Ritual as strategic action: the social logic of musical silence in Canadian Islam (original) (raw)
Sounds, Bodies and Power: Politics and Poetics of Religious Sounds
National University of Singapore, Asia Research Institute, Feb 27-28, 2020
Whether through mantras, Quran recitation contests, or Christian congregational singing, sounds, bodies and texts depend on each other for the continued vitality of the sacred and the way it is experienced in Asia. However, texts have been given utmost priority in the field of Religious Studies for a series of historical and cultural reasons that have been summarized as a "scriptist bias" and "ocularcentrism". Ranking vision over other senses in Western cultures, at the expense of the auditory and other sensory realms, has produced a kind of "disciplinary deafness" in the study of religions. This conference aims to consider the importance of "a sonic turn" to bring forth understudied connections between bodies, sounds and media in the private and public life of religions in Asia. It welcomes toolbox approaches from multidisciplinary scholars who combine methods and perspectives from religious studies, history, ethnomusicology, anthropology, media studies, folklore and performance studies. Bodies of texts, which represent our common acceptation of the term corpus/corpora, will give way to a specific attention on "bodies of songs" (Hess 2015), "bodies of sounds" (Dodds and Cook 2013), the "skinscapes" of religious experience (Plate 2012), the sensory and embodied dimensions of the sacred (Csordas 1994, Meyer 2011), and the "entextualization" of the body through sacred sounds (Flood 2005). The role of sounds and embodied practices will also emerge as encompassing these intimate and affective dimensions, and reflecting broader questions on mediatization, and on the relationship between sounds, religions and power. In fact, the use of sound shapes the ways in which space is produced and perceived. Hence religious soundscapes, especially in urban and multicultural spaces, have been discussed as enveloping and claiming territorial authority, establishing boundaries, or awakening inter-religious tensions. An emerging literature on congregational singing as establishing community and the sense of belonging, and recent scholarship on the relationship between religious soundscapes and place-making are helpful in articulating the theoretical liaison between sound, people, places and identities. However, these conceptual frameworks, frequently based on urban, predominantly Christian, and North Atlantic contexts, often neglect intimate discourses, real experience and lived understandings of sound-and what sacred sound does to the people who are creating, listening, producing, and interpreting it. The focus on the sonic aspect of religion cannot be separated from movement and touch, as fundamental dimensions of the experience of the religious body. Sound, and the senses of the praying/playing/listening/dancing body, appear as an interconnected and fundamental point to start an innovative discussion on the politics and the aesthetics of religious experience. The ways in which performed and sounded religious experiences are produced, transmitted, reproduced, commodified and received is also inseparable from the technical and mediated ways in which these communicative acts take place. Therefore our discussion is necessarily embedded in the understanding of the relationship between religion and media. Sound and the sonic ritual body are articulated and understood in different religious mediatizations, as cultural expressions communicated by oral, textual, musical, danced, digital, and other vehicles. Whether conveyed by live performance, graphemes, televangelism, or social media, the sensorial field of religious chanting, preaching, mourning, ritual dancing, or singing, becomes a site for broader social negotiations, sectarian contestations and trans-territorial identity formations, ultimately unsettling and multiplying the discussion on religion, the senses and the media in Asia. Our discussion is interested in the various intersections between religious sounds, bodies, mediascapes and the reflection of power relationships, in order to understand contemporary issues that comprise but are not limited to: Community-making and place-making processes; Sound in ritual performance and the heritage discourse; Multicultural soundscapes in the public sphere; Sacred music, migration and diasporas; Sonic contestations and the production of inequalities; Religious sounds in new and changing mediascapes.
SUGGESTIONS OF MOVEMENT: Voice and Sonic Atmospheres in Mauritian Muslim Devotional Practices
Cultural Anthropology, 2018
In this essay I make a case for an analytic of atmospheres as a way to understand the seemingly ineffable yet powerful effects of vocal sound on listeners in an Islamic setting. Focusing on the recitation of devotional poetry in honor of the Prophet Muhammad among Mauritian Muslims, I seek to bring together neo-phenomenological approaches to sonic atmospheres with recent anthropological research on the voice that seeks to overcome the opposition of discursive signification and sonic materiality. Detailed examination of sonic events shows that sonic atmospheres enact suggestions of movement that go beyond the metaphorical. Arguing against theories of sonic affect that take the sonic to be an asignifying material flux, I seek to demonstrate that vocal sound’s meaningfulness is internal to the processual nature of its material forms.
Sound and music play a vital role in many religious and spiritual practices around the world. However, they have not been studied considerably in the field of religion or in related disciplines thus far. This article begins to bridge this gap by drawing a preliminary cartography of the research field and proposing a transdisciplinary methodological basis for further studies. It includes a survey of the state of research and firmly locates the field within the secular study of religion rather than within phenomenological, theological or religious approaches. The key concepts “sound,” “music” and “religion” are introduced; and the manner in which common perceptions of these concepts have prevented us from noting some of the most interesting phenomena, especially in contemporary religiosity, is discussed. Finally, a spectrum of potential research perspectives that could be covered by future studies is proposed.
Sound, Music, and the Study of Religion
Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion
The study of religion has been greatly enhanced in recent years by the new emphasis on lived religion and materiality (Meyer et al. 2011). It also impels us to consider how the aesthetic factors into the interpretation of religious worlds (Meyer 2009). Moreover, the shift in academic focus from beliefs and texts to practice and the sensorium has generated stimulating new questions about religious communication and mediation (Morgan 2009). Surprisingly, music and extramusical sound receive scant attention despite the significance of sound and hearing in our lives. Scholars of religion have been slow to engage the multidisciplinary boom in sound studies of the last few years (Keeling & Kun 2011). 2 In what follows I discuss some of the historical biases and methodological challenges related to studying religion from an acoustic and auditory perspective. I review the work of some authors who have overcome what Isaac Weiner calls our 'disciplinary deafness' (2009, 897) and made the 'sound of the sacred' a centerpiece of their research and publications. 3 In the course of the essay, I identify some of the topics that are arguably integral to the development of a more sonically aware religious studies, as well as areas that await more study. The undervaluation of sound in the academic study of religion is linked to the privileging of sight over sound in Western modernity, whereby the aural as a spiritual sense is diminished (Chidester 1992; Schmidt 2002). Furthermore, listening is held to be the most passive of the senses, and 1 My work on sound and music in religion has been greatly aided by a course I taught on this topic (spring 2011) and by the assistance of Jeremy Spiers. I also acknowledge the contributions of the 'Sound In/As Religion' symposium' that I organized at the 2010 World Congress of the International Association for the History of Religions (IAHR) in Toronto. 2 On this topic, see the excellent blog, Sounding Out! <www.soundstudiesblog.com>. 3 Cf. Morgan 2012 on 'the look of the sacred'.
The Sonic Qur'an: Uncovering an Ontology through an Aural Perspective
2016
In this paper, I will look at the Qur’an, the holy scripture of Islam, as an object that was formed through the sound of the human voice. By doing so, this paper aims to situate Islam in sound culture as a culture of sound in and of itself and highlight the inherent sonority of the practices that constitute the Islamic faith. To do this is to highlight the particular significance of the sound of the human voice and the utterance in Islamic belief, and then expound its role in the original inception of Islam, the growth of its community and the sustaining of the religion. Consequently, this paper will not consider examples of the role that the sound of music played Islamic communities, such as Sufism, although it is undoubtedly related. Instead, this paper will suggest that prior to any implementation into the practices of the cultures that have adopted the religion, Islam itself was organized by sound, specifically, through the sound of the human voice. Henceforth, this paper proposes a consideration of Islam through the perspective of the sonic with the premise that a sonic understanding of Islam may reveal an ontology that is otherwise concealed. By limiting the focus of this paper on the utterance, this paper intends to highlight the oral and aural nature of the historical events that make up the fabric of Islam, which is embodied quintessentially in its holy scripture, the Qur’an.
Experiencing God in Sound: Music and Meaning in Uyghur Sufism
2018
Living in Xinjiang or Chinese Central Asia, the Uyghur people have developed a unique set of sounded Sufi practices in a largely isolated environment, although they have been historically connected to Sufism in other parts of Asia. The spectrum of such sounded Sufi practices range from the more basic vocalisation styles in dhikr recitation to the more musically sophisticated form of muqam/mäshräp, with their different functions in religious lives. Based on rare ethnographic data from a year’s fieldwork in the region, this study tries to provide in-depth analysis of meanings of these sounds and their related behaviour, especially the relationship between sounds and altered state of consciousness in the Uyghur Sufi case. Using musical, textual, and experiential analyses, this dissertation considers the meanings of Uyghur Sufi sounded practices and altered state of consciousness, drawing on previous research in ethnomusicology and approaches to Sufism. The study also looks at the mediation and transmission of Uyghur sounded Sufi practices in the context of the transnational flows, which connect this isolated region to wider trends, and ideological conflicts that are exacerbated by the development of media technologies. Finally, the dissertation analyses the political situation that is affecting Uyghur Sufi practices, especially through the author’s personal experience of organising tours for Uyghur Sufi musicians, which provides insights into the contemporary political context of these practices, as well as providing a reflexive approach to ethnomusicological practice when working with a musical culture that faces suppression.
Rutgers-Camden, 2022
As the lyrics to the traditional nineteenth century gospel hymn state, one of the goals of many magical and religious practices is to experience ‘a closer walk with Thee,’ coming into the presence of the holy in both figurative and arguably literal terms. One of the many ways to improve this likelihood of achieving the deep and immersive presence of the holy is through the careful use of various sonic elements. To this point, an exploration of physical worship spaces themselves, a review of the means of creating sounds within worship, and a study of the related uses of sonic technology during worship rituals can help to elucidate just how these sonic elements compare in their utilization between ancient magic and more contemporary magical and religious applications. It is my contention that the overall goal of creating an immersive environment for worship and ritual practice has remained a constant from Ancient Greek and Roman times through to the present, while the technology available to achieve this goal (both in the creation of an immersive physical space and in the use of engaging and relatable musical instruments and instrumental styles) has continually progressed. Put another way, the methods in which we might best utilize various sonic elements to achieve the most numinous experience—the ‘how’— have certainly changed over time, but the underlying ‘why’ and the core goal of using sound to increase this sense of a presence with the holy has remained largely unchanged.