Liberation, (De)Coloniality, and Liturgical Practices: Flipping the Song Bird

271 Pages·2020·3.299 MB·English

by  Becca Whitla

NEW APPROACHES TO RELIGION AND POWER
Liberation,
(De)Coloniality, and
Liturgical Practices
Flipping the Song Bird
Becca Whitla
New Approaches to Religion and Power
Series Editor
Joerg Rieger
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN, USA
While the relationship of religion and power is a perennial topic, it only
continues to grow in importance and scope in our increasingly globalized
and diverse world. Religion, on a global scale, has openly joined power
struggles, often in support of the powers that be. But at the same time,
religion has made major contributions to resistance movements. In this
context, current methods in the study of religion and theology have cre-
ated a deeper awareness of the issue of power: Critical theory, cultural
studies, postcolonial theory, subaltern studies, feminist theory, critical race
theory, and working class studies are contributing to a new quality of
study in the field. This series is a place for both studies of particular prob-
lems in the relation of religion and power as well as for more general
interpretations of this relation. It undergirds the growing recognition that
religion can no longer be studied without the study of power.
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14754
Becca Whitla
Liberation, (De)
Coloniality, and
Liturgical Practices
Flipping the Song Bird
Becca Whitla
Saint Andrew’s College
Saskatoon, SK, Canada
ISSN 2634-6079 ISSN 2634-6087 (electronic)
New Approaches to Religion and Power
ISBN 978-3-030-52635-1 ISBN 978-3-030-52636-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52636-8
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A
cknowledgements
The work in these pages is undergirded by the many communities in which
I have sung and taught over many years. I am particularly grateful to the
Church of the Holy Trinity in downtown Toronto, the Echo Women’s
Choir, the H.E.R.E. Local 75 Choir, and the Toronto School of Theology
Choir. The book itself is also the result of a rich engagement with many
people who have accompanied me in my scholarly journey. To each and
every one of you, too numerous to name, thank you!
My doctoral research was supported generously by the Social Sciences
and Humanities Research Council of Canada through a Joseph-Armand
Bombardier Canada Graduate Doctoral Scholarship and by an Ontario
Graduate Scholarship. This support, along with funding from Emmanuel
College, made possible my scholarly research and analysis. Thanks also to
the students, staff, and faculty at Emmanuel for journeying with me, espe-
cially Emmanuel Principal Mark Toulouse and Acting Principal Phyllis
Airhart for travel funds to present earlier versions of my research at the fol-
lowing: the Conference of the International Academy of Practical Theology
in Pretoria, South Africa (2015); the Christian Congregational Music
Conference in Rippon, UK (2015); and the “Reforming Imagination”
Conference of the United Reformed Church, in Birmingham, UK (2017),
which was also supported by a grant from the Oxford Fund of The United
Church of Canada. I am also grateful to the Seminario Evangelico de
Teología de Matanzas for supporting two study retreats in 2017 and 2018
during which I wrote outlines for two chapters and my conclusion.
Many thanks to the members of my doctoral committee, Pamela
Couture, Lim Swee Hong, and William Kervin. They warmly
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
accompanied me from the beginning, critically engaging with my work,
gently and firmly pushing me where I needed to be pushed. In my work
as his research fellow, Lim Swee Hong cheerfully encouraged me by offer-
ing me opportunities to teach, to travel, to present my ideas in academic
and community settings, and by having countless conversations over cof-
fee. As my doctoral supervisor—and as my friend—William Kervin went
above and beyond, guiding me every step along the way and emboldening
me with his careful and clear advice which I usually followed. It was an
honour to reflect on some of the principles of this work with him as we
together midwifed the worship life of the Emmanuel College community.
As I prepared the manuscript for publishing, I was nurtured by my
community of colleagues and students at St. Andrew’s College in
Saskatoon. I am grateful to William Whitla and Carol Zollinger for edito-
rial assistance in the final stages of preparing the manuscript, along with
series editor Joerg Rieger and the team at Palgrave Macmillan, including
the anonymous reviewers who carefully engaged my work. Thanks also to
Keith Nunn, Ian Sowton, Mark MacDonald, and Susan Beaver for reading
sections of the manuscript.
The scholarship in this book was deeply enriched through my involve-
ment with the Canadian Decolonial Theology Project: my heartfelt thanks
go to these colleague-friends—Néstor Medina, Michel Andraos, and Lee
Cormie. Our work together deeply challenged me and sharpened my use
of post and decolonial theory. In particular, I would like to pay tribute to
Néstor Medina who introduced me to Latin American decolonial thinking
as my professor before I began my doctoral studies. His scholarship, ongo-
ing mentoring, and critical engagement with my work have provided a
rich source for reflection throughout these pages.
Finally, I would like to thank my family for their patience, love, and
support. To my brother and his boys, Mike, Jake, and Kyle Whitla, I love
you. I carry the memory of your beloved wife and mother, Lisa Haberman,
in my heart. To adopted family members Karen Haberman, Marty
Crowder, and Dick Moore; to friends Natalie Celuch and Loreto Freire;
to my children’s godfather, Peter Turner; to my parents, Nancy and Bill
Whitla, thank you for meals, walks, laughter, and encouraging words. To
cousin Richard Norman, thanks for being a fellow traveller. Deepest
thanks go to my children Emma Whitla and David Gasser and their father,
Alan Gasser. Thank you for believing in me and in my work. Thank you
for loving me. Thank you for being part of my syncopated liberating praxis
of life!
Praise for Liberation, (De)Coloniality, and
Liturgical Practices
“‘Singing in a decolonial key’ is the project here, with invigorating and demanding
insights about how to achieve it. The cheeky sub-title—‘Flipping the Song Bird’—
indicates the defiant energy at play as autobiographical narrative (in its work of
‘reconfiguring [the] self’) and liberation and contextual theologies (especially
from Canadian perspectives) agitate against ‘musicoloniality.’ Sound/music,
words, and performances all come in for scrutiny, as both questions arise of post-
colonial theological strategies and proposals emerge towards a more liberating
liturgical theology. The result is a very vivid picture of singing as ‘a living out of
God’s image in us.’ Highly recommended!”
—Stephen Burns, Professor of Liturgical & Practical Theology,
Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity, Australia
“Becca Whitla carefully and critically undertakes multiple discourses while ground-
ing them in this project of liberating congregational singing. The arguments are
well thought- out, finely crafted, deeply researched, and carefully nuanced. This
book presents various examples to analyze, interrogate, and critique liberationist,
decolonial, and postcolonial perspectives. It also presents a specific and practical
place for these interrogations to occur, so the work of this thesis does not remain
for the elite or the ivory tower of academia. I highly recommend this manuscript
for anyone looking at religion and culture, liturgical studies, as well as liberationist,
decolonial, and postcolonial thought-in-action.”
—Neomi De Anda, Associate Professor,
Department of Religious Studies, University of Dayton, Ohio, USA
and President, Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States
“In creative defiance of Cartesian assumptions, Becca Whitla flips the equation and
declares We sing, therefore we are! Singing embodies community empowerment,
not an individual cognitive state of being. Singing has a long history of subversion
and, by implication, the potential for liberation. Whitla is not a casual observer of
the liberating potential of singing, but an instigator of communal singing as a way
of empowering those on the margins of privilege. Her passionate rhetoric—
“Flipping the Song Bird”—is matched by a creative, provocative methodol-
ogy exposing deep-seated colonial privilege as a façade for patriarchal power
manifest in human oppression.”
—C. Michael Hawn, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Church
Music, Southern Methodist University, USA
“Here is the most rigorously sustained engagement in liberationist, postcolonial,
and decolonial theory and theology yet in practical and liturgical theology. A host
of hermeneutical tools that have previously tended to remain theoretical and
abstract (e.g., border thinking, intermixture, hybridity, mimicry) come alive in
Becca Whitla’s hands and are elegantly employed to original and empowering
results. What starts out about congregational singing becomes nothing short of a
hope-filled and Spirt-inspired call to conversion beyond Eurocentrism in music
and liturgy, theology and faith.”
—William S. Kervin, Associate Professor of Public Worship,
Emmanuel College of Victoria University at the University of Toronto, Canada
“Drawing on a variety of social science methodologies, Becca Whitla examines the
practice of congregational song music-making in a variety of contexts, particularly
through a decolonial approach. This is an emerging area of study and the approach
is ground-breaking. I foresee this work as generating vigorous discussions that will
help further research work in the field for years to come.”
—Lim Swee Hong (林瑞峰), Deer Park Associate Professor of Sacred Music and
Director, Master of Sacred Music program at Emmanuel College of Victoria
University at the University of Toronto, Canada
“Whitla’s book moves us into a profound reflection on the ways in which incarna-
tional song guides us into a path that makes the invisible visible. She has obviously
spent time in careful exploration and deep meditation on the symbiotic relation-
ship between traditional liturgical music structures and the so-called anti-structure
of other particular styles and genres. Whitla’s book will be of tremendous value to
academia, the ministerial community, as well as the larger community of faith alike.”
—Cynthia A. Wilson, Executive Director of Worship Resources
for Discipleship Ministries and Director of Liturgical Resources,
United Methodist ChurchGeneral Agency, USA
c
ontents
1 Introduction: Flipping the Song Bird 1
Methodology and Outline 6
Postscript: Flipping the (Song) Bird 13
Bibliography 14
2 (Trans)forming Praxis: Initial Rubrics for Liberating
Song Leading 17
Introduction 17
Historical Context: The Blossoming of Congregational Singing 18
Toward Rubrics for Liberating Song Leading 21
Context and Accountability 22
Interrogating Power in Song Leading: Epistemic Humility
and Kenosis 26
Messing Up 29
Toward Liberating Accompaniment 30
Bibliography 32
3 Untangling the Threads of Our Stories 35
Introduction 35
Part One: Singing My Story 37
The Broader Context: Coloniality in Canada 47
Multiculturalism as a Linchpin of Coloniality in Canada 51
Part Two: Making Sense of Our Stories 53
Unbleaching 55
ix