Music and Identity in Twenty-First-Century Monasticism
Product details
- ISBN 9781032441795
- Weight: 340g
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 06 May 2025
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
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Twenty-first-century monastic communities represent unique social environments in which music plays an integral part. This book examines the role of music in Catholic, Anglican/Episcopalian and neo-monastic communities in Britain and North America, engaging closely with communities of practice to provide a penetrating insight into the role of music in self-care and as a vector for identity construction on both individual and community levels. The author explores the essential role of music in community dynamics, the rationale for using instruments, the implications of both chant-based and freestyle composition, gender-related differences in musical activity, the role of dance (‘music made visible’) in community life, the commodification of monastic music, the ‘Singing Nun’ phenomenon and the role of music in established and emerging neo-monastic communities. The result is a comprehensive and compelling study of the agency of music in the construction and expression of personal and community identity.
Amanda J. Haste is an Anglo-French musician, musicologist, linguist and independent researcher, whose published work focuses on identity construction through music and language. She teaches in the music department of Aix-Marseille University, France, and until 2022 also served as president of the international non-profit National Coalition of Independent Scholars.
