Since 2000, I have worked with new migrant communities in Limerick city, Ireland, particularly in the context of ritual singing. This longitudinal engagement during a time of unprecedented global migration has yielded a body of work, most of which has used a variety of qualitative research methods to explore lived experiences of ritual singing in the context of increasingly diverse communities. While recognising the value of this grounded, ethnographic exploration, I have become increasingly interested in developing a theoretical framework to support this work and the work of others. Developing this model has brought me into dialogue with one of the key preoccupations of postmodern scholarship: the limitations of binary dialectics. There is growing evidence that our increased access to an overwhelming amount of data, delivered through simplistic algorithms, is fostering dangerous dichotomies in the contemporary world. Whether these are conceptualised as right / left; liberal / fundamentalist; religious / secular, one’s positionality is increasingly reinforced by narratives of opposition to the other (Jakubowicz, 2018). Not surprisingly, “the stranger” or xenos is a key figure in contemporary philosophical discourse. Kristeva draws a connection between the stranger in ourselves: those parts of ourselves we find difficult to accommodate, and the “foreignness” we project onto others (Kristeva, 1991). The real-world importance of this discourse is thrown into relief by the largest and most significant migration crisis in recorded history, exacerbated by the global pandemic (UNHCR, 2020) and the deep-rooted persistence of xenophobia (Lee, 2019). 

The development of this framework has guided by three key questions: 

· What kinds of models do we need to overcome oppositional binaries of self / other? 

· What role might singing play in in developing more inclusive models of belonging? 

· How can ritual support singing to create experiences of belonging for diverse communities? 

In addressing these questions. I propose a threefold model of sung encounter. Referencing both ethnomusicological and Christian liturgical tripartite models for understanding and evaluating musical processes, I propose a dynamic triangulation of context, content and concept to frame experiences of ritual singing with culturally diverse communities, and will ground this proposition with reference to my work with a Congolese choir based in Limerick. 

Helen Phelan is Professor of Arts Practice and Director of the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance, University of Limerick. She is an Irish Research Council recipient for her work on singing, ritual and migration, and founder of the Singing and Social Inclusion research group at UL. She is also co-founder of the female vocal ensemble Cantoral, specializing in Irish medieval chant. Her most recent research, funded by the Health Research Institute, brings together an interdisciplinary research team to explore singing, health and well-being with culturally diverse communities. Recent publications include the Singing the Rite to Belong: Music, Ritual and the New Irish (Oxford University Press) and The Artist and Academia (Routledge), co-edited with Graham Welch.