“From This One Song Alone, I Consider Him to be a Holy Man”: Ecstatic Religion, Musical Affect, and the Global Consumer
Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion November 22, 2006 DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-5906.2006.00323.x (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Citations | 38 |
| Key points | Argues that studying ecstatic religious music practices offers sociological insights, particularly regarding globalization, commodification, and the appeal of these genres to nonbelievers, who may find meaning or experience in recontextualized forms. |
Abstract
This essay considers why studying ecstatic religious parctices that include music as an integral component of trance and possession performance might be productive for sociologists, praticularly in the context of globalization. As spirit possession practices become connected with global markets, and as specific musical genres associated with trance are reinterpreted within secular frameworks (Indo‐Pakistani Sufi qawwali singing and Afro‐Cuban Ocha batá drumming, for example), ecstatic religious contexts, and decreasing emphasis is placed on the culturally specific locales from which these performance practices emerge. Why are self‐identified nonbelievers interested in consuming musical genres that have their origins in ecstatic religious practices? What do these commodified and recontextualized ecstatic religious practices provide the people who consume them?