Ritual Healing and Modernity in Western Kenya.05092010

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Ritual Healing and Modernity in Western Kenya.05092010 Dealing with ‘Remote Control’: Ritual Healing and Modernity in Western Kenya. By Ferdinand Okwaro Supervised by Professor William Sax Second Examiner: Prof. Hansjörg Dilger A PhD Thesis submitted to the Fakultät für Verhaltens- und Empirische Kulturwissenschaften, Ruprecht-Karls Universität Heidelberg. September 2010 ii Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge several persons and institutions that have enormously supported me for my PhD studies and in the preparations of this dissertation. I am grateful to the KAAD (Katholischer Akademiker Ausländer Dienst) who provided me with the scholarship to begin my PhD studies at Heidelberg University. I acknowledge the enormous support and encouragement from Frau Simone Saure, Dr. Thomas Scheidtweiler and Dr. Marko Kuhn. My Sincere gratitude go to Prof. William Sax who not only accepted to be my supervisor but assisted me to fit within the academic community at Heidelberg. This PhD has benefited greatly from his guidance and encouragement. I am also grateful to Prof. Sax for inviting me to join him as a Wissenschaftlischer Mitarbeiter in the prestigious SFB 619, Ritual Dynamik from where I received enormous academic and financial support for my studies and Fieldwork. I would like to especially acknowledge the support from Prof. Axel Michaels, Dr. Udo Simon, Dr. Alexander Heidle and Dr. Brigitte Merz within the SFB 619. Staff and Doctoral colleagues at the South Asia Institute have also been quite helpful to me in the course of my PhD studies and I wish to acknowledge their support. I am especially grateful to Dr. Gabrielle Alex and to the late Margarete Hanser-cole for their enormous support and encouragement in the course of my studies. I wish to mention Mr. Michael Knaf for his patience and support in the preparations of the various videos and photographs included in this dissertation. My sincere thanks go to the healers and their clients from Western Province in Kenya without whose permission and patience there would be no data for this dissertation. I would like to acknowledge the support of Prof. Wandibba Simiyu and Prof. Isaac Nyamongo of the University of Nairobi for their useful insights and comments in the course of my Fieldwork. I am aware that there are many other persons and institutions who supported me in one way or another in the course of my PhD but who I have not been able to mention. To all of you I say, thank you very much. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ iii Table of contents .................................................................................................................... iv Chapter 1 Ritual Healing and Modernity in Western Kenya . ............................................................ 1 1.1 Introduction and background to the study. ........................................................................ 1 1.2 Ritual healing and Modernity. ......................................................................................... 18 1.3 Ritual Healing and Traditional African Medicine. .......................................................... 31 1.4 Methodology. .................................................................................................................. 38 1.5 The Healers. ..................................................................................................................... 42 1.5.1 Mtumishi Patrick.Barasa. .............................................................................................. 43 1.5.2. Francis Shisia. ............................................................................................................. 48 Chapter 2 ‘You Are Accused!’ ............................................................................................................. 56 2.1. Introduction. ................................................................................................................... 56 2.2. Mtumishi Barasa and his X-ray Divination Method. .................................................... 57 2.2.1. Entry into the Ritual Space and Arena. ....................................................................... 57 2.2.2. Initial Consultations and Divination with MB. ........................................................... 60 2.2.3. Encountering MB: Consultation and Divination. ....................................................... 61 2.2.4 Beyond MB’s tentative divination: The X-ray or Courtroom. ..................................... 68 2.2.5. Constituting the ‘Court’ or X-ray Sessions. ................................................................ 70 2.2.6. The ‘Mention’. ............................................................................................................. 76 2.2.7. The ‘Hearing’. ............................................................................................................. 77 2.2.8. The judgement. ............................................................................................................ 78 2.2.9. The Outcome. .............................................................................................................. 81 2.3. MB’s divination and redress mechanism. ...................................................................... 82 2.4. The abandoned X-ray session. ........................................................................................ 93 2.5. Summary. ....................................................................................................................... 97 Chapter 3 Inside MB’ courtroom: Skepticism, Liminality, Drama and ‘War’ with the Devil . ... 102 3.1. Introduction. ................................................................................................................. 102 3.2. The Unresolved murder case. ....................................................................................... 107 3.3. Absconding wives and children. .................................................................................. 131 3.4. Commentary. ................................................................................................................ 166 3.5. MB and the Supernatural. ............................................................................................. 169 iv Chapter 4 Ritual Healing and the Variety of Clients . ...................................................................... 171 4.1. Disobedient sons, bewitching fathers and MB’s Intervention. ................................... 171 4.2. Land disputes, Witchcraft Accusations and Premeditated Murder. ............................. 179 4.3 Fluid connubiality, Child custody and envisioned benefits. ......................................... 196 4.4. Disputed Polygyny within Polygyny. ........................................................................... 206 4.5. Reuniting children with their parents and cornering crafty boyfriends. ....................... 215 4.6. Dishonest debtors. ........................................................................................................ 229 4.7. Conclusion. ................................................................................................................... 243 Chapter 5 Cleansing, Charms Retrieval and Ritual of Prophylaxis. .............................................. 250 5.1. Introduction. ................................................................................................................. 250 5.2. Kusafisha : the Cleansing ritual. .................................................................................... 251 5.3. Kusafisha: the case of Karama. .................................................................................... 252 5.5. ‘ Kuvuta ’: Ritual retrieval of charms. ............................................................................ 262 5.6. Anatomy of ‘ Kuvuta ’. ................................................................................................... 264 5.6.1. The Church Service. .................................................................................................. 266 5.6.2. Commentary. ............................................................................................................. 272 5.6.3. Collecting the charms. ............................................................................................... 272 5.6.4. The Identification of charms. .................................................................................... 274 5.6.5. Unpacking the charms. ............................................................................................. 275 5.7. Charms and the Ethnographic cases. ............................................................................ 281 5.7.1 The case of Jael. ......................................................................................................... 281 5.7.2. Case 2. Ben Oruko: Djinns, Erectile Dysfunction and a troubled Life. .................... 282 5.7.3. The case of Julius Oboya. .......................................................................................... 288 5.8. Commentary. ................................................................................................................ 291 5.9. Ritual prophylaxis. ....................................................................................................... 295 5.10. Conclusion. ................................................................................................................
Recommended publications
  • Race for Distinction a Social History of Private Members' Clubs in Colonial Kenya
    Race for Distinction A Social History of Private Members' Clubs in Colonial Kenya Dominique Connan Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Florence, 09 December 2015 European University Institute Department of History and Civilization Race for Distinction A Social History of Private Members' Clubs in Colonial Kenya Dominique Connan Thesis submitted for assessment with a view to obtaining the degree of Doctor of History and Civilization of the European University Institute Examining Board Prof. Stephen Smith (EUI Supervisor) Prof. Laura Lee Downs, EUI Prof. Romain Bertrand, Sciences Po Prof. Daniel Branch, Warwick University © Connan, 2015 No part of this thesis may be copied, reproduced or transmitted without prior permission of the author Race for Distinction. A Social History of Private Members’ Clubs in Colonial Kenya This thesis explores the institutional legacy of colonialism through the history of private members clubs in Kenya. In this colony, clubs developed as institutions which were crucial in assimilating Europeans to a race-based, ruling community. Funded and managed by a settler elite of British aristocrats and officers, clubs institutionalized European unity. This was fostered by the rivalry of Asian migrants, whose claims for respectability and equal rights accelerated settlers' cohesion along both political and cultural lines. Thanks to a very bureaucratic apparatus, clubs smoothed European class differences; they fostered a peculiar style of sociability, unique to the colonial context. Clubs were seen by Europeans as institutions which epitomized the virtues of British civilization against native customs. In the mid-1940s, a group of European liberals thought that opening a multi-racial club in Nairobi would expose educated Africans to the refinements of such sociability.
    [Show full text]
  • KENYA POPULATION SITUATION ANALYSIS Kenya Population Situation Analysis
    REPUBLIC OF KENYA KENYA POPULATION SITUATION ANALYSIS Kenya Population Situation Analysis Published by the Government of Kenya supported by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Kenya Country Oce National Council for Population and Development (NCPD) P.O. Box 48994 – 00100, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: +254-20-271-1600/01 Fax: +254-20-271-6058 Email: [email protected] Website: www.ncpd-ke.org United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Kenya Country Oce P.O. Box 30218 – 00100, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: +254-20-76244023/01/04 Fax: +254-20-7624422 Website: http://kenya.unfpa.org © NCPD July 2013 The views and opinions expressed in this report are those of the contributors. Any part of this document may be freely reviewed, quoted, reproduced or translated in full or in part, provided the source is acknowledged. It may not be sold or used inconjunction with commercial purposes or for prot. KENYA POPULATION SITUATION ANALYSIS JULY 2013 KENYA POPULATION SITUATION ANALYSIS i ii KENYA POPULATION SITUATION ANALYSIS TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................iv FOREWORD ..........................................................................................................................................ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..........................................................................................................................x EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................xi
    [Show full text]
  • Mental Health in Kenya: Not Yet Uhuru
    Disability and the Global South, 2014 OPEN ACCESS Vol.1, No. 2, 393-400 ISSN 2050-7364 www.dgsjournal.org VOICES FROM THE FIELD Mental Health in Kenya: Not yet Uhuru Mohamed Ibrahima aFaculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, BC, Canada. Corresponding Author – Email: [email protected] The year 2013 was a remarkable year in the history of Kenya, for the country celebrated its 50th birthday as a sovereign nation after gaining its independence, or uhuru in Swahili, from its colonial power, the United Kingdom in 1963. To commemorate this important milestone, the government in power rolled out lavish celebrations costing billions of Kenyan Shillings (Kangethe, 2013). The celebrations were even more pompous and nostalgic as the government of the day was headed by Uhuru Kenyatta, the son of independent hero and the founding father of the nation Jomo Kenyatta, who swept to power with his Jubilee Party coincidently in the same year (2013). But it is also in 2013 that the nation was exposed to some of the most disturbing headlines coming out of its mental health institutions, especially Mathari National Mental Health Hospital (Olingo, 2013). Headlines in Kenya’s daily papers and around the world on May 14th 2013 read ‘45 mental patients escape from Mathari Mental Hospital’ as these patients collectively breached the security wall and left the hospital grounds, protesting against ineffective treatments and poor living conditions. Sadly this is not uncommon in Kenya’s only national mental hospital - the largest in East Africa (Olingo, 2013). In 2011 the Cable News Network (CNN) reported an incident in the same hospital in which a patient died and the body remained in the shared sleeping dormitory for two days, only to be moved to the morgue after it came to the media’s attention (McKenzie, 2011).
    [Show full text]
  • Mini-Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of The
    A Multidisciplinary Analysis of Prevalence of Polygamous Marriages in the Gambia MINI-DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY IN MULTIDISCIPLINARY HUMAN RIGHTS LAW CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS, FACULTY OF LAW UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA SUBMITTED BY NUHA SAIDY STUDENT NO: 15265545 SUPERVISOR PROFESSOR M HANSUNGULE May 2017 1 © University of Pretoria Declaration I declare that this mini dissertation is my original work. Where other peoples work has been used either from print or internet, this has been properly acknowledged and referenced in accordance with the requirements of the department. I have not used work previously produced by another student or any other person to hand in as my own. I have not allowed, and will not allow, anyone to copy my work with the intention of passing it off as his or her own work. Signature of student…………………………… Date………………………… 2 © University of Pretoria ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Firstly, author would like to express loving gratitude to her finance, Margrieta Jansen and her husband, Meinte, who all inspired the author to continue with the study, motivated and stood by the author in times of distress. I would also like to thank Prof. Michelo Hansugule, my thesis advisor, for his patience, guidance, wisdom, support and understanding in the formulation and completion of this paper. His kindness and understanding allowed this research to be conducted from beginning to end. I am also grateful to following people: Cristiano D’orsi, Peter Mendy (human rights activist in the Gambia) and Sherrif Kumba Jobe (Barrister and Solicitor) for their diligently and carefully reviewed all the drafts and provided insightful comments to make this mini-dissertation more meaningful, coherent and of the highest possible quality.
    [Show full text]
  • HUMAN RESOURCES for HEALTH in KENYA: a STOCK and FLOW REVIEW January 2017
    HUMAN RESOURCES FOR HEALTH IN KENYA: A STOCK AND FLOW REVIEW January 2017 Abeba Taddese, Results for Development Institute (R4D) and Joel Lehmann, Infospective consolidated information for the private sector, BACKGROUND making it difficult to arrive at a complete picture Kenya Vision 2030, the country’s blueprint for long- of the workforce. As the national government term economic development, sets an ambitious begins to shift its role away from service delivery, in target of reducing health workforce shortages accordance with the devolution framework outlined by 60% in order to efficiently provide equitable, in the 2010 Constitution of Kenya, and county affordable, and quality health services to all citizens governments assume responsibility for public (Ministry of State for Planning 2007). The ability of sector HRH in a budget constrained environment, Kenya to achieve this target will depend, among there is a critical need for comprehensive health other factors, on effective management of the workforce information to aid in strategic planning health workforce including implementation of and decision-making. In particular, there is a need computerized staff tracking systems to monitor for more information on private sector HRH and the key indicators and address critical gaps in the role they can play in helping to ensure equitable production and deployment of health workers distribution of quality health care services. (Ministry of Health 2005). The Kenya Health Sector Strategic and Investment PURPOSE Plan (KHSSP) highlights the absence
    [Show full text]
  • Cleveland Friends Library Bulletin Winter 2017
    Cleveland Friends Library BULLETIN WINTER 2017 #2 Meeting at the Center: Living Love and Recent Additions to Reconciling One With Another the Library By Bruce Birchard (Pendle Hill #442) When asked to give the plenary address at the Friends General Conference Gathering in 2011 on the subject of From Peace to Freedom: Quaker reconciliation, Bruce Birchard had to reexamine his Rhetoric and the Birth of thinking about the roles of activist and reconciler and about God as a noun and a verb. This pamphlet is an American Antislavery, 1657-1761 expanded version of the talk in which he examines the By Brycchan Carey work of reconciliation on three levels: between his gay brother and traditional father, among three branches of In the first book to investigate in detail the origins of the Religious Society of Friends, and in two African antislavery thought and rhetoric within the Society of nations torn apart by genocidal conflict. Bruce Birchard Friends, Brycchan Carey has written a previous Pendle Hill Pamphlet, The Burning shows how the Quakers One-ness Binding Everything: A Spiritual Journey (PHP #332). turned against slavery in the first half of the eighteenth century and became the first OTHER LIBRARY organization to take a stand against the slave trade. RESOURCES Through meticulous Besides a collection of over 1,500 books, mostly devoted examination of the earliest to Quaker history, biography, theology, spirituality, peace writings of Friends, including and social activism, the Library also holds a number of journals and letters, Carey Quaker periodicals and pamphlets, among which are: reveals the society’s gradual transition from expressing Pendle Hill Pamphlets - The Quaker retreat at Pendle Hill doubt to adamant opposition.
    [Show full text]
  • Is Polygyny a Risk Factor in the Transmission of HIV in Sub- Saharan Africa? a Systematic Review
    Choto et al. Schistosomiasis and prostate cancer REVIEW ARTICLE Is polygyny a risk factor in the transmission of HIV in sub- Saharan Africa? A systematic review DOI: 10.29063/ajrh2020/v24i4.20 Martin M Gazimbi1, Monica A Magadi2*, Washington Onyango-Ouma3, Elizabeth Walker4, Rosemary B Cresswell5, Margaret Kaseje6 and Charles O Wafula6 Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute, University of Manchester, UK1; Department of Criminology and Sociology, University of Hull, UK2; Institute of Anthropology, Gender & African Studies, University of Nairobi, Kenya3; Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Hull4; Department of History, University of Warwick, UK5; Tropical Institute of Community Health and Development (TICH), Kenya6 *For Correspondence: Email: [email protected] Abstract Using a systematic literature review approach, this paper focused on the role of polygyny in the spread of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries. The widespread practice of polygyny is one feature of many SSA contexts that may be relevant to understanding patterns of HIV prevalence. Building on the conflicting studies on the importance of polygyny, this study investigated whether or not polygyny is a conduit for elevating HIV transmission in SSA countries. Findings showed that polygyny as an institution is perhaps less of a concern; rather the implication that men and women who are in polygamous relationships are also more likely to engage in extra-marital sex - raises secondary questions about their patterns of sexual networking and concurrent sexual partnerships. The findings however show that polygyny amplifies risky sexual behaviours such as sexual networking and concurrent sexual partnerships, all of which were found to be significantly associated with the risk of HIV transmission.
    [Show full text]
  • Kenya National E-Health Strategy 2011
    Republic of Kenya Kenya National e-Health Strategy 2011- 2017 Ministry Ministry of Medical of Public Services Health and Sanitation Investment Climate Advisory Service World Bank Group APRIL 2011 International Finance Corporation World Bank Group Multilateral Investment The World Bank Guarantee Agency Table of Contents FOREWORD 3 PREFACE 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 9 1. THE CASE FOR A NATIONAL e-HEALTH STRATEGY 11 Context 11 Background 16 What is e-Health? 17 2. STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK 18 Vision 18 Mission 18 General Objectives 18 Specific Objectives 18 Strategic Areas of Intervention: The five pillars 19 Principles 19 3. GOVERNANCE 21 Structure 21 Legal Issues 22 Regulatory Issues 22 4. IMPLEMENTATION 24 Framework 24 Timeline 25 5. MONITORING AND EVALUATION 27 High Level Monitoring and Evaluation Framework 27 APPENDIX A: POLICY FRAMEWORK 28 APPENDIX B: National E-Health Implementation Worskhop Report Executive Summary 34 APPENDIX C: Proposal for using e-Health to improve healthcare delivery 38 APPENDIX D: List of E-Health Strategy Contributors 43 APPENDIX E: List of Stakeholders at Feb 2011 Workshop 44 Kenya National eHealth Strategy 1 2 Ministry of Medical Services and Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation Foreword The development of the E-Health Strategy comes at an important time when the health sector is implementing far reaching reforms to achieve universal coverage. The E-Health Strategy is anchored on the achievement of Vision 2030, whose overall goal in health is to have an “equitable and affordable healthcare at the highest achievable standard” to her citizens. It is informed by the strategies and results emanating from the implementation of the Kenya Health Policy Framework, 1994-2010, the health sector strategic plans and the e-Government and Shared Services Strategies implemented through the e-Government Directorate and the ICT Board respectively.
    [Show full text]
  • The Cambridge Companion to Quakerism Edited by Stephen W
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13660-1 — The Cambridge Companion to Quakerism Edited by Stephen W. Angell , Pink Dandelion Frontmatter More Information THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO QUAKERISM The Cambridge Companion to Quakerism offers a fresh, up-to-date, and acces- sible introduction to Quakerism. Quakerism is founded on radical ideas and its history of constancy and change offers fascinating insights into the nature of nonconformity. In a series of eighteen essays written by an international team of scholars, and commissioned especially for this volume, the Companion covers the history of Quakerism from its origins to the present day. Employing a range of methodologies, it features sections on the History of Quaker Faith and Practice, Expressions of Quaker Faith, Regional Studies, and Emerging Spiritualities. It also examines all branches of Quakerism, including evangelical, liberal, and conservative, as well as non-theist Quakerism and convergent Quaker thought. This Companion will serve as an essential resource for all interested in Quaker thought and practice. Stephen W. Angell is Leatherock Professor of Quaker Studies at the Earlham School of Religion. He has published extensively in the areas of Quaker Studies and African-American Religious Studies. Pink Dandelion directs the work of the Centre for Research in Quaker Studies, Woodbrooke, and is Professor of Quaker Studies at the University of Birmingham and a Research Fellow at Lancaster University. He is the author and editor of a number of books, most recently (with Stephen Angell) Early Quakers and Their Theological Thought. © in this web service Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13660-1 — The Cambridge Companion to Quakerism Edited by Stephen W.
    [Show full text]
  • Quaker Thought and Today
    July 1992 Quaker Thought FRIENDS and Life OURNAL Today t:.. :Jif-.~ ..:.,· - ~·- - ~ . ) ,,.... ..:;;~ .., ~;;, , ·;.,-- ---,, ~ - - ::»' .-·....... .... .... ,,._:.. ,L . ~ .. ...... ... •• • > "<='·'·..... :.. ' .'":.:.·-..,..'1¢" . -.=:/,..:.;_. \ - . , -;:, .. TRANSITIONS • MONTEVERDE: A UTOPIA FORTY YEARS LATER • DISCOVERING THE CENTER OF QUAKERISM • Among Friends Editor-Manager Vinton Deming Associate Editor Melissa Kay Elliott From a Pacifist's Workbook Art Director Barbara Benton Advertising Manager Catherine Frost his is about what it means to be a pacifist, a position to which I Circulation and Promotion aspire and for which I don't always qualify. I present here three Nagendran Gulendran T scenes from my lifetime workbook: one scene of hope, one of ~pesettlng Services bewilderment, and one of anger-and realization. James Rice and Susan Jordhamo Secretarial Services Let's start with something idyllic and get to the hard stuff later. Edward Sargent Picture a balmy evening at an ashram in India. Thirty women from Bookkeeper different cultures and countries are seated outdoors at the feet of an James Neveil aged man who was once a disciple of Gandhi. The sky overhead is dark, Editorial Assistant Timothy Drake our circle dimly lit by a lamp next to his chair. As we offer our Volunteers questions, frustrations, and hopes for peacemaking, the gathering J ane Burgess, Anders Hansen , Emily Conlon becomes a worship-sharing group, punctuated by silence and some Bo•rd of M•n•gers 1989-1992: Jennie Allen (Secretary), Richard thoughtful tears. We are brown, yellow, black, pink, and freckled. We Eldridge (Assistant Clerk), Bernard Haviland, are. Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jew, and Universalist. And this is the first Eric Larsen, Marcia Mason, Janet Norton, David Samuel, Carolyn Sprogell, Wilmer time in my life I understand how deeply people all over the world want Tjossem, Alice Wiser peace, want oneness, want mutual respect.
    [Show full text]
  • Framing the Argument to Broaden Kenya's Limited Fiscal Space For
    DOI: 10.26717/BJSTR.2018.05.001262 Laila Abdul Latif. Biomed J Sci & Tech Res ISSN: 2574-1241 Review Article Open Access Framing the Argument to Broaden Kenya’s Limited Fiscal Space for Health Financing by Introducing Zakat Laila Abdul Latif* Doctoral Researcher at Cardiff Law School, University of Nairobi, Kenya Received: June 11, 2018; Published: June 20, 2018 *Corresponding author: Laila Abdul Latif, Doctoral Researcher at Cardiff Law School, University of Nairobi, Kenya, Email: Abstract Finance is, as it were, the stomach of the country, from which all other organs take their tone. One such organ is the public healthcare so,sector. health Healthcare spending financing must be limited.in Kenya At continues independence, to remain Kenya underfunded. targeted growth The as problem the primary of limited driver finances of development is not new, and itrelegated flows out spending of Kenya’s on colonial past and government’s arguments are clothed in clichés: the budget is not sufficient to meet all financing needs for the country and ofhealthcare the poor untilrural growth and suffers was stabilised.from a dearth This of political essential ideology medicines, framed and as unavailable African Socialism dispensaries that explains and health directing centres finances at local towardscommunity economic levels. Thegrowth health at the budget expense since of 2010 healthcare has also financing been regressing has resulted with in government a health sector placing that isreliance unevenly on distributeduser fees and to outfavour of pocket urban areaspayments at the for expense health needs to be covered. The current revenue streams are incapable of generating additional taxes without burdening the poor.
    [Show full text]
  • Society for Ethnomusicology 58Th Annual Meeting Abstracts
    Society for Ethnomusicology 58th Annual Meeting Abstracts Sounding Against Nuclear Power in Post-Tsunami Japan examine the musical and cultural features that mark their music as both Marie Abe, Boston University distinctively Jewish and distinctively American. I relate this relatively new development in Jewish liturgical music to women’s entry into the cantorate, In April 2011-one month after the devastating M9.0 earthquake, tsunami, and and I argue that the opening of this clergy position and the explosion of new subsequent crises at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in northeast Japan, music for the female voice represent the choice of American Jews to engage an antinuclear demonstration took over the streets of Tokyo. The crowd was fully with their dual civic and religious identity. unprecedented in its size and diversity; its 15 000 participants-a number unseen since 1968-ranged from mothers concerned with radiation risks on Walking to Tsuglagkhang: Exploring the Function of a Tibetan their children's health to environmentalists and unemployed youths. Leading Soundscape in Northern India the protest was the raucous sound of chindon-ya, a Japanese practice of Danielle Adomaitis, independent scholar musical advertisement. Dating back to the late 1800s, chindon-ya are musical troupes that publicize an employer's business by marching through the From the main square in McLeod Ganj (upper Dharamsala, H.P., India), streets. How did this erstwhile commercial practice become a sonic marker of Temple Road leads to one main attraction: Tsuglagkhang, the home the 14th a mass social movement in spring 2011? When the public display of merriment Dalai Lama.
    [Show full text]