Island Gospel: Pentecostal Music and Identity in Jamaica and the United States

Melvin Butler (2012–2013 Fellow)

Island Gospel: Pentecostal Music and Identity in Jamaica and the United States(link is external)

University of Illinois Press, 2019

Publication Year:  2019

Melvin L. Butler journeys into this crossing of boundaries and its impact on Jamaican congregations and the music they make. Using the concept of flow, Butler’s ethnography evokes both the experience of Spirit-influenced performance and the transmigrations that fuel the controversial sharing of musical and ritual resources between Jamaica and the United States. Highlighting constructions of religious and cultural identity, Butler illuminates music’s vital place in how the devout regulate spiritual and cultural flow while striving to maintain both the sanctity and fluidity of their evolving tradition.