Melchor-Barz, Gregory2023-05-012023-05-012022G. Melchor-Barz. 2022. "Sonicization of Gender in Tanzania Kwaya Congregational Music" International Journal of Arts, Humanities & Social Science, Volume 3, Issue 9, pp.1-9. https://doi.org/10.56734/ijahss2693-25472693-2555https://hdl.handle.net/2144/46122In this article, I introduce issues related to the embodiment of gendered sound in contemporary Tanzanian Christian choral communities (East Africa). By pulling back the layers of meaning that frequently veil congregational singing, I suggest that a focus on the routinely reiterated sounds produced by kwayas (KiSwahili for “choir”), that participate within that greater congregational space leads to a normalization of the performance of a localized gendering process—the sounding of sopranos, for example—that I label “sonic gendering.” This proposal confirms Judith Butler’s admonition that it is through rearticulation and repetition, such as when a kwaya continually affirms sonic gendering daily, that constitutive gender norms are reworked within a given cultural context (2011[1993], ix). I suggest that everyday singing in a kwaya facilitates the re-performing, re-consumption, and continuous re-embodiment of a process of gendering.p. 1-9en-USIJAHSS by IPRPD is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Article2023-02-0310.56734/ijahss.v3n9a1790784