Troubling the Water: Black Masculinity, Gender Performance and The Politics of Memory in Gospel Music Öffentlichkeit
Dickerson, Justin (Spring 2025)
Abstract
This study aims to explore the number of ways Black male gospel artists navigate within Gospel music as subjects that are gendered male, and the ways in which they choose to delegate or deconstruct ideas of black masculinity within sacred space. Drawing from Judith Butler’s theory of gender performativity, E. Patrick Johnson’s quare theory, and Alisha Lola Jones’s work on gospel performance and the role of deliverance narratives, this study explores how emotional vulnerability, bodily comportment, and sonic gestures are embedded within religious and cultural codes of masculinity through engaging in close readings of gospel performances, artist’s narratives, media coverage, and public statements, alongside a historically informed analysis of gospel’s development as a male-centered institution. Additionally, this study engages the role of memory in upholding patriarchal systems within Black religious spaces and seeks to re-member for the purposes of a post-gendered egalitarian Gospel aesthetic.
Table of Contents
Prologue -6
Chapter 1: Fathers &King: Patriarchal Power and Influence in Gospel Music Memory -15
Chapter 2: Confessions: Sexual Conversion Narratives of Male Gospel Performers -29
Chapter 3: The Autopsy of a Blackball—The Quareing Work of B.Slade as Tonex -49
Chapter 4: Where Have All the Choir Directors Gone? -65
About this Honors Thesis
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Troubling the Water: Black Masculinity, Gender Performance and The Politics of Memory in Gospel Music () | 2025-05-13 12:28:55 -0400 |
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