Kemet

In my personal opinion and experience, I find that the field of psychology is lacking in diverse cultural competencies as much as the society is diverse in its population. I believe that as with using any theoretical model, the therapists’ cultural knowledge needs to include understanding of the many cultural considerations influencing the effectiveness of treatment when dealing with clients from diverse backgrounds. When servicing the individuals in the family, care and attention needs to be directed towards family and community norms and values around help seeking, secrecy and confidentiality, family roles, child rearing and spiritual practices.

Cultural competency is critical in psychology practice. In the United States, the groups, which considered as cultural and ethnic minorities, are growing in the population (APA, 2003). Culture often influences the content and quality of people’s experience, perception, and response. Thus, it is important for psychologists to be aware of cultural influences on client’s presenting experience(s) (Gardiner & Kosmitzki, 2010). Without a regard for cultural influence, there is a significant risk for the psychologist to misunderstand, misinterpret, and misguide his or her client. Such misunderstanding, misinterpretation, and misguidance are not only unhelpful but can be detrimental for the client (Corey, Corey, & Callanan, 2011; Pope, & Vasquez, 2011).

The story “Sonny’s Blues” By James Baldwin is about a jazz musician and his brother in 1950’s Harlem. The story centers on Sonny who uses jazz music as an escape from his depression. James Baldwin captures the art of jazz during this time period. The themes in this short story are perhaps varied, but all of them revolve around some form of suffering. One theme shows how music can promote change and understanding within relationships. A second theme reveals suffering caused by guilt. Yet another theme references the results of suffering brought about by searching for ones’ identity and how that leads to misunderstanding. There are also subthemes concerning racism and poverty.

Negro spirituals was a “genre” of music introduced by African American slaves in response to their lives and treatment by the white race. It gave many slaves the voice of opposition that they never had and allowed them to subliminally speak against their masters without fear of consequences. Said to have originated from slaves who were “Unable to read the Bible for themselves and skeptical of their masters’ interpretation of it…” (Raboteau). These songs were “… the message of the Christian gospel… translated… into

Throughout African American history, especially during slavery music has been used as a coping mechanism to assist one with enduring hardship and opposition. Music specifically jazz and the blues can have many boundless effects on one’s life. In this case, in Sonny’s life, music was his only source of hope and strength to redemption.

African American religious music is the foundation of all contemporary forms of so called “black music.” African American religious music has been a fundamental part of the black experience in this country. This common staple of the African American experience can be traced back to the cruel system of slavery. It then evolved into what we refer to today as gospel music. The goal of this paper is to answer three main questions. What are the origins of African American religious music? How did this musical expression develop into a secular form of music? What is the future of African American religious music? These questions will be answered through factual research of African American traditions, artists, and various other sources.

Africa itself which for centuries had a lot of Islamic influences along with many polytheistic religions. These were the belief system that was created by the people for the people, as these enslaved Africans settled in their new country they brought with them many belief systems from different tribes across the great continent of Africa. These beliefs and bodies traveled from their homeland to their host land to further introduce their understanding of spirituality on a much deeper love and connection back to their ancestral home. African Americans wanted an outlet, along with have some remembrance of their homeland helped them accomplish the connection between landscape and the traveling of bodies through the vast connection

Our world contains many cultures that perform their religious healing in somewhat similar, but also different ways when pertaining to ritual, beliefs and healing. Towards the end of Sonny’s Blues, Baldwin focuses on the purpose of Sonny’s music and emphasizes Sonny’s musical performance as his religious healing. This paper will emphasize African diaspora and religious expression in Sonny’s Blues. By using analysis from Turner and Janzen, this essay will address the large impact of rites of passage, the significance of communitas, and the correlation with ‘health as adaptation.’

Many times in life we find ourselves in situations that end in suffering. This can become a very dark place, unless we can find something to pull us out. In the story “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin music was the remedy. The main factors that make up this story is suffering, the overall theme of darkness, and the meaning of the music.

American Gospel music is founded in the African American church. It has a deep culture in America. It is used as an outlet for people who have been oppressed, beaten down, and persecuted. Gospel music acts as a source of inspiration for those who had all but given up. It speaks of the various trials and struggles they’ve undergone, and how they were able to overcome. Is also used as a form of praise and worship, giving thanks to the Lord. The term “gospel” means “the good news.” Gospel music is used to tell the good news of the salvation people have received from the Lord, rescuing them from all of the trials and struggles of the world. Gospel music has been influenced by genres such as jazz and blues. It is a combination of many different forms of music, producing a new and unique type of sound.

This article reminded me of several times in history when music was used by African Americans to survive times of hardship. In the time of slavery, music was used as an escape. The negro spiritual was sung by the slaves who worked in the fields and those who worked in the household alike. The songs took them to a more peaceful time and were passed down from generation to generation. The negro spiritual was even used by Harriet Tubman and others who worked the Underground Railroad as a code. The spirituals were used as a haven for the African Americans who were not in charge of their own lives. That same music would be used in future generations as a war call and as a way to endure the struggles they would face.

As Gospel music has a complex and diversified history, there are several forms of the genre, many of which intertwine with Soul (Gospel’s secular counterpart), Blues and Jazz. Consequently, although adaptable and broadly-defined, Gospel’s all-embracing musical lesson of spiritual contemplation and persistence, has always been a constant reminder for its enthusiasts.

No black person can escape the blues, because the blues are an inherent part of the black existence in America. To be black is to be blue. The blues tell us about black people’s attempt to carve out a significant existence in a very trying situation. The purpose of the blues is to give structure to black existence in a context where color means rejection and humiliation. Suffering and its relation to blackness is inseparable from the meaning of the blues. Without pain and suffering, and what that meant for black people in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas, there would have been no blues. The blue mood means sorrow, frustration, despair, and black people’s attempt to take these existential realities upon themselves and not lose their sanity. The blues are not art for art’s sake, music for music’s sake. They are a way of life, a life-style of the black community; and the will for survival. Thus to seek to understand the blues apart from the suffering that created them is to misinterpret them and distort the very creativity that defines them (Cone, 1980).

Nowadays the blues revolve around the meaning of sadness but doesn’t have a true message of fighting for survival or deprivation of freedom. In the process of searching for the modern day blues, it was discovered that the music is compiled by mostly Caucasian artist compared to the past where it was conceived by blacks to prompt their practices and beliefs.

The early vernacular traditions didn’t only consist of religious, spiritual, and sacred practices, but there were secular forms of acts that existed in their lives. The early African Americans composed many superb narrative rhymes that really influenced the culture today. They could also be known as poets, and these writers created a foundation for the modern day artists. The different stories and tales that these passages were describing, had a strong impact on the blues, which is a part of the secular songs. Rap, a modern day form of rhyming music, has been influence greatly by the earlier secular songs and stories that the African Americans practiced. These songs started out as humor for the African Americans, and then sporadically evolved into sex, violence, and drugs over the past century. The children’s games song also has special meaning to them when they are used. The little messages that are implanted in these songs really try to impact a message to the listener. The different songs also portrayed the ongoing violence and abuse that is present in the American society. The hardworking slaves also had a series of songs that they sang, in order to express their hardships and perseverance in the work