The Collective Voice: Chanting for Liberation

Abstract: This workshop is an interactive chanting experience in which participants will explore the collective voice as a site of solidarity, power, and liberation. In a cultural context where “sacred music” often means the music of predominantly white Christian churches and the “Western” classical canon or “exotic” chants from some “world religion,” this workshop explores chant as embodied, decolonial practice. Using chants in English and Korean, the presenters will lead participants in chants that expand our definition of sacred music. It will be cacophonous. It will be harmonious. Most of all, it will ground participants in their own bodies as instruments of healing and change.

Presenter bios: Auds (she/her) is a Master of Divinity candidate at Harvard Divinity School where she studies lived religion in Asian America, new ritual creation, and emergent spiritualities. She is a musician who specializes in writing and leading chants for movements, festivals, and rituals.

Deung Myoung Sunim

Affiliation: Harvard Divinity School