Universal Consciousness: Black Music, Hindu Thought, and Decolonizing the Spirit
Journal of Transnational American Studies September 5, 2026 DOI: 10.5070/t8.68319 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Historical analysis Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Neo-Vedanta philosophy influenced Black jazz musicians in the 1960s and 1970s, especially Alice Coltrane, within a wider decolonial turn. Contends that Coltrane's work did not separate spiritual from musical practice, and that Black artists and political figures rethought religion and spirituality as radical liberation. |
Abstract
This article examines the impact of Neo-Vedanta philosophy on Black jazz musicians in the 1960s and 1970s, with a special focus on Alice Coltrane. By using what I have come to understand as a decolonial analysis, I situate the artists whose works I discuss in the context of a wider decolonial turn in the late twentieth century. In addition to tracing the transmission of Neo-Vedanta philosophy, guru-sisya (guru-disciple) relationships, and ideas about universal religion into the US, this article also traces how various Black artistic and political figures rethought religion and spirituality in terms of radical liberation. Amid this convergence of new religious movements and Black activism, artists like Alice Coltrane became more open to Eastern spiritual transformation, and her own work ultimately made no distinction between spirtual and music practice. While this is a historical essay, I bookend my historical analysis with personal reflections on how I have received this lineage in my own artistic practice.