THE ROLE OF CHRISTIAN MUSIC USE IN IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION AMONG BLACK SOUTH AFRICANS AND DIASPORIC NIGERIANS AND CONGOLESE IN DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA Rhoda Titilopemi Inioluwa ABIOLU Student number: 214580202 Ethical clearance number: HSS/0911/017D Supervised by: Professor Ruth TEER-TOMASELLI UNESCO Chair of Communications This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Culture, Communication, and Media Studies (CCMS), School of Applied Human Sciences, College of Humanities, University of KwaZulu-Natal. November 2019. PLAGIARISM DECLARATION I, Rhoda Titilopemi Inioluwa ABIOLU (214580202), declare that: The research reported in this paper, except where otherwise indicated: 1. has not been submitted for any degree or examination at any other university 2. does not contain unreferenced and unacknowledged data, pictures, graphs or other information 3. does not contain other persons’ writing, unless specifically acknowledged as being sourced from other researchers. Where other written sources have been quoted: i) their words have been re-written but retains the meaning and is referenced. ii) and where their exact words have been used, their writings have been placed in quotation marks and referenced. 4. I also declare that this paper does not contain unreferenced and unacknowledged texts, graphics or tables. All these have been duly referenced in the paper and in the reference section. Rhoda T.I. ABIOLU 21/11/2019 Candidate Signature Date Prof R. TEER-TOMASELLI 21/11/2019 Supervisor Signature Date i DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to the One and Almighty God, the Alpha and Omega, my Saviour and Lord. You have chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and You has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty (1 Corinthians 1:27). ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Who am I that You are so mindful of? All I can say is thank You Lord God. You are my Strength and Hope. Jesus be glorified. Dear Prof Ruth, thank you for the help, guide and assistance throughout my journey in CCMS. I am grateful for the confidence you have in me. Thank you for the believe and encouragement, and all you do. Dear Daddy and Mommy Abiolu, you are blessings from the Most-High God. For the love, sacrifice, encouragement, prayers, and much more, I SAY A BIG THANK YOU. God will reward you immensely for all you do. Modúpẹ́ o. I love you deeply. Elédùmarè Áá san yín lẹ́san ire. And my dear Brothers Abel, EniOluwa and Philip, Sisters Olamide and EwaOluwa, and the Mokoenas, God bless you all. You are loved. My cuties Oluwajimi, Oluwatamilore, Chidera, ObalOluwa and Caleb, you are blessed and loved. My dear Grandma, Uncle Biodun, Daddy BBB and Aunty Funke, Aunty K and Iya Balo, and my cousins, for your continuous encouragement, support and prayers, I say thank you. I thank Mama Afuye, Mama Falana and daddy and mommy Adejuwon for the constant encouragement, support and prayers. I also thank the Patricks. I bless God for you all. My FTF (friends turned family), my darling sis Janes, Baba, my wonderful boys Enpe, Ekofu and Onra and our beautiful flower girl Ofunni, my uncle Sam, my beautiful Rosy, my super boys Roro, Remmy and lovely girls Rere and Riri, Dr Mathew, Sister K, Inioluwanimi, Oluwatolaaaaaam, pastor Glo Glo, iya Buu and my beautiful mama and Buu, sister G, sissy Ife, Mama Shioke, Drs T, Mike and Temi, the Afolabis, Sis Ay and family, Iya Koms, Dr Sam and Oluwayinka, iya Iyebiye, my room/flatmates and my circle of influence home and abroad, I thank God for you all. AnuOluwa, bobo naaaaaa, the cherry on top of my SA waka, I thank God for you darling moi. He has made all things beautiful in His time and blessed me beyond what my mind could conceive. I am excited for what He is set to do in our lives. God bless you so much babes. You are loved deeply. iii I thank the entire staff and students of CCMS. I have learnt so much from our encounters. I thank Dr Musara and my former classmate, Zama Dlamini for their significant contributions towards the success of this thesis. I am also grateful for the support and prayers from my spiritual family, the GPC. I thank the prayer and choir units. I also thank the GPC Congolese community for their assistance and warm welcome/hosting. I thank the ECC and the WCID communities as well. I cannot but thank the organisers of the Bergen Summer Research School [BSRS], Norway, and the African Studies Association in Germany [VAD e.V.] for the life-changing opportunities. God will raise helpers for you all in different capacities. I thank you all for your contributions towards the success of this journey. iv ABSTRACT The sole aim of this study is to scrutinise the role of religious content in the formation and sustenance of cultural, religious and diasporic identities among home-based and diasporic peoples, and how such content can be used to foster a sense of ‘self’, an appreciation of ‘otherness’ with minimal differentiation, interpersonal relationships, and intercultural competence. Other prevailing factors are mediated influences and the role of the media in educating people about their ever-changing roles as ‘self’ and the ‘other’, and in the maintenance of their own identities and links to ‘home’. Christian music is identified as the phenomenon which was studied among South Africans, and diasporic Nigerians and Congolese who reside in Durban, South Africa, as the target population. This determined how Christian music serves as a unifying factor [particularly in terms of shared religious orientation], and laid emphasis on the ubiquitous and pervasive nature of music. Accordingly, the need for the study is premised on the concern to have a deeper knowledge of how social constructs such as culture, religion and the media interact to define and influence human lives; the results being those of identity formation and [re]construction. This is tied to the use, representation and consumption of Christian music among the previously identified diverse and unique groups of home-based and diasporic peoples, who have different cultural identities, yet still share the same religious affiliation. It is therefore a study that seeks to provide a connection to similarities and uniqueness in identity formation in both cultural and religious contexts. The purpose of this is to link such salient factors that stimulate sociocultural and religious interactions and show how these are visible within the South African context. The major considerations are due to the concept of identity and cultural erosion, in the face of globalisation and human movement, and the consequences of co-presences, which have led to xenophobic attacks and reprisals between South Africans and foreigners. The bottom-line highlights how religion, culture and the media are agents of identity maintenance and cordial interactions among these people. The guiding theories are Paul du Gay, et al.’s (1997, 2013) ‘circuit of culture’, complemented by Stuart Hall’s discourses ([1973] 1980; 1990, 1993) on identity and the encoding and decoding model. The methodology is premised on qualitative phenomenological and ethnographic designs. At the end of this study, it was concluded that religious encounters and musical content, especially Christian music, became avenues for the maintenance of their various identities [religious, cultural and diasporic]. These avenues were also facilitators of cordial interactivity between the ‘self’ and the ‘other’. They were entrenched as social and educative, as well as cultural and religious tools. Language use [as verbal, visual and objectified] was a determining factor in the areas of identity maintenance, i.e., conserving self-essence, and adaptation, i.e., accommodation of other identities. Media portrayals and the role of socio-religious organisations like the Church, in the preservation of people’s identities and fostering cordiality among different people, are not relegated. Summarily, the research projects a diverse perspective to media, cultural and religious studies in terms of musical cultures among home-based and diasporic groups. This is because a triangular connection to media, religious and cultural studies is further entrenched. This project also v highlights a more interdisciplinary approach to these areas of focus. It showcases how the phenomenon of religious musical content, can be a facilitator and means of engagement, to preserve identities that cut across different areas of people’s lives. It equally showcases how it can be used to initiate and sustain viable communication, and to forestall clashes between different groups and communities of people. Keywords: Culture, Religion, Media, Christian music, Identity construction. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM DECLARATION................................................................................................. i DEDICATION............................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... xi LIST OF FIGURES