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An investigation into the phenomena and practices of spiritual ...

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attachments that meet humans' fundamental needs in <strong>the</strong>ir biosocial behavioural system.Roseman (1991) argues that <strong>the</strong> healing performance presents a moment <strong>of</strong> articulationbetween two domains <strong>of</strong> knowledge <strong>and</strong> action: musical composition, performance <strong>and</strong>effect on <strong>the</strong> one h<strong>and</strong>, indigenous cosmology, illness aetiology <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> pathogenicity <strong>of</strong>emotions on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r h<strong>and</strong>. Kirkpatrick (1996) suggests ritual is a fundamental mechanismwhich provides healing by meeting fundamental human needs for belonging, comfort, <strong>and</strong>bonding with o<strong>the</strong>rs. Rituals integrate people, enhancing social-support systems, groupidentity, <strong>and</strong> self-development. Community bonding heals through eliciting neurobiologicallymediated forms <strong>of</strong> attachment. Attachment bonds that evolved to maintainproximity between a patient <strong>and</strong> a healer create a secure basis for <strong>the</strong> self by providingfeelings <strong>of</strong> comfort <strong>and</strong> protection received from a powerful figure. These anthropologicalfindings highlighted <strong>the</strong> pivotal role for music in <strong>the</strong> healing process <strong>and</strong> this hasconfirmed reports by o<strong>the</strong>r researchers such as Cook (1981), Larco, (1998), <strong>and</strong> P<strong>into</strong>(1998) who observed that music formed part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> healing systems <strong>of</strong> many cultures. Thisis echoed by psychologists such as d'Aquili et al. (1989, 40-41) who assert ritual coordination<strong>of</strong> social groups constitutes a mechanism for socialization, „an evolutionary, ancientchannel <strong>of</strong> communication that operates by virtue <strong>of</strong> homologous biological functions (i.e.,synchronization, integration, tuning, etc.) in man <strong>and</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r vertebrates‟.Beckford (2006) provides an interesting insight <strong>into</strong> music <strong>and</strong> social change from <strong>the</strong>perspective <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> migration <strong>of</strong> people from <strong>the</strong> Caribbean who brought African Americanmusic with <strong>the</strong>m. He outlines <strong>the</strong> background <strong>of</strong> Caribbean music from dancehall to churchhall space <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> working class which started to developed in Jamaica <strong>and</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r WestIndian isl<strong>and</strong>s with <strong>the</strong> arrival <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> first missionaries in <strong>the</strong> late eighteen century. Theslaves <strong>and</strong> colonial Blacks transformed European Christianity so that it can be more in line58

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