Blog 29

Karl Covington

ENG 3029/4120

Final Paper

9 May 2013

 

 

Every Day Will Be Sunday:

 

An Ethnographic Study of a Black church as a discourse Community

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SETTING THE ATMOSPHERE

 

“It does matter where you go to church, it does matter where you worship, it does matter where you lift your head, it does matter where you cry out to God. There is something about the atmosphere. I might be lame, but put me in the atmosphere. I may be drunk, but put me in the atmosphere. I may be weak, but put me in the atmosphere.”

 

-T.D Jakes

 

One of the most important aspects of African American culture is church. Frequently a staple in African American movies, music, stage-plays and even literature, the church , in the history and current lives of blacks today has quite possibly been the culture's most influential and recognizable pillars. The black church is a term generally applied to a Christian church predominantly made up of African American members. Being a member of a black church virtually all of my life, I am fascinated at just how much of a community the black church really is. There has been a good amount of research done on the black church, but a large part of it focuses socio-historic aspect. Furthermore, many sources that research the current roles of the black church socially, do so assuming that readers know both that it is a community, and what makes it one; which can leave readers with only a general idea of why the black church is a community. It is important to view the black church as not only a community, but a discourse community in particular because it carries with it a distinct identity for a massive amount of American people. And furthermore, I sincerely doubt that any institution has rivaled the black church’s preservation of African American people’s history in America; which seems to be a sort of spiritual, economic, educational, literary, and political timeline of events that is still being added to today via discourse. In this paper, I will be analyzing a black church as a discourse community according to some of the characteristics proposed by linguist John Swales as well as analyzing aspects that are unique to the environment. Because I will focusing on only one black church discourse community (my own), any statements I make for all black churches will be mere claims based upon what I have observed in this case study. I will present some features of a black church and present them as general truth for the black church, and show what makes it such a unique discourse community.

 

WHAT THE EXPERTS HAVE SAID

John swales, in his book Genre Analysis outlines what he believes to be six distinct characteristics they every discourse has. These six features are:

1. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals.

2. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members.

3. A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback.

4. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims.

5. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired a specific lexis.

6. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise.

Though for this paper, I will only be focusing on two of these features in particular- the goals and lexis (numbers 1 and 5) of the black church, evidence of more of the features will be evident in this paper. Indeed, the lexis and other of Swales’ points, such as mechanisms to provide information and feedback will overlap.

 

Besides Swales, I will be comparing my data and interpretations to what Ohio State University professor of English, in her book A Community Text Arises, Beverly Moss states:

“I have come to see the church as a community itself-not as individual church communities…but as a broader cross-cultural concept of community. Conceptually, the African-American church is a body of people with a common history of, among other factors, slavery, oppression, faith, perseverance, and literacy (Moss 20).”

Here, Moss introduces a concept that I hold throughout this paper- that church discourse communities can be viewed not only as individual church communities, but as broader communities that are more defined by common history, common beliefs, and shared understanding, rather than jut common living area (Moss 20).

 

GOALS/VALUES

As a religious organization first, it is to be expected that many of the core goals of the black church are identical to that of its Christian counterparts of all races and ethnicities. The most important goal among Christian churches being what Christians all over the world refer to as the great commission, which is recorded in the New Testament book of Matthew.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

For this reason, the black church and most (if not all) of its counterparts have the shared goal of preaching and teaching the gospel in any part of the state, country, or region they are located, and baptizing those who desire to be, and in this, fulfill the great commission. In addition to local teaching, many churches, including my own, have foreign mission ministries that exist for the purpose of going to remote and/or hostile places and fulfilling the great commission. This single, over-arching goal is indeed what unifies all Christian churches, and it is responsible for smaller more church specific goals, such as being able to broadcast via web, or expand physically. What is interesting about the black church, however, is not that it has an entirely different set of church- specific goals, but rather, that it has goals which its counterparts do not have, and have never had. A good example of one of these ‘additional goals’ can be best brought out in the re-election of President Barack Obama.

In the election of 2012, President Obama’s stance on the issue of gay and lesbian marriage changed from being opposed to it, to endorsing it; what is interesting about this is that according to a Huffington Post article by Jaweed Kaleem, Barack Obama’s vote among black Protestant and non-Protestant Christians actually rose 1 percent from his election in 2008. This in contrast to white Protestant votes which dropped 3 percent. In my own experience, I was witness first-hand to a black church discourse community which supported and voted largely for President Barack Obama. Members of my community would remark that they did not agree with some of Obama’s policies, but ultimately that he was the right man to be elected, and thus they planned to vote for him. The fact that many- indeed more- black Christians voted for Obama, on the surface would look like a difference in values, and perhaps it is, but I think  it is more complicated than that. I propose that it is actually a deviation in the hierarchy of values. The fact that members of the community I am a part of endorsed Obama only after clearly aligning themselves with the message of the Bible suggests that they were trying to retain their core values.  This leads me to two possible conclusions: either members are simply trying to appear to hold certain values as to be politically correct, or there is something that justifies them making an exception to the values on which they normally vote. It is because I believe the latter that I have said that what separates the goals of the black church from the white church, and other Christian counterparts, is that it has ‘additional goals’. After it was announced that Barack Obama had won the election in 2008, Baptist minister and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who grew up under Jim Crowe laws, was shown shedding tears. That night marked a historic night for blacks all over the country; it signified years of inequality and racism being politically shattered. Because of blacks being the target of such dark aspects of our countries history, more than any other Christian discourse community, blacks have an interest in the advancement of black people that transcends even the values that would come before almost anything else. Moreover, the goal produced form this unique value is the reason why black Churches across the nation continue to support Obama.

 

As an afterthought, I realize that one may say that members of the black church, who disagreed with Barack Obama on fundamental core values, while at the same time voting for him, are hypocrites. I will say that because it seems like a situation in which where some members wish to have their cake, and eat it too, I can see how it can be considered hypocrisy. However, it is because of the members’ history, that the advancement of African Americans in society is one of the largest of the group’s goals/values. It is important to note that complexity does not necesarrily mean contradiction. In fact, the Holy Bible, the discourses most sacred and authoritative text, states that Christians are to pray for kings and all who are in authority (1 Timothy 2:2). Furthermore in the Old Testament, the Bible warns against speaking evil of the ruler of one’s people. This means that regardless of who is in charge, and what stance they take on issues, Christians should pray for them, and refrain from speaking of them disrespectfully. In the case of the particular community in this case study, I can remember a member of the community, who in rank, was second only to the pastor, praying for President Bush almost every time he prayed corporately, though members while in conversation on church premises, would remark at how bad of a job they thought he was doing. 

What is of supreme importance here is that I think that the community of this case study, and probably the black church as a whole takes gee’s feature a few steps further. Gee states that a discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals. I think that this community has beyond a broadly agreed set of common values that are public, more specific goals that do not even have to be articulated publicly, or even written on any community text, but values that members hold and agree upon because of their shared history.

 

TALKING THE TALK

The category of Lexis is, in my opinion, the most distinct and unique aspects of the black church; and furthermore, I firmly believe that lexis is what helps the black church maintain its status as a discourse community more than anything else. Below is a portion of an interview I conducted with a member of Faith Temple who has been a part of the black church community all of her life; take special notice of the language that both her and I use and the way we use it.

K: can you describe to me your fondest experience in a worship service-- or one of your fondest experiences

L: ok one of my fondest experiences is....uhhm........(four second pause) I know it’s/it is church order to follow the program, you know, thats why... a lot of churches have programs but, when you go/ when the spirit of the Lord comes in where you don't/you cannot follow the program because the Lord is having His way....

K: (interrupting) His way, yea

L: (continuing) per say, yea

L: And uhm where you can’t/where the Holy... Ghost or the Holy Spirit speaks to every individual in the house if u open up your heart to him. And sometimes you don't even have time or need for a preacher per say to speak a word.

K: mmmhh

L: They don't have time to speak because the Holy Ghost is having his way.

L: And that has happened many times in my former church.

K: Really?

L: Yea, where the preacher/ the pastor couldn't even... he couldn't even say a word; matter of fact, I have gone there to speak- they asked me to come back and speak, and give a, you know, give a word- and I couldn't even speak. Because uhh the Holy Ghost was having His way, and guess what!?

K: what?

L: I hadn't received anything from the Lord.

K: oh wow

L: And that's why...

K: (interrupting) cuz he knew...

L: right, he knew it was gonna take a different/ (to an onlooker viewing our interview and listening) isn't that something!

[All of us pausing to let what has just been said marinate a second]

L: (directly into the phone mic) The Holy Ghost is real.

K: (also directly into the mic) Amen!

L: Amen! (to the same onlooker) see... amen!

You may or may not be able to tell from this excerpt, but this is the point in the interview where the timidity and nervousness broke. Her tone in the beginning part of the interview was very careful and serious, but after this the ball got rolling so to speak. Consider the language: at one point in this excerpt you’ll notice that she even asked me a question [Line 10- and guess what?]! What I propose happened is that as she began to think about certain fond experiences she had in the church, she got more into the mood and identity of Evangelist L: minister, choir director, and praise team member, rather than Ms. L. interviewee. This resulted in line 17, in which she feels compelled to let anyone who might end up reading this ethnographic research paper that the Holy Ghost is indeed real, exercising an opportunity to share a value she holds while at the making the goal of the great commission as a community goal explicit in this short interview. 

Call & Recall and Recall without recall

An important aspect of the worship experience in black churches is the completely interactive environment. It is not strange during a sermon for a congregation to be ad-libbing, finishing thoughts, and even repeating words back verbatim to and for the preacher. In fact, this practice has become so expected, that ministers of my congregation recounting times speaking at churches that were not predominantly black, first, mention how quiet it was while they were preaching.

In the weeks following my final decision to use my church as a case study for this paper, I started to pay greater attention to the words members used to contribute to the service, as well as the way members used these words. What I noticed first are two categories of what I’ll call ‘PF’, for participatory feedback. One category covers word contribution at a time when it is not asked for or required, and the second type falls under the category in which participatory feedback is called for. An example of the second type came during an observation on Easter Sunday:

Bishop L asks: "heaven is a prepared place by who"

Congregation: "prepared people!"

What's special about this particular call and recall is that Bishop L set the question up wrong, yet most of the congregation responded as if he said it correctly, either because they knew what he meant, or because they are so used to responding in that way that they didn't hear the error ( the underlined by should have been for) . Either way, I think this peace of data demonstrates how category two sufficiently, as well as showing how familiar members are with the discourse communities lexis.

An example of the first type of PF, can be heard mostly in the late parts of this audio clip, and can be most clearly heard from the women sitting next to me. If you are not reading this from a computer, or cannot open the link for some reason, what I captured in the clip is a deacon during Sunday morning corporate prayer and in the background one can hear a host of faint voices in the congregation. Every so often a distinguishable word said loud enough for phone’s microphone to pick up, but toward the end, words from the congregation become clearer, especially that of a woman sitting next to me.

A rich time for PF is during the sermon time of service. During this time, preachers of black churches employ different words in different functions, and congregation members comment and react all the while. I was interested to see if there were any unspoken rules to this feedback, so I decided to ask it in the interview I conducted.

K: Alright so, a part of my paper I'm gonna be discussing uhhh recall. You know, the preacher says something, people say amen.

L: (giggles)                            

K: but its not so much a call and recall, its just a recall. the preacher doesn’t call for anything...

L: (before I can finish) you just say amen, amen….

K: ..ok so do you notice any violations.... [L jumps back in surprise] (laughter from a spectator)

Here, I paused the recording because at the word "violations”, she jumped back and looked at me with a surprised and confused look. I took the time to explain.

 

K: Ok so we just took a pause to explain what a violation is.

L: Yes (still laughing)

K: Uhmm.... what.. what guides those things, like…what guides when somebody is in violation or if they're not. Do they/ like, is it too long of a comment, too loud of a comment...uhh is it the wrong word they say.

L: Uhhh... uhh I don't know about the wrong they say. I think the violation of sayin' amen uhm may be due to an experience they have had maybe with someone or with a certain situation so I think uhm.. it’s like reading between the lines. Why are you sayin’...amen that loud.

K: ok

L: It’s obvious that you've had some kind of issue. (starting to chuckle)

K: Ahhh ok

L: Ok?

K: ok.

L: yea

K: that’s a... that’s a great answer- that’s a great answer...

L: Or, too, you're saying amen to say, you know, to really speak back to another person in response to whatever occurred prior to... the situation...

K: that’s very interesting...

L: yes

K: ok. Alright

L: (with a smile) I know about it

[We all laugh]

L: "Amen!"(mimicking how someone who was in violation for the reasons she explained would sound)

An integral part of her answer is my explanation of what a ‘violation’ was. The way I got her to understand was by pointing out examples of violations, and because of this, she did not cover mistaken violations. In fact, it is clear that the violation of which she is explaining is that of vocal volume, and from her poising the question “why are you saying amen that loudly?”, I infer that she is talking about a community member in violation; and according to the second to last line, perhaps herself. Ironically enough, the moment I used the word ‘violation’ right after taking about how members call out during sermons, without defining it, I was in serious violation of a community value (refer back to Line 5 of this excerpt, and notice the shift). You will notice how the interviewee and I were on the same page before that point. The event that transpired in my interview points to a value that runs through every level of the black church, from the lay member to the pastor. In a chapter on code switching, Moss says this:

“…In black congregations no matter how educated the minister or the congregation are, the minister must be Black. That is, he or she must sound black….. Sounding Black is significant because it shows the member is still in touch with his people and that he is still one of them (82).”

In my own particular church, I can only recall one preacher in our congregation who does not ‘sound black’, and in the rare event in which she does preach, it is usually less PF than the typical sermon. In fact, there is a white preacher who comes about twice a year and preaches at our church and because he sounds black (rhythmic tones, voice inflection toward the end of the sermon, etc.), the PF is on the same level as if the pastor were preaching.

The point is, that this lexical code switching is a part of the lexis which is inextricably tied to a community value of solidarity. Therefore, it is implicitly required in order to participate properly in the discourse. Though I may not have switched codes, I did say something to L that made her believe that I had stepped to far outside of the value of being a part of the community. She understood that as an interviewer who would be analyzing the church, I had to be somewhat objectified and removed, but the look she gave me was one that let me know that she thought that I had ‘lost touch with the people’.

Another very important piece of the interview is L’s comment about a person possibly trying to communicate with another person through saying ‘Amen’ to something the preacher (or someone else on the mic) says. This is interesting because it shows that not only is PF used for the purposes of back channeling for the preacher, but it is also a means of communicating to other lay members. What makes this significant to the black church as a discourse community is that it means that members have invented ways of communicating indirectly in a way that cannot be categorized into pure recall or response, albeit used negatively in the case of volume level according to L.

Intertextuality

Another feature of the black church discourse community’s lexis is the role intertexuality plays. It is present in the sermons, the songs, the prayers, and even the everyday language of its members. In Moss’ research, she found that all of the ministers she interviewed saw the importance of the sermon as a verbal performance (148). In the case with my case study, I have found that intertextuality is one of the biggest markers of belonging to, or at least be associated with the community.

K: Now, so a follow up question to that would be if you heard somebody say that to you, and you didn’t know their background, would you assume that they were... they was familiar with uhhh your background, you know, the black church. would you assume or no?

L: I wouldn't necessarily think they we- uhh you know, part of the black church, but I would assume some kind of church background.

K: Ok.

L: (continued) I would assume that.

Above you’ll see that a member of my community identified with intertexuality in the case of saying ‘amen’ or another word during normal conversation outside of the community would be a marker that a person has church background. She did not specify which type of church background, so I must assume that she is not saying that she would assume that they had a background with the black church discourse.

LET THE CHURCH SAY AMEN

In conclusion, I want to re-iterate what this all means. So what if the black church has a particular lexis, and goals, right? What is important about this specific community, especially the language, and how they use it to create and fortify values is that, as I said at the beginning, it carries with it a living timeline.

 

 

Works Cited

"ENG 1020: Inquiry, Composition, and Reflection." ENG 1020 Inquiry Composition and Reflection. Wordpress, n.d. Web. 08 May 2013.

 

Moss, Beverly J. A Community Text Arises: A Literate Text and a Literacy Tradition in African-American Churches. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton, 2003. Print.

 

Kaleem, Jaweed. "Religious Vote Data Show Shifts In Obama's Faith-Based Support." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 07 Nov. 2012. Web. 17 Apr. 2013.