Unified Voices: Lutheran and Muslim Women’s Negotiation of Faith and Society through Musical Choice in Dresden (2009)

Undergraduate: Emily Joy Rothchild

Faculty Advisor: David Garcia
Department: Music

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During the summer of 2008, I traveled to Dresden, Germany, to perform ethnomusicological research for my senior honors thesis. With SURF funding, I spent nine weeks and five days examining how Lutheran and Muslim women’s musical choices affect their faith and also their roles in society. Through countless musical rehearsals, club meetings, worship services, and interviews, I discovered that the women’s faith grew through participation in music (Lutherans) or through abstention from music (Muslims). While their faith strengthened, however, they increasingly became marginalized by German governmental policies and national cultural programs. Whether objecting to sexual education policies or a mandatory musical instrument program in the schools, the women constantly had to negotiate between their personal faith and societal norms.
Full Title: “Unified Voices: Lutheran and Muslim Women’s Negotiation of Faith and Society through Musical Choice in Dresden”