Collective identity and racial thought in São Paulo’s black gospel music scene

In an effort to push the literature on music and collective identity to examine how the cognitive dimension of collective identity gets constructed, this paper shifts away from the customary focus on lyrics, toward an analysis of the everyday discursive contexts of music scenes, such as rehearsals, informal commentary and training seminars. By examining such contexts within the black gospel music scene in São Paulo, Brazil, the paper discovers that a complex ideology of racial identity, infused with ideas drawn from North American history and the Bible, circulates within the scene. This ideology contributes, in turn, to the formation of a strong racial identity among black gospel artists. Evidence for the strength of both the ideology and identity include the relatively weaker sense of black identity among gospel rappers; and the translation of black gospel artists’ racial identity in collective action and mobilization. This is politically significant given the otherwise low level of racial consciousness or mobilization among Brazil’s Protestants

Religion, social movements, and zone of crisis in Latin America

This repository item contains a single issue of Issues in Brief, a series of policy briefs that began publishing in 2008 by the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future.Based on the outcomes of a three-year project led by Boston University’s Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs (CURA), this Issues in Brief explores the connections between religion and social movements in Latin America, especially in areas where efforts have been made to expand citizens’ rights and institute reforms to improve social justice. The authors use examples presented by collaborating scholars at the project’s conferences to show how religion is, in fact, an intrinsic part of everyday life and has played an important role in both revolutions and evolutions toward democracy in the region. They argue that any assessment of where Latin America has been and where it is headed must understand and consider “the multiple roles played by religion as citizens fight for new rights and reshape democratic politics.

Conceptualizing Civil Society: The New Left’s Reorganization of Civil Society in Latin America

As leftist and center-leftist regimes come to power in Latin America the space for civil society is changing. Civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with international affiliations regularly find themselves outside the nationalist or regionalist arena that leftist administrations create. This paper explores the extent of the change caused by the New Left on civil society space in Latin America. Exploring the complexities of defining civil society, the paper settles upon the post-Marxian definition as a benchmark for measuring recent changes. The role of civil society is conceptualized through the Neoliberal and New Left frameworks, before specific case studies are outlined. A comparative case study of the historical progression of leftist modifications on Nicaraguan and Venezuelan civil society space provides a context for the results of 6 semi-structured interviews. The compelling testimonies of NGO and CSO representatives on the recent changes to civil society space in Venezuela and Nicaragua, allow for a tangible understanding of New Left repercussions on civil society actors. An analysis follows of the New Left’s deviation from the post-Marxian definition of civil society, as well as the extent of the reorganization of civil society space. Finally, the sustainability of the New Left policies in Venezuela and Nicaragua will be discussed along with the outlook for international civil society organizations on a global scale

Boston University Symphonic Winds, February 6, 1983

This is the concert program of the Boston University Symphonic Winds performance on Monday, February 6, 1984 at 8:00 p.m., at the Concert Hall, 855 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were Country Band March by Charles Ives, Traversinfonie by Richard Wagner, Concertino for Trombone (arr. by M. Walker) by Lars-Erik Larsson, Threnos by Theodore Antoniou, and The Pines of Rome (trans. by B. Duker) by Ottorino Respighi. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

Liberation Theology and Catholic Social Teaching

The affinities as well as the distinguishing features of two accounts of the socio-poliitcal dimensions of the gospel are here examined, in the light of the apparent marginalisation of the 'social question' in the post-conciliar Church. How can these two discourses re-engage with contemporary debate? The concern of philosophers such as Giorgio Agamben with the notion of a 'state of exception', and the idea of a 'realistic utopia' being propounded by post-Rawlsian theorists of economic and social justice, offer two opportunities for this

Dying without Dignity: Homeless Deaths in Los Angeles County: 2000 - 2007

This report is an investigation into 2,815 homeless deaths in Los Angeles County between January, 2000 and May, 2007, based on statistics provided by the Los Angeles County Coroner's office. When a homeless person dies they do not often get the same sense of dying with dignity as a housed person. December 21st has been commemorated as the National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day by the National Coalition for the Homeless in partnership with the National Health Care for the Homeless Council for communities around the nation to commemorate the lives of homeless people that passed away.Local advocates and service providers celebrate the lives of thousands of homeless people in hundreds of cities around the nation with candlelight vigils, a reading of names, and other acts to remember the lives of those lost while living on the streets of our nation.This report is an investigation into homeless deaths in Los Angeles County between January, 2000 and May, 2007, based on statistics from the Los Angeles County Coroner's office. It is our hope that the homeless people who make up the statistics in this report did not die in vain and that policy makers move to implement the recommendations of this report in an effort to provide the dignity they did not find while living on the streets of our community. Equally important, to implement these strategies to help prevent the untimely deaths of homeless people in the future

Religion and the Politics of Ethnic Identity in Bahia, Brazil (Book Review)

Stephen Selka investigates the role of religion in encouraging, or discouraging, the formation of black identity in Bahia, the Brazilian state that is regarded as the center of Afro-Brazilian culture, religion, and politics. As he strives to understand and theorize the crucial, but complex, relationship between religion and what he terms Afro-Brazilian identity, Selka describes how adherents of the three primary religious trends in Bahia (Catholicism, Candomble, and evangelical Protestantism) view the effects of their religious institutions on the construction of that identity. This question is addressed through selected quotes from leaders and members of the respective religious groups (and subgroups), interspersed with questions leading to a set of theoretical considerations and reflections on religious practice, technologies of the self, identity, ethnicity and race, and social mobilization

Island Gospel: Pentecostal Music and Identity in Jamaica and the United States

A book review is presented for Melvin L. Butler, Island Gospel: Pentecostal Music and Identity in Jamaica and the United States (Urbana, Chicago, and Springfield: University of Illinois Press, 2019)