“Gimme Dat Ole Time Ligion”- Tracing Music of the Gullah-Geechee Community from a Cultural Context: Continuity and Change.
Abstract
African American communities on the east coast Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia provide a rare opportunity to study some of the extraordinary elements of African influence on African American culture in the United States (Beoku-Betts, 1994). Known as the Gullah or Geechee (used interchangeably), these communities are comprised of enslaved West African descendants who worked and settled on the islands. During the early 18th century, thousands of enslaved West Africans were seized and shipped to markets in Charleston (SC) and Savannah (GA). Captains of those ships facilitated the transmission of African culture and traditions by bringing authentic musical instruments onboard (Burnin & Maultsby, 2015). Crew members would force the enslaved to dance, sing, and play musical instruments for various reasons. Specifically sought out for expertise in the growing of certain crops including rice, the Gullah-Geechee have retained many ethnic traditions of their native homeland primarily due to geographic isolation along the coastal landscape and tropical conditions. African songs are the foundation for what is referred to as Gullah-Geechee music (Federal Point Historic Preservation Society, 2018). The influence and evolution of musical forms that emerged from this cultural perspective are reflected in many genres of music. Based on the time period of 1970s-Present (2022), the purpose of this study is to determine the role music plays in the lives of the Gullah-Geechee community members, the extent to which music has changed, and the extent to which music of the indigenous group has remained the same.
Presentation Description
.
Location
Room 107
Publication Type and Release Option
Presentation (Open Access)
Recommended Citation
Jenkins, Renee, "“Gimme Dat Ole Time Ligion”- Tracing Music of the Gullah-Geechee Community from a Cultural Context:
Continuity and Change." (2022). Curriculum Studies Summer Collaborative. 29.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/cssc/2022/2022/29
“Gimme Dat Ole Time Ligion”- Tracing Music of the Gullah-Geechee Community from a Cultural Context: Continuity and Change.
Room 107
African American communities on the east coast Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia provide a rare opportunity to study some of the extraordinary elements of African influence on African American culture in the United States (Beoku-Betts, 1994). Known as the Gullah or Geechee (used interchangeably), these communities are comprised of enslaved West African descendants who worked and settled on the islands. During the early 18th century, thousands of enslaved West Africans were seized and shipped to markets in Charleston (SC) and Savannah (GA). Captains of those ships facilitated the transmission of African culture and traditions by bringing authentic musical instruments onboard (Burnin & Maultsby, 2015). Crew members would force the enslaved to dance, sing, and play musical instruments for various reasons. Specifically sought out for expertise in the growing of certain crops including rice, the Gullah-Geechee have retained many ethnic traditions of their native homeland primarily due to geographic isolation along the coastal landscape and tropical conditions. African songs are the foundation for what is referred to as Gullah-Geechee music (Federal Point Historic Preservation Society, 2018). The influence and evolution of musical forms that emerged from this cultural perspective are reflected in many genres of music. Based on the time period of 1970s-Present (2022), the purpose of this study is to determine the role music plays in the lives of the Gullah-Geechee community members, the extent to which music has changed, and the extent to which music of the indigenous group has remained the same.