Overview
In this lesson plan, students will learn about Garifuna culture by exploring some of its musical practices. They will read an article discussing traditional rituals highlighted in various Garifuna music and dance performances. The article will also examine gender roles in Garifuna culture and how Garifuna music has evolved to incorporate aspects of Punta Rock. Students will also watch video clips of an interview with Prof. Pablo Joseph López Oro. This will help them grasp the differences between spirituality and religion in Garifuna culture and learn about how gender and sexuality are represented in the culture through its music and dance practices. Studying the OER materials in this lesson will help students understand how music, dance, spirituality, and gender roles intersect in Garifuna culture.
Student researchers: Khalilah Coombs, Jay Nelson, Citlali Ramos, and Belkairys Taveras
Faculty Mentors: Prof. Van Havercome and Prof. Shruti Sharma
External Collaborators: Yolanda David and Nancy Medina
We would like to especially acknowledge Dr. Pablo Joseph López Oro for lending his expertise through his interview in helping create the OERs for this project.
(L) Handcrafted miniature drum from Honduras by Thelmadatter is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0
On this page, you will find the following:
- Article: “Gender and Spirituality in Garifuna Music and Dance Culture”
- Interview: “In conversation with Pablo Joseph Lopez Oro: On Spirituality and Religion”
- Interview: “In conversation with Pablo Joseph Lopez Oro: On Sexuality and Gender”
- Lesson plan based on the article and interviews.
The following article by BMCC’s student researchers Khalilah Coombs, Jay Nelson, Citlali Ramos, and Belakirys Taveras highlights a few of the Garifuna’s many rich cultural musical practices. These practices can help one understand how music, dance, spirituality, and gender roles intersect in Garifuna culture.
In the following interview, BMCC’s student researcher Khalilah Coombs interviews Prof. Pablo Joseph López Oro on the difference between spirituality and religion in Garifuna music and dance culture. Most Garifuna identify as Catholic. While most still maintain their spiritual practices, there is a history of demonizing those cultural practices. Professor Lopez Oro discusses the relationship between the Garifuna people and honoring their ancestors, the clash that occurs between religion and spirituality, and how the diasporic movement preserves spiritual practices through the arts.
In this interview, BMCC’s student researcher Khalilah Coombs interviews Prof. Pablo Joseph López Oro about gender and sexuality in Garifuna music and dance culture. The arts serve as a means of expression. This rings particularly true for the expression of the fluidity of sexuality and gender. The Western binary gets “disrupted,” space is created for openness, and femme energy is honored in the spiritual work. At the same time, different forms of dance and music have gender-specific roles that are still upheld. We dive into how these all coexist.
The following lesson plan presents learning outcomes and student activities based on the learning materials presented above.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License.
