Melanie J. Wright
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780195152265
- eISBN:
- 9780199834884
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195152263.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Biblical Studies
Previous chapters in this book have considered in depth how Lincoln Steffens, Zora Neale Hurston, and Cecil B. DeMille represented Moses and the exodus in twentieth century America. These studies ...
More
Previous chapters in this book have considered in depth how Lincoln Steffens, Zora Neale Hurston, and Cecil B. DeMille represented Moses and the exodus in twentieth century America. These studies were capable of being read as discrete units and contain their own interim conclusions. This final chapter outlines conclusions that arise from the book in toto. It touches on the currency and contestedness of the biblical text in modern America; it also argues for an expansion of the concerns of biblical studies, to include popular cultural forms and nonelite readings. This move at once enhances and relativises the position of the professional biblical interpreter.Less
Previous chapters in this book have considered in depth how Lincoln Steffens, Zora Neale Hurston, and Cecil B. DeMille represented Moses and the exodus in twentieth century America. These studies were capable of being read as discrete units and contain their own interim conclusions. This final chapter outlines conclusions that arise from the book in toto. It touches on the currency and contestedness of the biblical text in modern America; it also argues for an expansion of the concerns of biblical studies, to include popular cultural forms and nonelite readings. This move at once enhances and relativises the position of the professional biblical interpreter.
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.
Robert Baron
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617031069
- eISBN:
- 9781617031076
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617031069.003.0010
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This chapter explores the metaphors used for creolization in order to discover how cultural creolization is theorized. It explains that contemporary creolists use metaphor when characterizing forms ...
More
This chapter explores the metaphors used for creolization in order to discover how cultural creolization is theorized. It explains that contemporary creolists use metaphor when characterizing forms and processes resulting from different combinations of cultural components of different provenances. The large collection of metaphors shows numerous patterns of the mixture of cultural forms and their change into new entities where cultural elements of various provenances may continue to exist.Less
This chapter explores the metaphors used for creolization in order to discover how cultural creolization is theorized. It explains that contemporary creolists use metaphor when characterizing forms and processes resulting from different combinations of cultural components of different provenances. The large collection of metaphors shows numerous patterns of the mixture of cultural forms and their change into new entities where cultural elements of various provenances may continue to exist.
Robert Tittler
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198207184
- eISBN:
- 9780191677540
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198207184.003.0014
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This chapter discusses the ways in which the town governments approached the free expression of ideas. It emphasises the efforts to censor the ...
More
This chapter discusses the ways in which the town governments approached the free expression of ideas. It emphasises the efforts to censor the expression, in dramatic performances especially, of what came increasingly to be seen as subversive views. The issues discussed illustrate some dimensions of the urban political culture of late Elizabethan or early Stuart towns. These representative issues include the regulation of dress and speech, especially in regard to civic officials; the restriction of both popular and cultural forms; and the effort to replace such forms with analogues devoted to supporting the prevailing political structure.Less
This chapter discusses the ways in which the town governments approached the free expression of ideas. It emphasises the efforts to censor the expression, in dramatic performances especially, of what came increasingly to be seen as subversive views. The issues discussed illustrate some dimensions of the urban political culture of late Elizabethan or early Stuart towns. These representative issues include the regulation of dress and speech, especially in regard to civic officials; the restriction of both popular and cultural forms; and the effort to replace such forms with analogues devoted to supporting the prevailing political structure.
Hugh Grady
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198183228
- eISBN:
- 9780191673962
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198183228.003.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Shakespeare Studies, Criticism/Theory
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to make use of the unique qualities of Shakespeare criticism in order to investigate and clarify the institutions and cultural ...
More
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to make use of the unique qualities of Shakespeare criticism in order to investigate and clarify the institutions and cultural forms which produce it, as well as the vast outpourings of the entire professionalized literary-critical enterprise in the modern world. It discusses the theoretical framework employed in the book and its relation to similar attempts at cultural theory in contemporary literary studies.Less
This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to make use of the unique qualities of Shakespeare criticism in order to investigate and clarify the institutions and cultural forms which produce it, as well as the vast outpourings of the entire professionalized literary-critical enterprise in the modern world. It discusses the theoretical framework employed in the book and its relation to similar attempts at cultural theory in contemporary literary studies.
Eric R. Wolf
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223332
- eISBN:
- 9780520924871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223332.003.0016
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Theory and Practice
This chapter attempts to discuss peasants in relation to landless workers and other social groupings within plantation systems. It places a typological construct on a continuum that could do justice ...
More
This chapter attempts to discuss peasants in relation to landless workers and other social groupings within plantation systems. It places a typological construct on a continuum that could do justice to the range of variation in existing plantation systems in the New World and traces out the implications of these variable modes for the formation of subcultures, classes, and communities in the different regions. Plantation creates new communities, which translates in spatial terms into the chain of command of owners, managers, overseers, permanent laborers, and seasonal workers. The new-style plantation dispenses altogether with personalized phrasings of its technical requirements. These may involve attempts to widen the resource base through the manipulation of two different sets of cultural forms and attempts to improve life chances through mobility and, finally, to defend a specialized culturally defined niche and to participate in the life of the host society through a double adaptation.Less
This chapter attempts to discuss peasants in relation to landless workers and other social groupings within plantation systems. It places a typological construct on a continuum that could do justice to the range of variation in existing plantation systems in the New World and traces out the implications of these variable modes for the formation of subcultures, classes, and communities in the different regions. Plantation creates new communities, which translates in spatial terms into the chain of command of owners, managers, overseers, permanent laborers, and seasonal workers. The new-style plantation dispenses altogether with personalized phrasings of its technical requirements. These may involve attempts to widen the resource base through the manipulation of two different sets of cultural forms and attempts to improve life chances through mobility and, finally, to defend a specialized culturally defined niche and to participate in the life of the host society through a double adaptation.
Ariel Glucklich
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195108798
- eISBN:
- 9780199853434
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195108798.003.0017
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
For a variety of reasons, scholars of religions no longer find it useful to compare religion and magic. According to the worst misconception, magic compels natural or supernatural forces to obey ...
More
For a variety of reasons, scholars of religions no longer find it useful to compare religion and magic. According to the worst misconception, magic compels natural or supernatural forces to obey human will, whereas religion acts by supplication to a god who may or may not respond. With the rise of symbolical interpretations of magic, this distinction has stopped making sense. If the magical act is a form of expressive speech, which is not compelling but meaningful, then magic and religion become two types of one phenomenon: a symbolic rationality in relation to the sacred. Due to the fact that the magical experience can exist anywhere—a dentist's office as much as a hunting expedition—it is the subjective aspect of magic that should interest us most. Magical “empathy” can become the new subject of inquiry, the extension of the magical experience into daily life. The study of magic must combine the history of embodied experience—the ground of interrelatedness—and its articulation in concrete cultural forms.Less
For a variety of reasons, scholars of religions no longer find it useful to compare religion and magic. According to the worst misconception, magic compels natural or supernatural forces to obey human will, whereas religion acts by supplication to a god who may or may not respond. With the rise of symbolical interpretations of magic, this distinction has stopped making sense. If the magical act is a form of expressive speech, which is not compelling but meaningful, then magic and religion become two types of one phenomenon: a symbolic rationality in relation to the sacred. Due to the fact that the magical experience can exist anywhere—a dentist's office as much as a hunting expedition—it is the subjective aspect of magic that should interest us most. Magical “empathy” can become the new subject of inquiry, the extension of the magical experience into daily life. The study of magic must combine the history of embodied experience—the ground of interrelatedness—and its articulation in concrete cultural forms.
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/9780226043241.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This chapter highlights the lived immediacy of dancing leading to both a simultaneous investment in mastery of those embodied practices and an obliviousness to how those interactions erase the ...
More
This chapter highlights the lived immediacy of dancing leading to both a simultaneous investment in mastery of those embodied practices and an obliviousness to how those interactions erase the historical conditions of those cultural forms. By mapping out the dominant discourses through which the dance is conceptualized and articulated, it shows how the very discourses through which people understand their actions are always subject to those who wield the most power over them. Here, the theme of cultural appropriation in relation to the specificities of the Lindy Hop revival allow the dance to be openly embraced as a cultural form since it has no current grounded racial identity in popular culture. As a result, these discourses provide a window into understanding how the dominant racial logic of American society circulates even in the most apparently innocuous cultural practices.Less
This chapter highlights the lived immediacy of dancing leading to both a simultaneous investment in mastery of those embodied practices and an obliviousness to how those interactions erase the historical conditions of those cultural forms. By mapping out the dominant discourses through which the dance is conceptualized and articulated, it shows how the very discourses through which people understand their actions are always subject to those who wield the most power over them. Here, the theme of cultural appropriation in relation to the specificities of the Lindy Hop revival allow the dance to be openly embraced as a cultural form since it has no current grounded racial identity in popular culture. As a result, these discourses provide a window into understanding how the dominant racial logic of American society circulates even in the most apparently innocuous cultural practices.
Ian Loader and Aogán Mulcahy
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198299066
- eISBN:
- 9780191685583
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198299066.003.0009
- Subject:
- Law, Criminal Law and Criminology
This chapter offers an assessment of the current condition of English policing culture. This entails revisiting Raymond Williams' threefold typology of cultural forms — the dominant, the residual, ...
More
This chapter offers an assessment of the current condition of English policing culture. This entails revisiting Raymond Williams' threefold typology of cultural forms — the dominant, the residual, and the emergent — sketched towards the end of Chapter 2 and which has quietly guided subsequent efforts at interpretation. In recapitulating the principal themes that featured in Parts II and III of this book, the chapter aims to further a sociological and political analysis of the mix of lay, professional, and governmental sensibilities that struggle with one another to constitute (and re-constitute) English policing culture.Less
This chapter offers an assessment of the current condition of English policing culture. This entails revisiting Raymond Williams' threefold typology of cultural forms — the dominant, the residual, and the emergent — sketched towards the end of Chapter 2 and which has quietly guided subsequent efforts at interpretation. In recapitulating the principal themes that featured in Parts II and III of this book, the chapter aims to further a sociological and political analysis of the mix of lay, professional, and governmental sensibilities that struggle with one another to constitute (and re-constitute) English policing culture.
Xin Liu
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520219939
- eISBN:
- 9780520923478
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520219939.003.0008
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
The ethnographic materials presented in this book articulate a theoretical position in response to two popular tendencies in writing about contemporary Chinese society. First, it aimed to write from ...
More
The ethnographic materials presented in this book articulate a theoretical position in response to two popular tendencies in writing about contemporary Chinese society. First, it aimed to write from the perspective not of the local cadres but of the hosts, ordinary villagers. Second, the ethnographic materials in the book were examined from the perspective of a worm, not from the bird's-eye view usually taken by those attempting to grasp the significance of rural transformation in China. This chapter examines the “immoral economy” and the arbitrary combination of cultural forms.Less
The ethnographic materials presented in this book articulate a theoretical position in response to two popular tendencies in writing about contemporary Chinese society. First, it aimed to write from the perspective not of the local cadres but of the hosts, ordinary villagers. Second, the ethnographic materials in the book were examined from the perspective of a worm, not from the bird's-eye view usually taken by those attempting to grasp the significance of rural transformation in China. This chapter examines the “immoral economy” and the arbitrary combination of cultural forms.
Law Wing Sang
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9789622099296
- eISBN:
- 9789882206755
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Hong Kong University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5790/hongkong/9789622099296.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
The chapter explains that this book argues that collaboration is the key to finding an extended analytical framework within which to grasp the power formation of Hong Kong. It intends not to argue ...
More
The chapter explains that this book argues that collaboration is the key to finding an extended analytical framework within which to grasp the power formation of Hong Kong. It intends not to argue that Hong Kong is the only place where colonial rule relied on collaboration, but that the existence of pervasive collaborative relations provides a convenient but often-neglected route to understanding the irregularly shaped cultural landscapes of Hong Kong. It notes that the book will account for the large variety of interests and forces involved in order to show the mobility and the variability these colonial cultural forms (i.e. colonialities) manifested.Less
The chapter explains that this book argues that collaboration is the key to finding an extended analytical framework within which to grasp the power formation of Hong Kong. It intends not to argue that Hong Kong is the only place where colonial rule relied on collaboration, but that the existence of pervasive collaborative relations provides a convenient but often-neglected route to understanding the irregularly shaped cultural landscapes of Hong Kong. It notes that the book will account for the large variety of interests and forces involved in order to show the mobility and the variability these colonial cultural forms (i.e. colonialities) manifested.
Robin Nelson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719073106
- eISBN:
- 9781781701119
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719073106.003.0021
- Subject:
- Film, Television and Radio, Television
This chapter draws freely on examples to illustrate the key impacts of technologies on cultural form in TV3. Though technology is not seen as determining cultural forms, it is one of the main forces ...
More
This chapter draws freely on examples to illustrate the key impacts of technologies on cultural form in TV3. Though technology is not seen as determining cultural forms, it is one of the main forces in a field which shapes the programmes that appear on the small screen. In TV3, developments in technologies have played a significant part not just in distribution but also in approaches to making TV dramas and their textual forms. Developments influenced by technologies include an increased emphasis upon visual style, an aspiration to be as close to cinema as possible, increased dynamism of image and sound and a new configuration of the tension between credible illusionism and textual playfulness. It may be that television ‘viewing’ will become increasingly hypermediate and interactive in the manner of engagements with computers but, at present, it appears that the television's historical disposition towards unmediated presentation as ‘the ultimate goal of visual representation’ may be sustained but with a higher-quality, more ‘cinematic’ treatment of a wider range of visual images.Less
This chapter draws freely on examples to illustrate the key impacts of technologies on cultural form in TV3. Though technology is not seen as determining cultural forms, it is one of the main forces in a field which shapes the programmes that appear on the small screen. In TV3, developments in technologies have played a significant part not just in distribution but also in approaches to making TV dramas and their textual forms. Developments influenced by technologies include an increased emphasis upon visual style, an aspiration to be as close to cinema as possible, increased dynamism of image and sound and a new configuration of the tension between credible illusionism and textual playfulness. It may be that television ‘viewing’ will become increasingly hypermediate and interactive in the manner of engagements with computers but, at present, it appears that the television's historical disposition towards unmediated presentation as ‘the ultimate goal of visual representation’ may be sustained but with a higher-quality, more ‘cinematic’ treatment of a wider range of visual images.
Dal Yong Jin
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252039973
- eISBN:
- 9780252098147
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252039973.003.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter first discuses the rise of Korean popular culture and its dissemination in Asian countries, known as the Korean Wave, or Hallyu. It characterizes the Korean Wave into roughly two major ...
More
This chapter first discuses the rise of Korean popular culture and its dissemination in Asian countries, known as the Korean Wave, or Hallyu. It characterizes the Korean Wave into roughly two major historical developments: the Hallyu 1.0 era (approximately between 1997 and 2007) and the Hallyu 2.0, New Korean Wave, era (mainly from 2008 to the present). Although these two periods share some common phenomena, they are dissimilar in their major characteristics, such as the major cultural forms exported, technological developments, fan bases, and government cultural policies. It then sets out the book's purpose, which is to explore the recent evolution of Hallyu in a socioeconomic context alongside its textual meanings. The chapter then discusses the hybridity in Korean popular culture followed by an overview of the subsequent chapters.Less
This chapter first discuses the rise of Korean popular culture and its dissemination in Asian countries, known as the Korean Wave, or Hallyu. It characterizes the Korean Wave into roughly two major historical developments: the Hallyu 1.0 era (approximately between 1997 and 2007) and the Hallyu 2.0, New Korean Wave, era (mainly from 2008 to the present). Although these two periods share some common phenomena, they are dissimilar in their major characteristics, such as the major cultural forms exported, technological developments, fan bases, and government cultural policies. It then sets out the book's purpose, which is to explore the recent evolution of Hallyu in a socioeconomic context alongside its textual meanings. The chapter then discusses the hybridity in Korean popular culture followed by an overview of the subsequent chapters.
Eric R. Wolf
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520223332
- eISBN:
- 9780520924871
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520223332.003.0010
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Theory and Practice
This chapter attempts to unravel the different strands and levels of motivation and interest that were historically brought together into a powerful collective representation. It represents an effort ...
More
This chapter attempts to unravel the different strands and levels of motivation and interest that were historically brought together into a powerful collective representation. It represents an effort to analyze a national master symbol as a manifold of heterogeneous referents drawn from various traditions of ethnicity, class, and region and combined into a multifunctional unity through intersecting signs. A symbol is encountered that seems to enshrine the major hopes and aspirations of an entire society. The Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint, represents such a master symbol. Cultural forms provide the cultural idiom of behavior and ideal representations through which different groups in a society can pursue and manipulate their different fates within a coordinated framework. The Guadalupe symbol links together family, politics, and religion; colonial past and independent present; Indian and Mexican. It reflects the salient social relationships of Mexican life and embodies the emotions they generate.Less
This chapter attempts to unravel the different strands and levels of motivation and interest that were historically brought together into a powerful collective representation. It represents an effort to analyze a national master symbol as a manifold of heterogeneous referents drawn from various traditions of ethnicity, class, and region and combined into a multifunctional unity through intersecting signs. A symbol is encountered that seems to enshrine the major hopes and aspirations of an entire society. The Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint, represents such a master symbol. Cultural forms provide the cultural idiom of behavior and ideal representations through which different groups in a society can pursue and manipulate their different fates within a coordinated framework. The Guadalupe symbol links together family, politics, and religion; colonial past and independent present; Indian and Mexican. It reflects the salient social relationships of Mexican life and embodies the emotions they generate.
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226318172
- eISBN:
- 9780226318196
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226318196.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
How do the case studies and the way of thinking about public discourse speak to contemporary debates about the American cultural scene—the ideologies, religions, and views of the world—and about the ...
More
How do the case studies and the way of thinking about public discourse speak to contemporary debates about the American cultural scene—the ideologies, religions, and views of the world—and about the impact of these cultural forms on the potentials for progressive politics? This chapter addresses this topic by considering the views of various social critics (along with scholars and journalists) and comparing them to what one sees when one observes activist groups. The chapter discusses the problems and possibilities of individualism and civil society in America. It argues that progressives actually need individualism, but of a particular kind: an individualism that seeks justice and liberty equally, that neither rejects rights language nor accepts it uncritically, and that does not assume that liberty or the individual are “natural” phenomena. The chapter also shows how elements of such an individualism can be found in contemporary activism.Less
How do the case studies and the way of thinking about public discourse speak to contemporary debates about the American cultural scene—the ideologies, religions, and views of the world—and about the impact of these cultural forms on the potentials for progressive politics? This chapter addresses this topic by considering the views of various social critics (along with scholars and journalists) and comparing them to what one sees when one observes activist groups. The chapter discusses the problems and possibilities of individualism and civil society in America. It argues that progressives actually need individualism, but of a particular kind: an individualism that seeks justice and liberty equally, that neither rejects rights language nor accepts it uncritically, and that does not assume that liberty or the individual are “natural” phenomena. The chapter also shows how elements of such an individualism can be found in contemporary activism.
Travis Jackson
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520270442
- eISBN:
- 9780520951921
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520270442.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American
New York City has always been a mecca in the history of jazz, and in many ways the city's jazz scene is more important now than ever before. This book examines how jazz has thrived in New York ...
More
New York City has always been a mecca in the history of jazz, and in many ways the city's jazz scene is more important now than ever before. This book examines how jazz has thrived in New York following its popular resurgence in the 1980s. Using interviews, in-person observation, and analysis of live and recorded events, the author—an ethnomusicologist—explores both the ways in which various participants in the New York City jazz scene interpret and evaluate performance, and the criteria on which those interpretations and evaluations are based. Through the notes and words of its most accomplished performers and most ardent fans, jazz appears not simply as a musical style, but as a cultural form intimately influenced by and influential upon American concepts of race, place, and spirituality.Less
New York City has always been a mecca in the history of jazz, and in many ways the city's jazz scene is more important now than ever before. This book examines how jazz has thrived in New York following its popular resurgence in the 1980s. Using interviews, in-person observation, and analysis of live and recorded events, the author—an ethnomusicologist—explores both the ways in which various participants in the New York City jazz scene interpret and evaluate performance, and the criteria on which those interpretations and evaluations are based. Through the notes and words of its most accomplished performers and most ardent fans, jazz appears not simply as a musical style, but as a cultural form intimately influenced by and influential upon American concepts of race, place, and spirituality.
Paul Jones
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- June 2013
- ISBN:
- 9781846310768
- eISBN:
- 9781846315930
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Liverpool University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5949/UPO9781846315930
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
States have long been active in commissioning architecture, which affords one way to embed political projects within socially meaningful cultural forms. Such state–led architecture is often designed ...
More
States have long been active in commissioning architecture, which affords one way to embed political projects within socially meaningful cultural forms. Such state–led architecture is often designed not only to house the activities of government, but also to reflect political–economic shifts and to chime with a variety of ‘internal’ and ‘external’ publics as part of wider discourses of belonging. From the vantage point of sociology, this context necessitates critical engagement with the role of leading architects' designs and discourses relative to politicized identity projects. Focusing on the mobilization of architecture in periods of social change, this book uses critical sociological frameworks to assess the distinctive force added to political projects by architects and their work. Through engagement with a range of illustrative examples from contested contemporary and historical architectural projects, the author analyses some of the ways in which architects have sought to position their architecture relative to state projects and wider publics. A central objective of the book is to situate major architectural projects as a research agenda for sociologists and others interested in the relationship between power, culture, and collective identities. Adopting a critical approach to such questions, it frames architecture as a field of contestation over symbolic and material resources, which in turn provides an entry point for questioning the inextricably political ways in which collective identities are constructed, maintained and mobilized.Less
States have long been active in commissioning architecture, which affords one way to embed political projects within socially meaningful cultural forms. Such state–led architecture is often designed not only to house the activities of government, but also to reflect political–economic shifts and to chime with a variety of ‘internal’ and ‘external’ publics as part of wider discourses of belonging. From the vantage point of sociology, this context necessitates critical engagement with the role of leading architects' designs and discourses relative to politicized identity projects. Focusing on the mobilization of architecture in periods of social change, this book uses critical sociological frameworks to assess the distinctive force added to political projects by architects and their work. Through engagement with a range of illustrative examples from contested contemporary and historical architectural projects, the author analyses some of the ways in which architects have sought to position their architecture relative to state projects and wider publics. A central objective of the book is to situate major architectural projects as a research agenda for sociologists and others interested in the relationship between power, culture, and collective identities. Adopting a critical approach to such questions, it frames architecture as a field of contestation over symbolic and material resources, which in turn provides an entry point for questioning the inextricably political ways in which collective identities are constructed, maintained and mobilized.
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226318172
- eISBN:
- 9780226318196
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226318196.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
In addition to articulating a religio-political language, faith-based community organizing has created other distinctive cultural forms. This chapter describes some of these, especially the stories ...
More
In addition to articulating a religio-political language, faith-based community organizing has created other distinctive cultural forms. This chapter describes some of these, especially the stories and practices generated by this movement. First, it examines a recurrent form of story telling in which participants interpret their lives in the light of organizing principles. Second, it looks at one example of the unconventional, special-purpose “actions” that community organizations sometimes mount, studying the ways in which practical action and discourse combined to communicate the organization's political proposals and principles. Third, it considers a standardized dramaturgical form central to congregation-based community organizing: the large public meeting. And finally, the chapter assesses how even the most routine activities, such as business meetings, serve not only to accomplish practical purposes but also to enact and reinforce organizing values. Such practices and stories give faith-based organizing a much richer cultural life than it would have were it solely a system of ideas.Less
In addition to articulating a religio-political language, faith-based community organizing has created other distinctive cultural forms. This chapter describes some of these, especially the stories and practices generated by this movement. First, it examines a recurrent form of story telling in which participants interpret their lives in the light of organizing principles. Second, it looks at one example of the unconventional, special-purpose “actions” that community organizations sometimes mount, studying the ways in which practical action and discourse combined to communicate the organization's political proposals and principles. Third, it considers a standardized dramaturgical form central to congregation-based community organizing: the large public meeting. And finally, the chapter assesses how even the most routine activities, such as business meetings, serve not only to accomplish practical purposes but also to enact and reinforce organizing values. Such practices and stories give faith-based organizing a much richer cultural life than it would have were it solely a system of ideas.
W. Puck Brecher
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824836665
- eISBN:
- 9780824871116
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824836665.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, Asian History
This chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to examine aesthetic eccentricity as an emergent feature of identity formation during this new age and traces its trajectory throughout the Edo ...
More
This chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to examine aesthetic eccentricity as an emergent feature of identity formation during this new age and traces its trajectory throughout the Edo period (1600–1868). Aesthetic eccentricity refers not only to deviant cultural forms—mainly within the visual arts—but also to subjectivities that privilege individuality, emotion, and intuition over conventional behavior. It tends toward egocentrism and often conveys a subject's desire for detachment from occupational responsibilities, ideological constraints, or commercial pressures. The remainder of this chapter first situates the topic within existing English and Japanese scholarship by examining how others have approached eccentricity as a field of study. It then offers a genealogy of the terms commonly used to signify aesthetic eccentricity in the Edo period. Next, it introduces some of the historiographical issues that have guided inquiry into aesthetic eccentricity in early modern Japan, including the favored tendency to equate it with later avant-garde movements. The chapter concludes by advancing several counterintuitive arguments that collectively demonstrate how strangeness, particularly during the last century of the Edo period, permeated mainstream ethical values to assume an inviolable position within mainstream culture.Less
This chapter sets out the book's purpose, which is to examine aesthetic eccentricity as an emergent feature of identity formation during this new age and traces its trajectory throughout the Edo period (1600–1868). Aesthetic eccentricity refers not only to deviant cultural forms—mainly within the visual arts—but also to subjectivities that privilege individuality, emotion, and intuition over conventional behavior. It tends toward egocentrism and often conveys a subject's desire for detachment from occupational responsibilities, ideological constraints, or commercial pressures. The remainder of this chapter first situates the topic within existing English and Japanese scholarship by examining how others have approached eccentricity as a field of study. It then offers a genealogy of the terms commonly used to signify aesthetic eccentricity in the Edo period. Next, it introduces some of the historiographical issues that have guided inquiry into aesthetic eccentricity in early modern Japan, including the favored tendency to equate it with later avant-garde movements. The chapter concludes by advancing several counterintuitive arguments that collectively demonstrate how strangeness, particularly during the last century of the Edo period, permeated mainstream ethical values to assume an inviolable position within mainstream culture.
Stacy L. Kamehiro
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824832636
- eISBN:
- 9780824868864
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824832636.003.0006
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Pacific Studies
This chapter examines the enduring cultural legacy of the Kalākaua administration, which is testament to the capacity of Kalākaua-era national cultural forms to continue to generate meanings and form ...
More
This chapter examines the enduring cultural legacy of the Kalākaua administration, which is testament to the capacity of Kalākaua-era national cultural forms to continue to generate meanings and form communities. The monuments examined in this study represent different modes of meaning-making, however, all demonstrated the history and continuity of the modern Hawaiian nation and did so in a highly public manner. Visual culture mediated the forming of social groups. Drawing the attention of those in whom the Native leadership wished to instill a sense of belonging and optimism for the future, Hawaiian national visual culture fashioned spaces of discourse through which communities—publics—coalesced. Self-creating and self-sustaining publics gain unity, coherence, and identity through representation.Less
This chapter examines the enduring cultural legacy of the Kalākaua administration, which is testament to the capacity of Kalākaua-era national cultural forms to continue to generate meanings and form communities. The monuments examined in this study represent different modes of meaning-making, however, all demonstrated the history and continuity of the modern Hawaiian nation and did so in a highly public manner. Visual culture mediated the forming of social groups. Drawing the attention of those in whom the Native leadership wished to instill a sense of belonging and optimism for the future, Hawaiian national visual culture fashioned spaces of discourse through which communities—publics—coalesced. Self-creating and self-sustaining publics gain unity, coherence, and identity through representation.
