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Abstract
In this dissertation I seek to understand the complexity of the indigenization of Christian Music through examining the power dynamics of culture contact, local hierarchies of musical style value, and indigenous agency in the South Indian Tamil Protestant Christian context. I examine Christian indigenization of music considering the ideological debate over musical style in relation to Tamil Christian social identities, particularly as a determinant of music's value as a transmission system that can facilitate social and spiritual liberation for poor and Dalit (former "untouchable" or oppressed) Indians.
The ethnographic focus of this dissertation is the Tamil Christian production and transmission of indigenized music from 1600 C.E. to 1994 and within the contemporary Protestant Church of South India (CSI). Part one demonstrates that the transmission of Christianity to India has historically occurred through the medium of indigenized music. This has resulted in the use of three indigenous styles (karnatak, folk and light) as well as Western hymns. I then describe contemporary patterns of style use from the perspectives of caste, class, theological, and denominational identity. Part two is an ethnographic description of the use of music styles among the three largest Protestant castes, as represented by individuals, and of the production and transmission of music at the Tamil Nadu Theological Seminary, where I conducted nine months of interactive, participatory fieldwork. Part three is a case study of James Theophilus Appavoo, a Dalit Christian composer and theologian whose life and work exemplifies the contemporary complexity of style use ideology. I describe Appavoo's family and personal music history, changes in his commitment from classical karnatak music to folk music, and the development of his Dalit consciousness. I then describe the three tenants of Appavoo's liberation theology and his analysis of social and musical values that informs them. Finally, I musically, linguistically and theologically analyze a performance of Appavoo's folk music liturgy to demonstrate his ideology of liberative transmission through this style which he believes allows for re-creation and re-contextualization with every transmission, thus defining Christian indigenized music.
