What should a man sound like when singing Gospel music in the Black church? What octave is just "too high" for a man to incorporate into his performance? The cultural expectations that come with Black worship sometimes fail to validate the liberty of expression of many male vocalists due to what congregants think is acceptable gender performativity. In this provocative episode, Dr. Neal sits in conversation with Alisha Lola Jones, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Folklore and Ethnomusicology at Indiana University. Her latest publication, "Flaming? The Peculiar Theopolitics of Fire and Desire in Black Male Gospel Performance," is available here through Oxford University Press: https://bit.ly/3jGaXnp.

Follow Dr. Jones on her site: https://www.dralisha.com/

Left of Black is a web series featuring interviews with Black Studies scholars created and hosted by James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of African and African American Studies Mark Anthony Neal and produced by the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute at Duke University.