Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. viii, 335 pages : illustrations; 25 cm

Summary

1. ""Flaming?: The Peculiar Theo-Politics of Fire and Desire in Black Male Gospel Performance examines the rituals and social interactions of African American men who use gospel music making as a means of worshiping God and performing gendered identities. Prompted by the popular term "flaming(g)" that is used to identify over-the-top or peculiar performance of identity, Flaming? argues that these men wield and interweave a variety of multivalent aural-visual cues, including vocal style, gesture, attire, and homiletics, to position themselves along a spectrum of gender identities. These multi-sensory enactments empower artists (i.e., "peculiar people") to demonstrate modes of "competence" that affirm their fitness to minister through speech and song. Through a progression of transcongregational case studies, Flaming? observes the ways in which African American men traverse tightly knit social networks to negotiate their identities through and beyond the worship experience. Coded and "read" as either "hyper-masculine," queer, or sexually ambiguous, peculiar gospel performances are often a locus of nuanced protest, facilitating a critique of heteronormative theology, while affording African American men opportunities for greater visibility and access leadership. Same-sex relationships among men constitute an open secret that is carefully guarded by those who elect to remain silent in the face of traditional theology, but musically performed by those compelled to worship "in Spirit and in truth." This book thus examines the performative mechanisms through which black men acquire an aura of sexual ambiguity, exhibit an ostensible absence of sexual preference, and thereby gain social and ritual prestige in gospel music circles. ""--

Subject

1. Gospel music
2. Gospel music > History and criticism
3. Sex role in music
4. African American male singers
5. African Americans > Sexual behavior
6. Criticism, interpretation, etc

Genre/Form

1. Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Contents

1. Setting the atmosphere : an introduction -- "I am delivert!" : The Pentecostal altar call and vocalizing black men's testimonies of deliverance from homosexuality -- "Men don't sing soprano" : Black countertenors and gendered sound in the sermonic selection -- Pole dancing for Jesus : Pentecostal religious pluralism and the bodily performance of sexual ambiguity in liturgical dance -- "Peculiar 'til I D.I.E." : War cries, undignified praise in gospel go-go music -- "Wired" : (De)coding Tonéx's unapologetic queer body theology -- Ritualizing the unspoken : Memory, separation, and the rhetorical art of silence -- Church realness : The performance of discretionary devices and heteropresentation in the house of God -- "Preaching to the choir and being played" : An altar call.

Call number

1. Sc E 21-156

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-307) and index.

Author

1. Jones, Alisha Lola, author.

Title

1. Flaming? : the peculiar theopolitics of fire and desire in black male gospel performance / Alisha Lola Jones.

Publisher

1. New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2020]

Copyright date

1. ©2020

Type of content

1. text

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. volume

Bibliography

1. Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-307) and index.

Local subject

1. Black author.

Other form:

1. Online version: Jones, Alisha Lola, Flaming? New York : Oxford University Press, 2020. 9780190065447 (DLC) 2019044916

LCCN

1. 2019044915

ISBN

1. 9780190065416 hardcover
2. 0190065419 hardcover
3. 9780190065423 paperback
4. 0190065427 paperback
5. 9780190065447 electronic publication
6. 9780190065454 electronic book

Research call number

1. Sc E 21-156
2. JNE 20-131