“Re-sounding tensions about ‘noisemaking’ arising between Ga ‘traditionalists’ and Pentecostal/Charismatic Christians in Accra, Mariam Goshadze offers a fresh take on interreligious entanglements from a sonic angle. This amazing book breaks new ground for understanding the precarious position of ‘traditional religion’ vis-À-vis Christianity by situating it in the Ghanaian secular regime in which religion, culture, and heritage are defined and managed. A trailblazing contribution to the study of religion and secularity in Africa.” - Birgit Meyer, Professor of Religious Studies, Utrecht University “This fascinating, innovative, and theoretically and ethnographically rich study questions the fixity in Ghana of the categories by which most political analysts define contemporary democratic nation-states. Mariam Goshadze’s argument for recognizing Ghanaian secularity as a unique formation is compelling and convincing. <i>The Noise Silence Makes</i> represents what is best about religious studies: its ability to analyze apparently nonreligious dynamics in productive ways through the accumulated tools of ritual analysis. A tour de force.” - Joseph Hellweg, author of (Hunting the Ethical State: The Benkadi Movement of Côte d'Ivoire)
A Note on Pronunciation xi
Introduction: Altered Ontologies and Reversed Paradigms 1
1. Jumping on the Anti-Noise Bandwagon: Drumming Permits for Accra’s Residents 25
2. Winds of Change: The Ban on Drumming Enters the Public Sphere 46
3. The Power of Sound: Cross-World Sonic Theologies 69
4. When the Deities Visit: Translating Religion into the Language of the Secular 87
5. Sacred Acoustic Inspectors: The Ghanian State and Noise Abatement during the HƆMƆWƆ Festival 108
6. Let Us Offer Thanks for the Nation of Ghana: Hɔmɔwɔ as a Civil Ceremony of Thanksgiving 133
Conclusion: Layered Epistemologies of Contemporary Accra 153
Acknowledgments 159
Glossary 161
Notes 163
References 177
Index 193