Marching toward Meaning

Publication information:

Summers, Sarah. 2025. “Marching Toward Meaning.” in Spirituality and the Arts. Harvard Divinity School: Program for the Evolution of Spirituality.

Abstract

This presentation is based on my dissertation, “Marching toward Meaning: A Comparative Ethnography of Drum Corps and Community Band,” in which I explore how participants in the marching arts interpret their experiences, the frameworks they employ to construct meaning, and the impact of that meaning-making process on their well being. My comparative study of two distinct activities, and the roles these activities play in the lives of their participants, can assist in illuminating our understanding of the processes by which participants determine their experiences to be religious or spiritual ones.

Presenter Biography

Sarah Summers is a sixth-year PhD Candidate from The University of Texas at Austin. Her research and teaching interests include music and ritual, attribution theory, feminist ethnography, global reproductive ethics, and religion and science fiction. Sarah is a Brownie Girl Scout leader and plays mellophone in a community band.