Faith by Aurality in China’s Ethnic Borderland: Media, Mobility, and Christianity at the Margins

Ying Diao's book explores the role of sound in the religious practices of the Lisu people in China's ethnic borderland, highlighting the importance of aurality in their response to Christianity and other modernizing projects. Through fieldwork, archival records, and audiovisual media, Diao demonstrates how participatory music production, circulation, and consumption become integral to the indigenous perception and experience of faith. The book provides valuable insights into the lives of people of faith at the margins and enriches anthropological, ethnomusicological, and historical scholarship on global Christianity.

Format: Hardback
Length: 268 pages
Publication date: 19 December 2023
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd

The expansion of Protestantism among the upland peoples in the China-Southeast Asia borderlands has sparked a significant sociocultural transformation. In her book "Faith by Aurality in China's Ethnic Borderland," Ying Diao explores the sonic evidence of this religious revolution in northwest Yunnan, shedding light on the Christian minority and emphasizing the role of aurality in their response to Christianity and other modernizing projects. Through extensive fieldwork, archival research, and audiovisual media, Diao documents a diverse range of sounded religious practices among the Lisu, an indigenous yet historically migratory people. By examining how participatory music production, circulation, and consumption become integral to indigenous perception and experience of faith, Diao offers a nuanced understanding of people of faith at the margins. The book provides valuable historical and contextual information that enriches anthropological, ethnomusicological, and historical scholarship on global Christianity while demonstrating how sound can be an ambivalent yet fruitful avenue through which ways of faith are constructed in a context where religion remains voiceless.

The expansion of Protestantism among the upland peoples in the China-Southeast Asia borderlands has sparked a significant sociocultural transformation. In her book "Faith by Aurality in China's Ethnic Borderland," Ying Diao explores the sonic evidence of this religious revolution in northwest Yunnan, shedding light on the Christian minority and emphasizing the role of aurality in their response to Christianity and other modernizing projects. Through extensive fieldwork, archival research, and audiovisual media, Diao documents a diverse range of sounded religious practices among the Lisu, an indigenous yet historically migratory people. By examining how participatory music production, circulation, and consumption become integral to indigenous perception and experience of faith, Diao offers a nuanced understanding of people of faith at the margins. The book provides valuable historical and contextual information that enriches anthropological, ethnomusicological, and historical scholarship on global Christianity while demonstrating how sound can be an ambivalent yet fruitful avenue through which ways of faith are constructed in a context where religion remains voiceless.

Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781648250743