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The performance of worship music is an inseparable part of church service. While repetition makes this practice a natural behavior inside the church, simultaneously performing music reinforces the meaning of the church as a space to worship the divine. In this paper, I examine the relationship between music, space, and place in diasporic Persian churches in the US. Most music scholars have considered space a medium through which diasporic communities shape and express their identities. However, music plays an additional role than the construction of identity. My study suggests that music also is a space where diasporic communities negotiate power with their host countries. This study asks how does music question the naturalized and westernized worship practices in Persian churches? To answer this question, I mainly draw upon Tim Cresswell’s “transgression” theory. According to him, transgression breaks the “normality,” and forces us to question what was previously perceived as “common.” In this way, transgression reveals topographies of power that are embedded in a place. I argue that Persian worship music is a transgression since it uncovers the exercise of power by American evangelists in diasporic Persian churches. I draw upon my ethnographies from Persian Christian churches and their gatherings in Colorado and Texas to argue that through language and the use of Persian music elements these communities resist pressures to conform to ritual norms of contemporary non- denominational Protestant churches in the US. This study contributes to furthering the academic understanding of music, space, and place among Persian diasporic communities.

Each semester the Department of Middle Eastern Studies hosts multiple lectures through which graduate students and faculty can present their latest research. Brown Bag Lectures serve to bring our MES and UT communities together around emerging scholarship. Presenters have the opportunity to engage as an active audience and workshop their ideas in a supportive environment. Speakers have given talks on a wide range of topics, including gothic Hebrew literature, pre-Islamic Yemen, Iranian video distribution, and language use in Arabic and Turkish literature. We welcome participation across disciplines related to Middle Eastern Studies.