Research Catalog

Title

Music, health, and power : singing the unsayable in the Gambia / Bonnie B. McConnell.

Author

McConnell, Bonnie B.

Publication

• Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge, 2020.
• ©2020

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xiii, 164 pages : illustrations, maps; 24 cm.

Summary

Music, Health, and Power offers an original, on-the-ground analysis of the role that music plays in promoting healthy communities. The book brings the reader inside the world of kanyeleng fertility societies and HIV/AIDS support groups, where women use music to leverage stigma and marginality into new forms of power. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted over a period of 13 years (2006-2019), the author articulates a strengths-based framework for research on music and health that pushes beyond deficit narratives to emphasize the creativity and resilience of Gambian performers in responding to health disparities. Examples from Ebola prevention programs, the former President's AIDS "cure," and a legendary underwear theft demonstrate the high stakes of women's performances as they are caught up in broader contestations over political and medical authority. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of ethnomusicology, medical anthropology, and African studies. The accompanying audio examples provide access to the women's performances discussed in the text (from cover)

Series Statement

SOAS studies in music series

Uniform Title

SOAS studies in music.

Subjects

• Music > Social aspects
• Women's music
• Music > Social aspects > Gambia
• Women's music > Gambia
• Medical anthropology > Gambia
• Gambia
• Ethnomusicology > Gambia
• Stigma (Social psychology) > Gambia

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-160) and index.

Contents

Introduction. Music, health, and power -- Women's power. Gender, Islam, and health performance in The Gambia -- Singing Teriyaa. Life, death, and HIV-stigma -- "Let's insult the soldier's mother". Performative license and communication -- When money dances. Songs of health and wealth -- Stealing power. Embodiment and participation in kanyeleng performance -- "Touch the drum and they will come". Music, tradition, and communication -- Beginnings and endings.

Call Number

Sc E 22-1134

ISBN

• 0367312727
• 9780367312725

OCLC

1105956948

Author

McConnell, Bonnie B., author.

Title

Music, health, and power : singing the unsayable in the Gambia / Bonnie B. McConnell.

Publisher

Abingdon, Oxon : Routledge, 2020.

Copyright Date

©2020

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Series

SOAS studies in music series

SOAS studies in music.

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 147-160) and index.

Research Call Number

Sc E 22-1134

JME 20-183