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Belonging: The Music and Lives of Black Zimbabwean Jews

Shragg, Lior D
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1585649059631573

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Interdisciplinary Arts (Fine Arts).
This dissertation examines the role music plays in performances of religious devotion and the construction of social identity of Lemba and Rusape Jewish communities in Zimbabwe. A study of the musical practices of Lemba Jews reveals a combination of local music styles with Hebrew text to create a new genre of Jewish liturgical music. In contrast, composers of the Rusape Jewish community create new music for worship in the vernacular dialect while similarly incorporating local music practices. This document offers ethnographic reflections and data on the ongoing efforts of both Lemba and Rusape Jewish communities as they continue their efforts to develop new Jewish music as observed during fieldwork conducted in the cities of Harare, Mapakomere, Masvingo and Rusape in 2019. Black Zimbabwean Jewish identity is a component of a complex constellation of characteristics for both Lemba and Rusape Jews and this research explores how members of these communities use this new music to instigate a rejuvenated sense of identity and build bridges to other Jews internationally. There is a sense of great pride and legacy amongst these communities and a desire to establish a connection to the outside Jewish world. Music is an important vessel in which they choose to perform their identity. I ask: how do these Jewish communities use music in the post-Mugabe era to express religious devotion, interact with neighboring ethnic groups, and establish different identities in Zimbabwe’s complex political landscape.
Garrett Field, Dr. (Committee Chair)
Andrea Frohne, Dr. (Committee Member)
Richard Wetzel, Dr. (Committee Member)
Jeffrey Summit, Rabbi (Committee Member)
175 p.
African Studies; Fine Arts; Judaic Studies; Music
diaspora; identity; Zimbabwe; Jews; Ethnomusicology; Africa; Judaism

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Shragg, L. D. (2020). Belonging: The Music and Lives of Black Zimbabwean Jews [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1585649059631573

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Shragg, Lior. Belonging: The Music and Lives of Black Zimbabwean Jews. 2020. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1585649059631573.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Shragg, Lior. "Belonging: The Music and Lives of Black Zimbabwean Jews." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1585649059631573

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1585649059631573
786
© 2020, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.