Charrise Barron earned her Ph.D. in African and African American studies, with a secondary field of study in ethnomusicology, from Harvard University. She also holds a Master of Divinity summa cum laude from Yale Divinity School. While her research, writing, and presentations have explored a range of topics in African American religion, music, and history, her current book project centers on contemporary black gospel music. This work elucidates the marked shifts away from previous eras of gospel performance and culture which have defined the last twenty-five years of gospel.

Barron has taught religion and music courses at Yale University and Colorado College. She has guest lectured on African American history, religion, and black popular music for several Harvard University courses, and she has lectured on gospel at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. She is a Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) Doctoral Fellowship alumna and a member of the Harvard University Society of Horizons Scholars.

Beyond her academic work, Barron is an ordained Christian minister and gospel keyboardist, singer, and composer. She has performed and directed music programming in churches throughout the United States and abroad.

At Brown, Charrise Barron’s course “Gospel Music from the Church to the Streets,” surveys the history of African American sacred music and analyzes the function of gospel performance within both “The Black Church” and popular culture.