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.

Dr. Barron has taught religion and music courses at Yale University and Colorado College, and she has guest lectured on African American history, religion, and black popular music for several Harvard University courses. At Brown, her 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. She has also lectured on gospel music at the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York. In April of 2018, she delivered a keynote address entitled “New Songs in the Same Strange Land: Congregational Music for Worship and Liberation in the Age of Hip Hop and Black Lives Matter” at the Association of Practical Theology Biennial Conference. She is a Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE) Doctoral Fellowship alumna, and a member of the Harvard University Society of Horizons Scholars.