Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America
About: This article is published in American Music.The article was published on 1995-12-01. It has received 1577 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Noise.
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TL;DR: In this paper, Small argues that music is not a thing, but rather an activity, a verb that encompasses all musical activity from composing to performing to listening to a Walkman to singing in the shower.
Abstract: Extending the inquiry of his early groundbreaking books, Christopher Small strikes at the heart of traditional studies of Western music by asserting that music is not a thing, but rather an activity. This new work outlines a theory of what Small terms "musicking, " a verb that encompasses all musical activity from composing to performing to listening to a Walkman to singing in the shower. Using Gregory Bateson's philosophy of mind and a Geertzian thick description of a typical concert in a typical symphony hall, Small demonstrates how musicking forms a ritual through which all the participants explore and celebrate the relationships that constitute their social identity. This trip through the concert hall will have readers rethinking every aspect of their musical worlds.
1,507 citations
Book•
01 Jan 2008TL;DR: The Aftermath of Feminism as mentioned in this paper argues that invidious forms of gender re-stabilisation are being re-established in consumer and popular culture, appearing supportive of female freedom, yet tying women into new post-feminist neurotic dependencies.
Abstract: In this trenchant inquiry into the state of feminism, Angela McRobbie breaks open the politics of sexual equality and 'affirmative feminism' and sets down a new theory of gender power. Challenging the most basic assumptions of the 'end' of feminism, this book argues that invidious forms of gender re-stabilisation are being re-established. Consumer and popular culture encroach on the terrain of so-called female freedom, appearing supportive of female success, yet tying women into new post-feminist neurotic dependencies. With a scathing critique of 'women's empowerment', McRobbie has developed a distinctive feminist analysis that she uses to examine socio-cultural phenomena embedded in contemporary women's lives: from fashion photography and the television 'make-over' genre to eating disorders, body anxiety and 'illegible rage'.
A turning point in feminist theory, The Aftermath of Feminism will set a new agenda for gender studies and cultural studies.
1,261 citations
TL;DR: Paris and Alim as discussed by the authors argue that CSP seeks to perpetuate and foster linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling and as a needed response to demographic and social change.
Abstract: In this article, Django Paris and H. Samy Alim use the emergence of Paris's concept of culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) as the foundation for a respectful and productive critique of previous formulations of asset pedagogies. Paying particular attention to asset pedagogy's failures to remain dynamic and critical in a constantly evolving global world, they offer a vision that builds on the crucial work of the past toward a CSP that keeps pace with the changing lives and practices of youth of color. The authors argue that CSP seeks to perpetuate and foster linguistic, literate, and cultural pluralism as part of the democratic project of schooling and as a needed response to demographic and social change. Building from their critique, Paris and Alim suggest that CSP's two most important tenets are a focus on the plural and evolving nature of youth identity and cultural practices and a commitment to embracing youth culture's counterhegemonic potential while maintaining a clear-eyed critique of the ways in ...
1,064 citations
Additional excerpts
...Thus, CSP must interrogate and critique the simultaneously progressive and oppressive currents in these innovative youth practices, as has been done consistently for research on Hip Hop music and culture outside education (Alim, Lee, & Carris, 2010, 2011; Neal, 2006; Perry, 2004; Rose, 1994)....
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TL;DR: The authors found that cultural tolerance constitutes multicultural capital as it is unevenly distributed in the population and evidences class-based exclusion, and that people use cultural taste to reinforce symbolic boundaries between themselves and categories of people they dislike.
Abstract: The author provides quantitative evidence of a cultural phenomenon. Using data on musical dislikes from the 1993 General Social Survey, He links literatures on taste, racism, and democratic liberalism by showing that people use cultural taste to reinforce symbolic boundaries between themselves and categories of people they dislike. Contrary to Bourdieu's (1984) prediction, musical exclusiveness decreases with education. Also, political tolerance is associated with musical tolerance, even controlling for educational attainment, and racism increases the probability of disliking genres whose fans are disproportionately non-White. Tolerant musical taste, however, is found to have a specific pattern of exclusiveness : Those genres whose fans have the least education-gospel, country, rap, and heavy metal-are also those most likely to be rejected by the musically tolerant. Broad familiarity with music genres is also significantly related to education. He suggests, therefore, that cultural tolerance constitutes multicultural capital as it is unevenly distributed in the population and evidences class-based exclusion
923 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the coexistence of dominant and non-dominant cultural capital within the social and academic lives of low-income ethnic minority students is examined. But, the authors do not examine the relationship between cultural capital and social mobility.
Abstract: Previous literature has failed to empirically demonstrate the conceptual distinction that social scientists make between "dominant" and "non-dominant" cultural capital. This article provides evidence of the coexistence of these two forms of capital within the social and academic lives of poor ethnic minority students. Using in-depth interviews with 44 low-income African American youth, I illustrate how these students negotiate their perceptions of the differential values placed by educators on these two forms of capital. Often, scholars research the effects of (dominant) cultural capital in social reproduction across various social classes, but not the influence of (non-dominant) cultural capital on status relations within socially marginalized communities. By taking into account the interplay between these two forms of capital in the lives of low-income minority students, researchers might develop a more complete and nuanced understanding of how culture ultimately affects the prospects of mobility for lower status social groups.
576 citations
References
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Book•
01 Jun 1995
TL;DR: Berman examines the clash of classes, histories, and cultures, and ponders our prospects for coming to terms with the relationship between a liberating social and philosophical idealism and a complex, bureaucratic materialism.
Abstract: "A bubbling caldron of ideas . . . Enlightening and valuable." Mervyn Jones, New Statesman. The political and social revolutions of the nineteenth century, the pivotal writings of Goethe, Marx, Dostoevsky, and others, and the creation of new environments to replace the oldall have thrust us into a modern world of contradictions and ambiguities. In this fascinating book, Marshall Berman examines the clash of classes, histories, and cultures, and ponders our prospects for coming to terms with the relationship between a liberating social and philosophical idealism and a complex, bureaucratic materialism.From a reinterpretation of Karl Marx to an incisive consideration of the impact of Robert Moses on modern urban living, Berman charts the progress of the twentieth-century experience. He concludes that adaptation to continual flux "is" possible and that therein lies our hope for achieving a truly modern society."
2,563 citations