ETHN 211 - Music and Ritual

Next Offered: 201402
Semester Offered: Second Semester
FC
Credits: 4 Credit
Attribute: CNDP/DDHU

 

This course examines music as an integral part of ritual practice around the world, taking into account radically diverse conceptions of the divine, including both the major religions - Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity - and indigenous cosmologies where natural elements or ancestors are imbued with spiritual power (e.g. in the Andes, Native America, Aboriginal Australia, Africa, and Central Asia). While exploring the place of music within the major religions, we will pay close attention to the ways their interpretation differ according to locale (e.g. Islam in Indonesia versus Egypt) or are mapped onto existing practices (e.g. Santeria in Cuba or candomble in Brazil that are hybrids of Catholicism and West African spirit worship). In each case, we will explore the contexts for performance (e.g. fertility rites in the spring), the ways in which music is used to enhance, indeed ensure, the very efficacy of the ritual, and conflicts that arise in their practice in the world today (e.g. government repression, use of technology).

 
Enrollment Limit: 30
Instructor: I. MacMillen
Consent of the Instructor Required: Yes
Prerequisites & Notes
One course in ethnomusicology.