Occult Presences Through the Musical Performances of Sun Ra, David Bowie, Magma, and Janelle Monáe
Let All the Children Boogie: Occult Presences through the Musical Performances of Sun Ra, David Bowie, Magma, and Janelle Monáe By William Ramsey B.A., Northern Arizona University, 2014 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of the Arts Department of Religious Studies 2017 i This thesis entitled: Let All the Children Boogie: Occult Presences through the Musical Performances of Sun Ra, David Bowie, Magma, and Janelle Monáe written by William Ramsey has been approved for the Department of Religious Studies (Dr. Deborah Whitehead) (Dr. David Shneer) (Dr. Jeremy Smith) Date The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. ii Ramsey, William Christopher (M.A., Religious Studies) Let All the Children Boogie: Occult Presences through the Musical Performances of Sun Ra, David Bowie, Magma, and Janelle Monáe Thesis Directed by Professor Deborah Whitehead This thesis project is an interdisciplinary study of four popular musicians: Sun Ra, David Bowie, Christian Vander, and Janelle Monáe. These four performing artists work within science fiction and religion through the stories, music, and fantastic personae they create, making space for religious thought and experience. These artists make an occult world present not just through their lyrics, but through their music, their personae, and their bodies, all wrapped up in an “occultural boogie.” This thesis traces a lineage shared between Western esoteric traditions, metaphysical religions, and science fiction, placing the four artists in that same line of “occulture.” This project is also concerned with how each of the four artists make the paranormal present in the world.
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