Black Hawk Hancock
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226043074
- eISBN:
- 9780226043241
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226043241.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
“Perhaps,” wrote Ralph Ellison more than seventy years ago, “the zoot suit contains profound political meaning; perhaps the symmetrical frenzy of the Lindy-hop conceals clues to great potential ...
More
“Perhaps,” wrote Ralph Ellison more than seventy years ago, “the zoot suit contains profound political meaning; perhaps the symmetrical frenzy of the Lindy-hop conceals clues to great potential power.” As Ellison noted then, many of our most mundane cultural forms are larger and more important than they appear, taking on great significance and an unexpected depth of meaning. What he saw in the power of the Lindy Hop—the dance that Life magazine once billed as “America's True National Folk Dance”—would spread from black America to make a lasting impression on white America and offer us a truly compelling means of understanding our culture. But with what hidden implications? This book offers an embedded and embodied ethnography that situates dance within a larger Chicago landscape of segregated social practices. Delving into two Chicago dance worlds—the Lindy and Steppin'—it uses a combination of participant-observation and interviews to bring to the surface the racial tension that surrounds white use of black cultural forms. Focusing on new forms of appropriation in an era of multiculturalism, the author underscores the institutionalization of racial disparities and offers insights into the intersection of race and culture in America.Less
“Perhaps,” wrote Ralph Ellison more than seventy years ago, “the zoot suit contains profound political meaning; perhaps the symmetrical frenzy of the Lindy-hop conceals clues to great potential power.” As Ellison noted then, many of our most mundane cultural forms are larger and more important than they appear, taking on great significance and an unexpected depth of meaning. What he saw in the power of the Lindy Hop—the dance that Life magazine once billed as “America's True National Folk Dance”—would spread from black America to make a lasting impression on white America and offer us a truly compelling means of understanding our culture. But with what hidden implications? This book offers an embedded and embodied ethnography that situates dance within a larger Chicago landscape of segregated social practices. Delving into two Chicago dance worlds—the Lindy and Steppin'—it uses a combination of participant-observation and interviews to bring to the surface the racial tension that surrounds white use of black cultural forms. Focusing on new forms of appropriation in an era of multiculturalism, the author underscores the institutionalization of racial disparities and offers insights into the intersection of race and culture in America.
Black Hawk Hancock
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226043074
- eISBN:
- 9780226043241
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226043241.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This chapter discusses the author's immersion into the worlds of Lindy Hop and Steppin'. He participated in all aspects of the Lindy Hop dance culture and became a regular social dancer in the ...
More
This chapter discusses the author's immersion into the worlds of Lindy Hop and Steppin'. He participated in all aspects of the Lindy Hop dance culture and became a regular social dancer in the Chicago Steppin' world. The present volume is a confluence of three narratives: (1) an historical narrative of his immersion in and passage through the Lindy Hop and Steppin' worlds; (2) a personal narrative of his own development as a student of dance, as a scholar, and as an individual; and (3) a theoretical and methodological narrative that develops his experiences and approaches in the field to larger studies of race, culture, and identity.Less
This chapter discusses the author's immersion into the worlds of Lindy Hop and Steppin'. He participated in all aspects of the Lindy Hop dance culture and became a regular social dancer in the Chicago Steppin' world. The present volume is a confluence of three narratives: (1) an historical narrative of his immersion in and passage through the Lindy Hop and Steppin' worlds; (2) a personal narrative of his own development as a student of dance, as a scholar, and as an individual; and (3) a theoretical and methodological narrative that develops his experiences and approaches in the field to larger studies of race, culture, and identity.
Black Hawk Hancock
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226043074
- eISBN:
- 9780226043241
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226043241.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This chapter examines the history of the Lindy Hop and what its revival says about the ongoing story of our struggles with “American” cultural identity. It relates the Lindy Hop scene to the social ...
More
This chapter examines the history of the Lindy Hop and what its revival says about the ongoing story of our struggles with “American” cultural identity. It relates the Lindy Hop scene to the social dance world of Steppin' in order to understand the Lindy Hop in relation to race, identity, and contemporary American society. It discusses the need to shift the study of race and ethnicity back onto whiteness and the ways in which the privileges of whiteness are institutionalized and naturalized; Ralph Ellison's thoughts on African American culture; and the carnal sociology approach. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.Less
This chapter examines the history of the Lindy Hop and what its revival says about the ongoing story of our struggles with “American” cultural identity. It relates the Lindy Hop scene to the social dance world of Steppin' in order to understand the Lindy Hop in relation to race, identity, and contemporary American society. It discusses the need to shift the study of race and ethnicity back onto whiteness and the ways in which the privileges of whiteness are institutionalized and naturalized; Ralph Ellison's thoughts on African American culture; and the carnal sociology approach. An overview of the subsequent chapters is also presented.
Black Hawk Hancock
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226043074
- eISBN:
- 9780226043241
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226043241.003.0007
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This chapter recounts the author's engagement with the Steppin' scene in Chicago and explores how cultural practice enables the contestation and transgression of racial categories. This approach ...
More
This chapter recounts the author's engagement with the Steppin' scene in Chicago and explores how cultural practice enables the contestation and transgression of racial categories. This approach presents an alternative model for explaining racial identity, grounded in the competencies and embodied knowledge that one enacts in practice, which opens up new antiessentialist possibilities for theorizing race and an antiracist politics based in cultural labor. In doing so, the chapter highlights the nuances of subcultures within the larger African American community by showing the internal differences that exemplify the complexity of discussing a singular African American community in relation to any particular cultural form.Less
This chapter recounts the author's engagement with the Steppin' scene in Chicago and explores how cultural practice enables the contestation and transgression of racial categories. This approach presents an alternative model for explaining racial identity, grounded in the competencies and embodied knowledge that one enacts in practice, which opens up new antiessentialist possibilities for theorizing race and an antiracist politics based in cultural labor. In doing so, the chapter highlights the nuances of subcultures within the larger African American community by showing the internal differences that exemplify the complexity of discussing a singular African American community in relation to any particular cultural form.
Black Hawk Hancock
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780226043074
- eISBN:
- 9780226043241
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226043241.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This chapter presents the author's own reflections as an embedded and embodied ethnographer in relation to the craft he mastered and the worlds he traveled through on the way to that mastery. This ...
More
This chapter presents the author's own reflections as an embedded and embodied ethnographer in relation to the craft he mastered and the worlds he traveled through on the way to that mastery. This reflection takes stock of his doubly transformative odyssey as both carnal sociologist and Lindy Hopper/stepper. In doing so, this reflection considers ways to establish new inroads into the interconnections between race and culture at both theoretical and empirical, as well as intellectual and practical, levels in relation to the allegory of dance as a racial-cultural dynamic working itself out within the larger context of American society.Less
This chapter presents the author's own reflections as an embedded and embodied ethnographer in relation to the craft he mastered and the worlds he traveled through on the way to that mastery. This reflection takes stock of his doubly transformative odyssey as both carnal sociologist and Lindy Hopper/stepper. In doing so, this reflection considers ways to establish new inroads into the interconnections between race and culture at both theoretical and empirical, as well as intellectual and practical, levels in relation to the allegory of dance as a racial-cultural dynamic working itself out within the larger context of American society.
