Tamil Folk Music as Dalit Liberation Theology [Hardcover]

Zoe C. Sherinian shows how Christian Dalits (once known as untouchables or outcastes) in southern India have employed music to protest social oppression and as a vehicle of liberation. Her focus is on the life and theology of a charismatic composer and leader, Reverend J. Theophilus Appavoo, who drew on Tamil folk music to create a distinctive form of indigenized Christian music. Appavoo composed songs and liturgy infused with messages linking Christian theology with critiques of social inequality. Sherinian traces the history of Christian music in India and introduces us to a community of Tamil Dalit Christian villagers, seminary students, activists, and theologians who have been inspired by Appavoos music to work for social justice. Multimedia components available online include video and audio recordings of musical performances, religious services, and community rituals.

Tamil Folk Music as Liberation Theology helps us to understand what is at stake for people making a transformative choice to reclaim local folk music in a particular community and liturgical setting. It powerfully and eloquently traces a complicated history of caste oppression, missionary activity, the internalization of hegemonic attitudes, and loss of identity.

Zoe C. Sherinian is Associate Professor and Chair of Ethnomusicology at the University of Oklahoma. A percussionist and filmmaker, her ethnographic film on the changing status of Dalit drummers is titled This is a Music: Reclaiming an Untouchable Drum.

Zoe SheriniansTamil Folk Music as Dalit Liberation Theologyis a landmark study of how music can combat oppression. The book deserves to be read by all ethnomusicologists interested in social justice movements, applied ethnomusicology, South Asian musics, and global Christianity.

Sherinians book offers a compelling account of Tamil Folk music (complete with transcriptions and links to online recordings); its social locations, and broader theological potentialal(