Sensuous Wanderings: African and Afro-Diasporic Resonances, Intersections, and Flows.

Zangbeto Ceremony, Ouidah (2023). Photo by Reginald Eldridge, Jr.

Sensuous Wanderings is an intro level (1000-1100) project-encounter with African and Afro-Diasporic onto-epistemological resonances, intersections, and flows. It was developed by Reginald Eldridge, Jr, in partial fulfillment of a Fulbright-Hays grant in Benin with the State University of New York at Purchase. The course is divided into five modules of study:

Module 1: Ear
Module 2: Eye
Module 3: Tongue
Module 4: Texture
Module 5: Inflection

This course resolves with a final research project on a topic of choice. An excerpt of Module 1 is provided below.

Module 1: Ear

This curricular module invites exploration of works that appeal to sonic/auditory concerns and inquiries that take sound as a starting point. Among the explorations in this module are musical compositions, lingual connections, and scholarship that focuses on how sound shapes the experiences and philosophies of Afro-Diasporic peoples. Of particular significance in this module will be the exploration of sound and sonic considerations as essential to African and Afro-Diasporic ritual.

Texts:
Eshun, Kodwo. More Brilliant Than the Sun: Adventures in Sonic Fiction. Quartet Books, 1999.

Floyd, Jr., Samuel A. The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States. Oxford UP, 1996.
Makhathini, Nduduzo. “Breaking into Sound: Dis/Locating Ntu Cosmology and Improvisation in South African Jazz.” PhD. dissertation, Stellenbosch University, March 2023.

Montgomery, Eric James, Timothy R. Landry, Christian N. Vannier(eds). Spirit Service: Vodún and Vodou in the African Atlantic World. Indiana University Press, 2022.

Somé, Malidoma Patrice. The Healing Wisdom of Africa: Finding Life Purpose through Nature, Ritual, and Community. Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1999.

Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Cornell University Press, 1969.

Sound:
Exuma, “Dambala.” Exuma, the Obeah Man. 1970
John Coltrane, “The Drum Thing.” Crescent. 1954.

Nduduzo Makhathini, “Senze’ Nina.” Sense’ Nina (single). 2022.
Nina Simone, “Dambala.” It Is Finished: Expanded Edition. 1974.

Video:
Georgia Sea Island Singers (1963); "Buzzard Lope"
Clip from Bill Traylor: Chasing Ghosts (2021)

Sample Assignment
“All three [scholars Turner, Somé, Wilson] seem to agree upon a ritual process as that which moves from one paradigm of knowing to another. I read these transformative aspects of ritual as overlaps between the physical and the spirit worlds. In other words, rituals could be thought of as a (meta)physical expression of African cosmology towards a harmonious co-existence of all things.” (Makhathini, 2023; my emphases)

From a live performance of a song from the following list, write a journal response to the following inquiry:

In what ways does the song enact aspects of ritual as described in Turner, Somé and/or Makhathini? What intentions do you speculate are enacted through the specific sonic and lyrical registers of the song/performance? Between what two states might the song mediate?

Songs:

John Coltrane, "Alabama"or "Psalm"
Quincy Jones, "Maybe God Is Trying to Tell You Something"
Michael Jackson, "Earth Song"
Alice Coltrane, "Journey in Satchidananda (Live)"

Kendrick Lamar, "i (Live on SNL)"