In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Reviewed by:
  • Upward, Not Sunwise: Resonant Rupture in Navajo Neo-Pentecostalism by Kimberly Jenkins Marshall
  • Britt Halvorson
Kimberly Jenkins Marshall, Upward, Not Sunwise: Resonant Rupture in Navajo Neo-Pentecostalism. lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2016. 270 pp.

A primary, enduring question for scholars of global neo-Pentecostalism has been the extent to which these religious movements, premised on forms of cultural "rupture," are actually continuous or discontinuous with pre-existing cultural practices in the places where they take root. Some scholars have traced cultural affinities that remain in the spirit categories, linguistic terms, and expressive forms deployed by neo-Pentecostalists or charismatics (Meyer 1999). Yet others have argued that following the views of believers themselves requires taking seriously the fundamental incompatibility they assert between Pentecostalist practices and the contiguous cultural activities of non-believers, often taking place within their own communities and even within single families (Robbins 2003, Piot 2010).

Marshall's book Upward, Not Sunwise: Resonant Rupture in Navajo Neo-Pentecostalism offers a creative reconfiguration of this primary theoretical puzzle. The book profiles the Navajo (Diné) neo-Pentecostal community of Oodlání (believers), among whom are some 60,000 adherents in the southwest United States. Like other neo-Pentecostalists, Oodlání reject what they perceive as forms of Navajo traditionalism, including Navajo healing rituals, Christian hymns stemming from early and mid-20th century mission churches, and even Navajo language revitalization programs. Marshall asks why and how Oodlání continue to culturally deploy a variety of seemingly Navajo expressive forms, from one Navajo-language praise song to foundational cultural views of non-human actors that render healing effective, if their theology foments a radical anti-traditionalism. [End Page 1289]

The book's answer to this question and its main contribution to the theoretical puzzle of Pentecostalist continuity/discontinuity is undoubtedly its concept of "resonant rupture." Marshall creatively brings aesthetics into dialogue with conversations on linguistic and material form in the anthropology of Christianity and linguistic anthropology. Through the concept of resonant rupture, Marshall asserts that Oodlání maintain "feelingful connections" to expressive forms like songs, community rituals, and linguistic terms (11). This aesthetic form of "resonance" sparks a meaningful connection to cultural form for individual Oodlání and simultaneously asserts a distinctly Navajo cultural practice of neo-Pentecostalism. At the same time, Oodlání actively re-signify the meanings of those expressive forms and denounce their other associations in coexistent religious practices, particularly those of the Native American Church and traditional Navajo "religion." Marshall argues that, through the ambiguity and "multivocal" quality of expressive forms like songs (18), Oodlání retain forms of cultural continuity even while self-consciously re-glossing the meanings of those very forms in keeping with neo-Pentecostal views.

Each chapter builds consecutively on the common theme of resonant rupture, examining it through the lens of praise songs (Chapter 3), country gospel music (Chapter 4), non-human actors in spirit dancing (Chapter 5), and healing rituals (Chapter 6). For example, in Chapter 3, Marshall shows how Oodlání avow both a "denotative denial of continuity" and an "aesthetic continuity" through one Navajo-language praise song called "Háálá Ayóo Diyin" (83). While Navajo Christian hymns are viewed as old-fashioned and too linked to denominational Christianity, "Háálá Ayóo Diyin" was composed by the Kinlichini Singers, a traveling group sponsored by the Southern Baptist denomination, and lyrically exalts Jesus. Through close analysis, Marshall reveals that the song maintains a latent connection to other Navajo expressive forms, particularly through instrumental repetition and verbal patterning, and evokes a generalized Navajo identity through Navajo linguistic terms. It also continues to prioritize sung worship, a mainstay of Navajo ceremonialism and healing. Reinforcing the importance of song as a restorative or healing practice, a patient, for instance, is referred to in the Navajo language as "the one-sung-over" (88). Even amid these aesthetic continuities, Marshall maintains that Oodlání enact a cultural politics essential to Pentecostalist practice that cleaves meaning from form, and ultimately gives significance to meaning over form. [End Page 1290]

While the book offers much to recommend it, Upward, Not Sunwise also leaves some unanswered questions. The author mentions that a considerable number of Oodl...

pdf

Share