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David Kanter

Transcending Our Differences: Building Peace Through Musical Transcendence.

Building on my previously-developed biocultural theory of transcendence, this research project will explore how musical experiences can allow for the transcendence of cultural boundaries such as ethnic identity, age, religion, and socioeconomic status. Research will be conducted with a global social justice organization based out of New York City that attempts to develop initiatives promoting tolerance, plurality, and peace as their mission objective.

This project will synthesize research from cognitive and medical ethnomusicology, neuroscience, and psychoneuroimmunology to develop an understanding of how consciousness, memory, and the emotionally evocative nature of music work together to create an experience that can be the foundation for community and relationship building in a multi-cultural, multi-faith group. It then will examine how events such as these can be used to foster the concepts of tolerance, plurality, and peace among participants. Finally, this project will utilize applied methodology to develop an initiative in a community that is culturally and spiritually heterogeneous in order to examine how the effects of such musical experiences play out in the daily lives of participants. Fieldwork is set to begin in early to mid-2010.

Supervisors:

Dr. Marina Roseman

Dr. E. Thomas Lawson

Contact Details:

DKanter01@qub.ac.uk

Research interests:

Cognitive and Medical Ethnomusicology, Biocultural approaches to Ethnomusicology and Anthropology, Transcendence in transnational Sufi ritual practice.