Suchergebnisse

An exploration of rap & hip-hop music in Canada argues that, although the genre emerged in black communities, it now serves as a link between black & white teenagers/young adults, demonstrating transformations that occur when cultural products shift from minority groups to the mainstream. The history of rap & hip-hop is traced, noting that the US-based subculture was appropriated & adapted by Canadians. In-depth interviews conducted in 1994/95 with black, white, & biracial rappers & fans (total N = 8) indicate that it is extremely difficult to pursue a professional rap career in Canada, where both the music & its supporters remain marginalized. It is contended that black youth use rap to articulate a positive identity & feel considerable animosity toward white "culture vultures" who steal black styles. The lyrics from 12 Canadian rap albums are analyzed to explore themes of racism & identity. Policy issues revolving around cultural appropriation & the Canadian music industry are discussed. 1 Discography, 56 References. J. Lindroth

Analyzes the mangue beat movement in Recife, Brazil, as a case study of the interplay between local popular culture & the international music industry. The oligopoly that dominates the international music industry is described, demonstrating its control over which musicians & genres receive attention outside their local settings. The growth of the alternative mangue beat movement since its 1991 emergence in the local youth culture of Recife is examined within the context of local & national contexts affecting its creation, production, promotion, & distribution, highlighting its influence on other musical & artistic genres & cultural production in general. Conflicts between the mangue beat movement & the Armorial movement, which disdains mass culture in favor of forms of high culture inherited from Europe, are reviewed, along with cultural policies that work for & against each group. 27 References. K. Hyatt Stewart

The nature & implications of the consumption & leisure patterns of Algerian male youth during the 1980s are discussed in an analysis of rai music: a mixture of Western & traditional styles performed predominantly by young male artists. Rai music seems to reflect male youths' desires & difficulties coming to terms with new love relationships & with adulthood. The central themes of this musical form were love, lust, emphasis on traditional family relationships with a caring mother & respected father, glorification of Islam, association of women with sorcery, & concern regarding women's entrance into recently male-dominated realms of society. However, the extent to which different individuals accepted these diverse beliefs was highly variable. Rai frequently expressed the desire for young males to create their own social sphere separate from the parent generation. Relationships with females were seen as an entrance into the adult world; however, these relationships were complicated by the gender division in leisure activities & consumption, & concern regarding women's emerging social freedoms. It is concluded that rai is reflective of the major crisis in modern Algerian culture -- the conflict between young men's movement toward Islam & the Westernization of culture. 55 References. T. Sevier

The incorporation of swing music into WWII morale efforts in the US is examined, & swing music is conceptualized as an embodiment of what US soldiers were fighting for. Swing bandleader Glenn Miller, who joined the US Army Air Corps during WWII, used jazz music to glorify an idealized home front representing the American dream. Miller's approach to swing music & his blending of swing & romantic melodies are discussed. Miller explicitly attempted to fuse the big city & small town in his bands by including ethnic musicians; however, African Americans were excluded from the vision of an ethnic US represented by Miller's musicians. During the dislocations of the war, Miller's music expressed the possibilities of domestic happiness & romantic love in the postwar world. 2 Figures. J. Ferrari

Traces the history of the category of race in history & historiography from ancient Egypt to the present. It is observed that the extreme ethnic heterogeneity & ethnocentrism of ancient Egypt began to change around 500 BC, when darker pigmentation became associated with ugliness & slavery. At this point, blackness increasingly became associated with Muslims, who were generally reviled in the Christian world. Modern racism is described as beginning from the first 15th-century contact between Europeans & Africans in the context of the system of slavery. Modern historiography since the 17th century is shown to have been conditioned by the context of slavery & racism to exclude Africans & African history from the pantheon of great historical events. It is concluded that contemporary historians would do well to focus on the interaction & mixture of the races rather than their isolation if they are to develop responsible & accurate historical accounts of the past & present. D. M. Smith

Considers the conflation of history with sophistication in the class & gender politics of Jane Austen's Northanger Abbey (1972 [1818]) as an example of proto-Victorian negotiations of these issues. Austen's method is read as a process whereby refinement is manifested as particularization, in that characters who make distinctions automatically have conferred on them the distinction of being sophisticated. This is shown to be particularly true in the character Catherine's judgment of the Gothic novels she reads. Contrary to Nancy Armstrong's (1987) interpretation of this movement in the novel, which describes it as a singular shift from history to sophistication, it is argued that history is only submerged, not erased, from the novel. It is indicated by Austen's novel that, if the classification of fiction becomes more sophisticated, raising the novel's cultural stock, these changes are due to the fact that novels take historiography as their model rather than erase it from their pages. Based on this reinterpretation of the relation between history & sophistication, it is contended that the novel displays a sense that upper-middle-class sophistication might turn every upper-middle-class male body into a nauseating body. Austen's contempt for this male body is interpreted in the context of a social order that denies Austen all other forms of power except the power of style. D. M. Smith

Traces the development of nationalism in European history since the early Middle Ages. It is observed that the basis of Roman society was citizenship, a concept that linked individuals to the state & that was usually based on ethnic categories. Nationalism evolved in the early modern period through a dynastic system in which warring factions in a territory competed for supremacy. Modern nationalism is traced to 18th-century wars between various European powers, wherein, it is suggested, the dynastic conception of nationalism was transformed into a more basic & instinctive feeling & propelled forward after the French Revolution. This period is described as one of state nationalism in which the cohesive nation-state became understood as the most advanced & hopeful institution for internal order & material prosperity. Out of this form of nationalism grew the system of imperialism in which vast territories were claimed & conquered. The recent movement toward ethnic nationalism is discussed in the context of this larger history of European nationalism. D. M. Smith