“Music, Liturgy, and Community Building among the Lebanese Maronite Immigrants in the United States”

Abstract: The emigration of the Maronites—a Lebanon-based indigenous Christian community—to the United States started as early as the latter part of the nineteenth century. Wherever they settled, the Maronites established new communities and remained faithful to their religious and social heritage while adapting to their new homeland. This paper highlights the central role of music and liturgy in the construction of community and in the negotiation of social and religious boundaries among the Lebanese Maronites in the United States. Drawing on fieldwork I have conducted since the year 2000 in San Francisco, CA; in 2005 in Easton, PA; and in 2011 in Brooklyn, NY and Boston, MA, this paper will examine several aspects of the Lebanese Maronite American community’s musical diversity: traditional Lebanese ethnic music and dance; music within the Maronite Church rituals, and finally the musical domain of Lebanese popular music. By discussing the musical life of a Christian community in the United States with Middle Eastern roots, this paper aims to illuminate an area underrepresented in the humanities and to open the way to the study of the many immigrant religious communities in the United States.

Bio: Guilnard Moufarrej received her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from UCLA in 2005. She is currently an adjunct assistant professor at Diablo Valley College, and in 2011-2012 she will be a visiting lecturer at the University of California, Merced. Dr. Moufarrej has worked extensively on the Maronite Church and community in Lebanon and is currently writing a book on the Maronites in the United States. Her most recent article published by the Review of Middle East Studies is titled: “Maronite Music: History, Transmission, and Performance Practice.” She has also conducted research on music and protest in Lebanon and investigated the role of popular music in the negotiation of gender roles in Lebanese culture. In summer 2011, she will be conducting research on the development and performance of belly dancing, an Arab dance form, as practiced in the United States over the past few decades.

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Named after Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy, the founding chair of the Department of Ethnomusicology and Systematic Musicology, this colloquium series provides an opportunity for students, faculty, and visiting lecturers to share information about their research and discuss other issues important in the field. Please check the department website for details on lecturers.