Research
Rebecca's research interests lie broadly in the ethnomusicology/anthropology of Christianity. ​Her doctoral work - based on a year-long ethnographic study of a Nigerian church in Dublin - explores identity processes in the context of African Christian migration. With a focus on the music and worship practices, the complexity and multiplicity of identities within the congregation is drawn out. In contrast to much of the existing literature on African migrant churches, which typically represents congregations as unified and privileges the views of church leaders, Rebecca's thesis highlights the dissonant voices that can exist within a single congregation, arising from differing orientations and motivations as members negotiate their shifting identities within the migrant setting.
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Earlier fieldwork conducted in churches in Indonesia focussed on theological notions of the relationship between Christianity and culture, and the approaches taken by various missionaries and local converts to the use of indigenous music in worship. Issues of musical change/continuity in relation to religious conversion were explored across four contrasting case studies in North Sumatra, West Java, Bali, and West Papua.
Current Book Project
Salvation, Music, and Embodiment in Yoruba Christian Migration
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Through an ethnomusicological case study of a Nigerian congregation in Ireland, this monograph engages some of the most salient issues emerging in twenty-first century migrant Christianity. Situated at the intersection between salvation, music, and embodiment, the study highlights the inextricable connection between expressive cultural forms, local theologies, and religious efficacy. Engaging with accounts of the nature of salvation in African theological discourse, Rebecca explores how salvation is materialised in this congregation through talking drum performance, dance, music and movement in prayer and testimonies, and the language of congregational song. Even while salvific performance represents a continuation of practices brought from Nigeria, areas of tension are emerging in the context of migration. Faced with significant environmental, economic, and social changes, church members are beginning to question some of their beliefs and to adapt their approaches. This book engages not only the efficacious aspects of salvific performance, but also the musical outworking of salvific tensions and contradictions against a backdrop of social and religious change.
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