Indigenous peoples express themselves in many musical and artistic forms. The sound and feel of their own music elicit sensibilities of home and familiarity. A fundamental aspect to Indigenous cultural and national restoration has been the flourishing of each nation or cultural group’s style of music and art. The colonial project worldwide has meant the death of Indigenous aesthetics and forms.
1996 saw the first World Christian Gathering on Indigenous People and the honouring of Indigenous cultural protocol, music, and artistic expression. Through eight global WCGIP gatherings the idea that Christian expression can authentically be celebrated in Indigenous ways, forms, and sounds broke the stranglehold of particularly Western Christian musical hegemony.
The early joy at this aesthetic liberation sparked a flurry of Indigenous cultural expression in Christian settings. This both surprised and offended many. Charges of syncretism and appropriation have been leveled at many engaged in restoring their cultural practices. This is the lively context for this Call for Proposals for the 2023 NAIITS Symposium, June 1-3, 2023, in Winnipeg, MB, Canada.
Ethnomusicology examines music in its social and cultural contexts to understand what music is and what it means to its practitioners and audiences. As a highly interdisciplinary work, people working in the field may have training in music, cultural anthropology, folklore, performance studies, dance, cultural studies, gender studies, race or ethnic studies, or other fields in the humanities and social sciences. Ethnomusicologists employ a global perspective on music (encompassing all geographic areas and types of music), understanding music as interrelated with its social and cultural contexts, and engage in ethnographic fieldwork (observing and participating in music-making and related activities) and in historical research.
Scholars and practitioners are encouraged to make proposals that highlight the diverse aesthetics (musical and otherwise) of Indigenous peoples in Christian and Indigenous settings. Joint submissions by related proposals may be made highlighting their common theme(s).
For the 2023 symposium, we invite people who desire to present a paper or “panel* on one of the themes identified above to submit an abstract and proposal for consideration. In the abstract, please outline the intention of the paper as well as the method(s) of research and presentation. Please also submit a bio and photo (or bios in the case of a panel) of the presenter(s) for use in promotion of the symposium.
We invite proposals for papers and presentations from scholars, scholar-practitioners, community practitioners, ministers, and other interested peoples that address themselves to the topic of this year’s symposium.
Of particular interest will be explorations of the interplay of Indigenous traditions of music and musical understanding that, among other possibilities, might