Description
Male-centered theology, a dearth of men in the pews, and an overrepresentation of queer males in music ministry: these elements coexist within the spaces of historically black Protestant churches, creating an atmosphere where simultaneous heteropatriarchy and "real" masculinity anxieties, archetypes of the "alpha-male preacher", the "effeminate choir director" and homo-antagonism, are all in play. The "flamboyant" male vocalists formed in the black Pentecostal music ministry tradition, through their vocal styles, gestures, and attire in church services, display a spectrum of gender performances - from "hyper-masculine" to feminine masculine - to their fellow worshippers, subtly protesting and critiquing the otherwise heteronormative theology in which the service is entrenched. And while the performativity of these men is characterized by cynics as "flaming," a similar musicalized "fire" - that of the Holy Spirit - moves through the bodies of Pentecostal worshippers, endowing them religio-culturally, physically, and spiritually like "fire shut up in their bones". Using the lenses of ethnomusicology, musicology, anthropology, men's studies, queer studies, and theology, Flaming?: The Peculiar Theo-Politics of Fire and Desire in Black Male Gospel Performance observes how male vocalists traverse their tightly-knit social networks and negotiate their identities through and beyond the worship experience. Author Alisha Jones ultimately addresses the ways in which gospel music and performance can afford African American men not only greater visibility, but also an affirmation of their fitness to minister through speech and song.
About the Author
Alisha Lola Jones, PhD is an assistant professor in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University (Bloomington). Dr. Jones is a council member of the Society for Ethnomusicology's (SEM), American Musicological Society (AMS) and co-chair of the Music and Religion Section of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). Dr. Jones' research interests include musical masculinities, global pop music, future studies, ecomusicology, music and theology, the music industry, musics of the African diaspora and emerging research on music and future foodways (gastromusicology) in conjunction with The Institute for the Future in Silicon Valley, CA.
Reviews
Jones navigates biblical passages, postmodern theory, womanism, and theological concepts in a way that is understandable to a non-religious studies readership. Readers interested in queer studies, Black LGBTQI faith communities, fans of the artists featured in the text, worship studies practitioners, and ministry groups who are currently looking for tools to use for social justice initiatives can all benefit from this groundbreaking text. * Brigitta Johnson, Journal of the American Musicological Society *
Flaming?: The Peculiar Theopolitics of Fire and Desire in Black Male Gospel Performance instigates a new level of scholarly engagement in a complicated web of intersecting spaces with exemplary methodology, superb clarity, and a rare ethic that is more pastoral than most scholars can achieve. * Emmett G. Price III, The Journal of Popular Music Studies *
How does one take the abundant, multi-directional creativity of twenty-first-century African-American gospel music and sift it through the filter of gender without diminishing its lived experiential truths? Alisha Jones does this with rare scholarly grace, riding the turbulent wave of emic and etic perspectives on worship practice and spirituality, as well as gender. The result is a major new study of multiple subgenres of contemporary African-American gospel music, but even more crucially, a searingly honest study that opens substantial theological ground. * Jennifer Rycenga, Yale Journal of Music & Religion *
Flaming? is a rich work by a scholar who offers major theoretical insight into African American and Africana religious expression and practice... [Jones's] work confirms and confounds expectations of what the religion scholar produces, and which areas of religious studies may benefit from her sites, methods, and analysis. * Vaughn A. Booker, Dartmouth College, American Religion *
Bold, disruptive, and erudite, Alisha Lola Jones' Flaming?: The Peculiar Theopolitics of Fire and Desire in Black Male Gospel Performance is a thoughtful and necessary intervention into the lives and representations of Black men.How we think and write about Black masculinity, the Black Church and Gospel Music will never be the same. * Mark Anthony Neal, author Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinity *
This remarkably rich, multisided ethnography of gospel music by ethnomusicologist Alisha Lola Jones is praise-worthy in every hill and valley of its analysis. Scholars interested in music from every discipline and denomination of study including ethnomusicology, sociology, American studies, queer studies, and religious and ethical studies, among others, will be aflame by the outstanding fusion of intersectionality, queer sexualities, and its inclusive gendered body and sonance from the Black men in the contemporary music ministry. * Kyra D. Gaunt, Ph.D, Ethnomusicologist, University at Albany, SUNY *
The book draws on six years of extensive ethnographic research, including interviews and participant observations of gospel performances. Jones's main argument is that Black male gospel singers use their voices to articulate a unique theopolitics that challenges dominant understandings of race, gender, and sexuality. She argues this theopolitics is grounded in music's ability to free self-expression. * Michelle Ann Patterson, Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham (UK), Reading Religion *
Awards
Winner of Winner, Ruth Stone Prize, Society for Ethnomusicology Winner, Music in American Culture Award, American Musicological Society Winner, Philip Brett Award, American Musicological Society Musicological Society.
Book Information
ISBN 9780190065423
Author Alisha Lola Jones
Format Paperback
Page Count 344
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 499g
Dimensions(mm) 155mm * 231mm * 23mm
About the Author
Alisha Lola Jones, PhD is an assistant professor in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University (Bloomington). Dr. Jones is a council member of the Society for Ethnomusicology's (SEM), American Musicological Society (AMS) and co-chair of the Music and Religion Section of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). Dr. Jones' research interests include musical masculinities, global pop music, future studies, ecomusicology, music and theology, the music industry, musics of the African diaspora and emerging research on music and future foodways (gastromusicology) in conjunction with The Institute for the Future in Silicon Valley, CA.
Reviews
Jones navigates biblical passages, postmodern theory, womanism, and theological concepts in a way that is understandable to a non-religious studies readership. Readers interested in queer studies, Black LGBTQI faith communities, fans of the artists featured in the text, worship studies practitioners, and ministry groups who are currently looking for tools to use for social justice initiatives can all benefit from this groundbreaking text. * Brigitta Johnson, Journal of the American Musicological Society *
Flaming?: The Peculiar Theopolitics of Fire and Desire in Black Male Gospel Performance instigates a new level of scholarly engagement in a complicated web of intersecting spaces with exemplary methodology, superb clarity, and a rare ethic that is more pastoral than most scholars can achieve. * Emmett G. Price III, The Journal of Popular Music Studies *
How does one take the abundant, multi-directional creativity of twenty-first-century African-American gospel music and sift it through the filter of gender without diminishing its lived experiential truths? Alisha Jones does this with rare scholarly grace, riding the turbulent wave of emic and etic perspectives on worship practice and spirituality, as well as gender. The result is a major new study of multiple subgenres of contemporary African-American gospel music, but even more crucially, a searingly honest study that opens substantial theological ground. * Jennifer Rycenga, Yale Journal of Music & Religion *
Flaming? is a rich work by a scholar who offers major theoretical insight into African American and Africana religious expression and practice... [Jones's] work confirms and confounds expectations of what the religion scholar produces, and which areas of religious studies may benefit from her sites, methods, and analysis. * Vaughn A. Booker, Dartmouth College, American Religion *
Bold, disruptive, and erudite, Alisha Lola Jones' Flaming?: The Peculiar Theopolitics of Fire and Desire in Black Male Gospel Performance is a thoughtful and necessary intervention into the lives and representations of Black men.How we think and write about Black masculinity, the Black Church and Gospel Music will never be the same. * Mark Anthony Neal, author Looking for Leroy: Illegible Black Masculinity *
This remarkably rich, multisided ethnography of gospel music by ethnomusicologist Alisha Lola Jones is praise-worthy in every hill and valley of its analysis. Scholars interested in music from every discipline and denomination of study including ethnomusicology, sociology, American studies, queer studies, and religious and ethical studies, among others, will be aflame by the outstanding fusion of intersectionality, queer sexualities, and its inclusive gendered body and sonance from the Black men in the contemporary music ministry. * Kyra D. Gaunt, Ph.D, Ethnomusicologist, University at Albany, SUNY *
The book draws on six years of extensive ethnographic research, including interviews and participant observations of gospel performances. Jones's main argument is that Black male gospel singers use their voices to articulate a unique theopolitics that challenges dominant understandings of race, gender, and sexuality. She argues this theopolitics is grounded in music's ability to free self-expression. * Michelle Ann Patterson, Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Birmingham (UK), Reading Religion *
Awards
Winner of Winner, Ruth Stone Prize, Society for Ethnomusicology Winner, Music in American Culture Award, American Musicological Society Winner, Philip Brett Award, American Musicological Society Musicological Society.
Book Information
ISBN 9780190065423
Author Alisha Lola Jones
Format Paperback
Page Count 344
Imprint Oxford University Press Inc
Publisher Oxford University Press Inc
Weight(grams) 499g
Dimensions(mm) 155mm * 231mm * 23mm
