Hymnody of change: A study of classical African orature in a social justice context

<p>Communal music has been and is still a prominent method of cultural expression for generations, in particular for the generations of displaced Africans on American soil. The roots of this music, an amalgam of African tradition and a forced Christianity, have remained a constant companion to African American cultural response to inequity. Thus, it is imperative that communication tools be developed that allow analysis of this music, collections of communally sung works that communicate the destruction and continual reconstruction of a colonized culture. The purpose of this study is to explicate communally sung hymns, those sung in a social justice context, as an example of classical African orature. As such, these hymns utilize various aesthetics of nommo, the productive word. These aesthetics are used to move toward maat, realized as communal and spiritual harmony. In order to advance understanding of this process, I introduce binding and location as rhetorical moves that speak to past and future rhetorical legacy.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication, Media and Theatre Arts

Year dc:date.available

2018

Author dc:creator

• Royal, Keith L.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Keon Pettiway, Ph.D.
• Ray Quiel, Ph.D.
• Ana Monteiro-Ferreira, Ph.D.

• Afrocentric
• Hymns
• Legacy
• Nommo
• Orature
• Social Justice
• African American Studies
• Music
• Rhetoric

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/946

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-2329