Gospel Music Training, Performance Practice and Its Impact on Leadership Development and Performed Nationalism in a Collegiate Military Choir

Since America’s beginnings as a British colony, its musical standards have adhered to those of Western Europe. For this reason, musical forms native to America like Black folk spirituals and Gospel music have historically been marginalized in favor of music in the Western classical tradition. Today, a bias towards music of the Western classical tradition exists in those American universities that grant music degrees. While this bias is understandable, inclusion of Gospel music history and performance practice would result in a more complete understanding of American music and its impact on American nationalism. The United States Naval Academy is one of the few American universities that have consistently elevated the performance of Gospel music to the level of Western Classical music within its institutional culture. The motivations for writing this document are to provide a brief history of Gospel music in the United States and of choral music at the Naval Academy. These historical accounts serve as lenses though which the intersection of Gospel music performance practice and leadership development at the United States Naval Academy may be observed. During the last two decades of the twentieth century, Gospel music intersected American military culture at the U.S. Naval Academy. After a few student-led attempts in the 1970s, a Gospel Choir was formed in 1986 but by 1990, it had become an official part of the Music Department. Ultimately, it received institutional support and today, the Gospel Choir is one of three touring choirs authorized to represent the Academy in an official capacity. This document discusses the promotion of Gospel music by the Naval Academy in its efforts to diversify Academy culture and ultimately, Naval and Marine Corps leadership. Finally, this dissertation examines the addition of performed cultural expression (Gospel music) in light of a shift in American nationalism and discusses its impact on Naval Academy culture.

Machtverhältnisse und die Problematik des postkolonialen Blicks in Uwe Timms Morenga (1978) und Gerhard Seyfrieds Herero (2003)

Using a postcolonial methodology within a German Cultural Studies framework, this thesis applies a close reading to Uwe Timm’s 1978 novel Morenga and Gerhard Seyfried’s 2003 novel Herero. Both novels narrate the colonial experience in German Southwest Africa during the 1904-1907 Herero and Nama uprising through the eyes of a German male protagonist. I investigate how notions of the ‘other’ become ingrained in the collective cultural imaginary of a nation and manifest themselves as inherent truths used to justify methods of subjugation. I also examine the conflicts that arise due to the clash between these drastically different cultures in the “contact zone”, a term I borrow from Mary Louise Pratt. Emphasis is placed on analyzing the ways in which the natives’ use of mimicry allows for the creation of a cultural hybridity in which power relations are constantly negotiated and re-evaluated. I also problematize the difficulty both protagonists demonstrate in their quest to abandon the colonial gaze in favor of adopting a postcolonial perspective, an attempt that often appears ambivalent at best.