detailed examples from sacred music and both liturgical and practical theology. Drawing on what she calls a syncopated liberating praxis, the author affirms the intercultural promise of communities of faith as a __locus theologicus__ and a place for the in-breaking of the Holy Spirit. Acknowledgements 6 Praise for Liberation, (De)Coloniality, and Liturgical Practices 8 Contents 10 List of Figures 13 Chapter 1: Introduction: Flipping the Song Bird 14 Methodology and Outline 19 Postscript: Flipping the (Song) Bird 26 Bibliography 27 Chapter 2: (Trans)forming Praxis: Initial Rubrics for Liberating Song Leading 29 Introduction 29 Historical Context: The Blossoming of Congregational Singing 30 Toward Rubrics for Liberating Song Leading 33 Context and Accountability 34 Interrogating Power in Song Leading: Epistemic Humility and Kenosis 38 Messing Up 41 Toward Liberating Accompaniment 42 Bibliography 44 Chapter 3: Untangling the Threads of Our Stories 47 Introduction 47 Part One: Singing My Story 49 The Broader Context: Coloniality in Canada 59 Multiculturalism as a Linchpin of Coloniality in Canada 63 Part Two: Making Sense of Our Stories 65 Unbleaching 67 Unsuturing 69 Mestizaje-Intermixture 71 From Being to Becoming 74 Part Three: Church and Coloniality 75 Part Four: Congregational Singing Is a Risky Liberating Praxis 82 Bibliography 86 Chapter 4: The Empire Sings 91 Introduction 91 The Rise of Hymnody 94 Setting the Historical Context 94 The Rise of Hymnody in Britain 98 Confronting Empire: Hymnic Coloniality 106 Unforgetting: Imperial/Colonial Theology in Mission Hymns 106 Unsanitizing: The Legacy Continues 109 Unbleaching: The Pervasiveness of Hymnic Coloniality 116 Unmasking: Musical Coloniality in Hymns 121 Musicoloniality 124 Choralism: An Example of Musicoloniality 129 Bibliography 133 Chapter 5: Singing Back Against Empire (or the Subaltern Sings Back) 138 Introduction 138 Beyond Subjectivity 139 Mimicry and Epistemic Disobedience in “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains” 142 Beyond Hybridity 149 “O store Gud”: The Modulations of “How Great Thou Art” 153 Drawing the Threads Together 160 Another Way of Knowing/Singing: El Espíritu de Dios 163 Singing in a Decolonial Key 169 Bibliography 171 Chapter 6: Border Singing 174 Introduction 174 The Christmas Story 174 Christmas Eve: Las Posadas 184 The Midwife’s Carol 192 Border(ed) Lives, Border Liturgy 199 Bibliography 202 Chapter 7: Liberating the Song Bird 204 Introduction 204 Ain’t You Got a Right to the Tree of Life! 205 Historical Context 206 Beyond “Border Thinking” 207 Border Singing 213 Turning Toward the Spirit, the Subversive Holy Breath of Life 214 Liberating Liturgical Theology 218 Juan Luis Segundo: The Church Reimagined 219 Liberating Liturgy: The Holy Spirit Enlivens and Liberates the Work of the People 223 The Concrete 224 Community 227 Transformative Liberating Accompaniment 228 Risks and Challenges 230 Bibliography 235 Chapter 8: A Call to Conversion 239 Appendix: Versions of “O Store Gud” 244 Bibliography 249 Index 266 Becca Whitla uses liberationist, postcolonial, and decolonial methods to analyze hymns, congregational singing, and song-leading practices. By way of this analysis, Whitla shows how congregational singing can embody liberating liturgy and theology. Through a series of interwoven theoretical lenses and methodological tools--including coloniality, mimicry, epistemic disobedience, hybridity, border thinking, and ethnomusicology--the author examines and interrogates a range of factors in the musical sphere. From beloved Victorian hymns to infectious Latin American coritos; congregational singing to radical union choirs; Christian complicity in coloniality to Indigenous ways of knowing, the dynamic praxis-based stance of the book is rooted in the author's lived experiences and commitments and engages with detailed examples from sacred music and both liturgical and practical theology. Drawing on what she calls a syncopated liberating praxis, the author affirms the intercultural promise of communities of faith as a locus theologicus and a place for the in-breaking of the Holy Spirit. Becca Whitla is Professor of Pastoral Studies at St. Andrew's College in Saskatoon, where she teaches worship and liturgy, preaching, and religious education. A brilliant and incisive discussion of postcolonial/post colonial music in the context congregations singing as it applies in liturgical practices. That said, it goes out to multicultural recognition in the process of music and song in the outside world. It is a brilliant blend of Paolo Freire, Guy Carawan, PetevSeeger, Karl Marx, many others, and centuries of religious history. The focus is on making singing a locus theological for each person as they gather and removing control from hierarchy and corporate control and make singing and music making a liberating and spiritual experience free from the chains of modern colonial control. It has a Canadian base. It is easily used for any context and style of music. Great collection of analogous guidelines in the context of personal experience. A seminal work in liberation, colonialist, anti-racist, only-cultural, singing and music. A must read for both liturgical purposes, and for inclusive music in general. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Introduction: Flipping the Song Bird (Becca Whitla)....Pages 1-15 (Trans)forming Praxis: Initial Rubrics for Liberating Song Leading (Becca Whitla)....Pages 17-34 Untangling the Threads of Our Stories (Becca Whitla)....Pages 35-78 The Empire Sings (Becca Whitla)....Pages 79-125 Singing Back Against Empire (or the Subaltern Sings Back) (Becca Whitla)....Pages 127-162 Border Singing (Becca Whitla)....Pages 163-192 Liberating the Song Bird (Becca Whitla)....Pages 193-227 A Call to Conversion (Becca Whitla)....Pages 229-233 Back Matter ....Pages 235-264