This paper analyses some of the social and emotional impacts of community singing and active participation in a choir of people with disabilities in Brisbane, Australia. The article begins by outlining the approach to the history of the group before moving on to consider the effects of singing together. It frames this process as one of an ‘imagined community’ performing for one another and then examines how the lyrics of the songs support various imaginaries. It is argued that these imaginaries play into the formation of multiple possible selves, which support belief in singers’ abilities not disabilities. Imagining the self brings past, present and future together and, whilst constituting a separate element of becoming, it plays into the realisation of the present self. The past shapes possible selves through its mix of positive and negative influences, while the imagined state of the future self is fashioned in the projection of idealised hopes and fears. It is posited here that the specific form of participatory music making that is utilised with those with disabilities facilitates various imaginaries of possible selves which, in turn, improves senses of communitas and well-being.
Fiona Magowan is Professor of Anthropology and Fellow of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace Security and Justice at Queen’s University, Belfast. Her ethnographic research covers three interconnected areas: music, sound and movement; art, emotion and the senses; and religion, identity and transformation. She has conducted long-term research in north east Arnhem Land, Australia, Queensland and South Australia, with recent research in Brazil and Mozambique. As a Research Lead in the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, she is examining comparative aspects of arts and conflict transformation, specifically through music, identity and peacebuilding around the globe. She was Principal Investigator of the AHRC Partnership for Conflict Crime and Security (PaCCS) funded project, 'Sounding Conflict: From Resistance to Reconciliation' (2017-2022) with seven Queen's staff and ten partner organisations researching sound, music and storytelling across the Middle East, Brazil and Northern Ireland. She has published seven books including, Christianity, Conflict, and Renewal in Australia and the Pacific (Brill 2016, co-edited with Carolyn Schwarz); Performing Gender, Place, and Emotion (Rochester 2013, co-edited with L. Wrazen), and Melodies of Mourning: Music and Emotion in Northern Australia (Oxford, James Currey 2007).
