Constance Valis Hill
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195390827
- eISBN:
- 9780199863563
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390827.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, American, Dance
This is the first comprehensive, fully documented, intercultural history of tap dance, a uniquely American art form, that explores all aspects of the intricate musical and social exchange that ...
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This is the first comprehensive, fully documented, intercultural history of tap dance, a uniquely American art form, that explores all aspects of the intricate musical and social exchange that evolved from Afro-Irish percussive step dances like the jig, gioube, buck-and-wing, and juba to the work of contemporary tap luminaries. Tap dance evolved from the oral traditions and expressive cultures of the West Africans and the Irish that converged and collided in America, and was perpetuated by such key features as the tap challenge—any competition or showdown in which dancers compete against each other before an audience of spectators or judges. The book begins with an account of a buck dance challenge between Bill (“Bojangles”) Robinson and Harry Swinton at Brooklyn’s Bijou Theatre, in 1900, and proceeds decade by decade through the twentieth century. Vividly described are tap’s musical styles and steps—from buck-and-wing and ragtime stepping at the turn of the century; jazz tapping to the rhythms of hot jazz, swing, and bebop in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s; to hip-hop-inflected hitting and hoofing in heels (high and low) from the 1990s up to today. Tap dancing has long been considered “a man’s game,” and this book is the first history to highlight such outstanding female artists as Ada Overton Walker, Kitty O’Neill, and Alice Whitman, at the turn of the twentieth century, as well as the pioneering women composers of the tap renaissance, in the 1970s and 1980s, and the hard-hitting rhythm-tapping women of the millennium.Less
This is the first comprehensive, fully documented, intercultural history of tap dance, a uniquely American art form, that explores all aspects of the intricate musical and social exchange that evolved from Afro-Irish percussive step dances like the jig, gioube, buck-and-wing, and juba to the work of contemporary tap luminaries. Tap dance evolved from the oral traditions and expressive cultures of the West Africans and the Irish that converged and collided in America, and was perpetuated by such key features as the tap challenge—any competition or showdown in which dancers compete against each other before an audience of spectators or judges. The book begins with an account of a buck dance challenge between Bill (“Bojangles”) Robinson and Harry Swinton at Brooklyn’s Bijou Theatre, in 1900, and proceeds decade by decade through the twentieth century. Vividly described are tap’s musical styles and steps—from buck-and-wing and ragtime stepping at the turn of the century; jazz tapping to the rhythms of hot jazz, swing, and bebop in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s; to hip-hop-inflected hitting and hoofing in heels (high and low) from the 1990s up to today. Tap dancing has long been considered “a man’s game,” and this book is the first history to highlight such outstanding female artists as Ada Overton Walker, Kitty O’Neill, and Alice Whitman, at the turn of the twentieth century, as well as the pioneering women composers of the tap renaissance, in the 1970s and 1980s, and the hard-hitting rhythm-tapping women of the millennium.
Miriam Gazzah
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- September 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195369212
- eISBN:
- 9780199871179
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195369212.003.0019
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society, Islam
Two musical forms highly popular among youths of Moroccan origin in the Netherlands—Maroc-hop and Shaabi—permit youths to express specific and multiple identities in local contexts. Shaabi, a popular ...
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Two musical forms highly popular among youths of Moroccan origin in the Netherlands—Maroc-hop and Shaabi—permit youths to express specific and multiple identities in local contexts. Shaabi, a popular form of Moroccan folk music used to be found mainly in the private setting of family celebrations, more recently has become a preferred form of music at public parties and concerts organized especially by and for youths of Moroccan origin. Hip-hop has no place in family celebrations, but is becoming an important tool for these youth to voice their frustrations about Dutch society. Although these youths are often identified primarily as “Muslims” in the debates on integration and minority issues, they identify themselves according to very different categories. Analyzing their musical cultures reveals how these young people use music to express their identity politics in different social contexts.Less
Two musical forms highly popular among youths of Moroccan origin in the Netherlands—Maroc-hop and Shaabi—permit youths to express specific and multiple identities in local contexts. Shaabi, a popular form of Moroccan folk music used to be found mainly in the private setting of family celebrations, more recently has become a preferred form of music at public parties and concerts organized especially by and for youths of Moroccan origin. Hip-hop has no place in family celebrations, but is becoming an important tool for these youth to voice their frustrations about Dutch society. Although these youths are often identified primarily as “Muslims” in the debates on integration and minority issues, they identify themselves according to very different categories. Analyzing their musical cultures reveals how these young people use music to express their identity politics in different social contexts.
Chong Chon-Smith
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781628462050
- eISBN:
- 9781626745292
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781628462050.003.0005
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This chapter addresses the conductive intersection of live performance by Asian American men in hip-hop music and spoken word and links the possibilities of Asian-Black cultural fusions and internet ...
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This chapter addresses the conductive intersection of live performance by Asian American men in hip-hop music and spoken word and links the possibilities of Asian-Black cultural fusions and internet productions as their main medium of communication. It calls attention to the role of public intellectuals, such as Denizen Kane of I Was Born with Two Tongues, and the role of art, activism, and culture intertwined with Asian American cultural production and Black musical expressions. The Mountain Brothers offer a different perspective on Asian-Black connections in hip-hop because they are an Asian American group signed by street credible Ruff House Records. Significantly, this chapter focuses on little understood, yet highly significant cultural practices taking place in Asian American communities, especially youth and internet cultures. All together, it emphasizes the Asian-Black interface of spoken word and hip-hop as an avant-garde revolutionary practice, as the practitioners claim, one that disrupts the constancy of racial magnetism in matters of social policy and public discourse.Less
This chapter addresses the conductive intersection of live performance by Asian American men in hip-hop music and spoken word and links the possibilities of Asian-Black cultural fusions and internet productions as their main medium of communication. It calls attention to the role of public intellectuals, such as Denizen Kane of I Was Born with Two Tongues, and the role of art, activism, and culture intertwined with Asian American cultural production and Black musical expressions. The Mountain Brothers offer a different perspective on Asian-Black connections in hip-hop because they are an Asian American group signed by street credible Ruff House Records. Significantly, this chapter focuses on little understood, yet highly significant cultural practices taking place in Asian American communities, especially youth and internet cultures. All together, it emphasizes the Asian-Black interface of spoken word and hip-hop as an avant-garde revolutionary practice, as the practitioners claim, one that disrupts the constancy of racial magnetism in matters of social policy and public discourse.
Prudence L. Carter
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195168624
- eISBN:
- 9780199943968
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195168624.003.0026
- Subject:
- Sociology, Education
This chapter investigates how Latinos' racial and ethnic identities yield either similar or dissimilar educational outcomes to African American youth. It analyzes interethnic differences between ...
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This chapter investigates how Latinos' racial and ethnic identities yield either similar or dissimilar educational outcomes to African American youth. It analyzes interethnic differences between African Americans and Latinos in behaviors and attitudes about “acting white” and suggests that gender has the strongest influence. It discussed findings that Latinos are more likely than Latinas to share cultural styles, such as those of hip-hop culture, with African American youths.Less
This chapter investigates how Latinos' racial and ethnic identities yield either similar or dissimilar educational outcomes to African American youth. It analyzes interethnic differences between African Americans and Latinos in behaviors and attitudes about “acting white” and suggests that gender has the strongest influence. It discussed findings that Latinos are more likely than Latinas to share cultural styles, such as those of hip-hop culture, with African American youths.
Sveinung Sandberg
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9781847421203
- eISBN:
- 9781447303602
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Policy Press
- DOI:
- 10.1332/policypress/9781847421203.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This book introduces the worlds of young black men dealing cannabis at a drug scene called The River in Oslo, Norway. The lives of these men are structured by a huge and complex cannabis economy and ...
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This book introduces the worlds of young black men dealing cannabis at a drug scene called The River in Oslo, Norway. The lives of these men are structured by a huge and complex cannabis economy and they are involved in fights, robberies, and substance abuse. They lack jobs and education, and many of them do not have family or close friends, yet they do have ‘street capital’: the knowledge, skills, and competence necessary to manage life on the streets. Centred on this concept of ‘street capital’, this book presents a new theoretical framework – inspired by and expanding on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the French sociologist – for understanding street cultures. It is based on extensive fieldwork and repeated in-depth interviews with dealers aged between 15 and 30, which explore themes including marginalisation, discrimination, cannabis dealing and drug use, violence, masculinity, hip-hop culture, experiences with the welfare system, and issues of immigration and racism. The book also analyses the discursive practice of marginalised people on the street and identifies the narratives by which these young men live.Less
This book introduces the worlds of young black men dealing cannabis at a drug scene called The River in Oslo, Norway. The lives of these men are structured by a huge and complex cannabis economy and they are involved in fights, robberies, and substance abuse. They lack jobs and education, and many of them do not have family or close friends, yet they do have ‘street capital’: the knowledge, skills, and competence necessary to manage life on the streets. Centred on this concept of ‘street capital’, this book presents a new theoretical framework – inspired by and expanding on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the French sociologist – for understanding street cultures. It is based on extensive fieldwork and repeated in-depth interviews with dealers aged between 15 and 30, which explore themes including marginalisation, discrimination, cannabis dealing and drug use, violence, masculinity, hip-hop culture, experiences with the welfare system, and issues of immigration and racism. The book also analyses the discursive practice of marginalised people on the street and identifies the narratives by which these young men live.
Melvin Delgado and Lee Staples
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195182767
- eISBN:
- 9780199865192
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195182767.003.0003
- Subject:
- Social Work, Communities and Organizations, Children and Families
This chapter discusses the growth of youth-led organizing since the mid-1990s. Topics covered include historical overviews of community organization and youth-led community organizing, hip-hop ...
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This chapter discusses the growth of youth-led organizing since the mid-1990s. Topics covered include historical overviews of community organization and youth-led community organizing, hip-hop activism, the scope and range of the organizational settings in which youth-led organizing is carried out, and models of youth-led community organizing.Less
This chapter discusses the growth of youth-led organizing since the mid-1990s. Topics covered include historical overviews of community organization and youth-led community organizing, hip-hop activism, the scope and range of the organizational settings in which youth-led organizing is carried out, and models of youth-led community organizing.
Angela McMillan Howell
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617038815
- eISBN:
- 9781621039761
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617038815.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This book attempts to shift focus away from why black youth are “problematic” to explore what their daily lives actually entail. The book focuses on the small community of Hamilton, Alabama, to ...
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This book attempts to shift focus away from why black youth are “problematic” to explore what their daily lives actually entail. The book focuses on the small community of Hamilton, Alabama, to investigate what it is like for a young black person to grow up in the contemporary rural South. What the book finds is that the young people of Hamilton are neither idly passing their time in a stereotypically languid setting, nor are they being corrupted by hip hop culture and the perils of the urban North, as many pundits suggest. Rather, they are dynamic and diverse young people making their way through the structures that define the twenty-first-century South. Told through the poignant stories of several high school students, the book reveals a group that is often rendered invisible in society. Blended families, football sagas, crunk music, expanding social networks, and a nearby segregated prom are just a few of the fascinating juxtapositions. The book uses personal biography, historical accounts, sociolinguistic analysis, and community narratives to illustrate persistent racism, class divisions, and resistance in a new context. It addresses contemporary issues, such as moral panics regarding the future of youth in America and educational policies that may be well meaning but are ultimately misguided.Less
This book attempts to shift focus away from why black youth are “problematic” to explore what their daily lives actually entail. The book focuses on the small community of Hamilton, Alabama, to investigate what it is like for a young black person to grow up in the contemporary rural South. What the book finds is that the young people of Hamilton are neither idly passing their time in a stereotypically languid setting, nor are they being corrupted by hip hop culture and the perils of the urban North, as many pundits suggest. Rather, they are dynamic and diverse young people making their way through the structures that define the twenty-first-century South. Told through the poignant stories of several high school students, the book reveals a group that is often rendered invisible in society. Blended families, football sagas, crunk music, expanding social networks, and a nearby segregated prom are just a few of the fascinating juxtapositions. The book uses personal biography, historical accounts, sociolinguistic analysis, and community narratives to illustrate persistent racism, class divisions, and resistance in a new context. It addresses contemporary issues, such as moral panics regarding the future of youth in America and educational policies that may be well meaning but are ultimately misguided.
West Stevens Joyce
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195121643
- eISBN:
- 9780199865383
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195121643.003.0005
- Subject:
- Social Work, Children and Families
In this chapter, as in the next two chapters, the developmental domains are linked. The linkages of the domains are such due to their unique compatibility to one another. This chapter and subsequent ...
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In this chapter, as in the next two chapters, the developmental domains are linked. The linkages of the domains are such due to their unique compatibility to one another. This chapter and subsequent chapters clarify the developmental tasks of each domain while providing an examination of their paired congruency. The Care Protective Sensibility domain task is to respect and care for others and to be empathic; the Role Model Formulation domain task is to enhance one’s capacity for empathy, to learn from esteemed adults, and to develop a more realistic view of parental figures. It is argued that the maturational tasks of all seven domains operate as organizers of identity and personal meaning systems.Less
In this chapter, as in the next two chapters, the developmental domains are linked. The linkages of the domains are such due to their unique compatibility to one another. This chapter and subsequent chapters clarify the developmental tasks of each domain while providing an examination of their paired congruency. The Care Protective Sensibility domain task is to respect and care for others and to be empathic; the Role Model Formulation domain task is to enhance one’s capacity for empathy, to learn from esteemed adults, and to develop a more realistic view of parental figures. It is argued that the maturational tasks of all seven domains operate as organizers of identity and personal meaning systems.
Miles White
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252036620
- eISBN:
- 9780252093678
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252036620.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Race and Ethnicity
This multilayered study of the representation of black masculinity in musical and cultural performance takes aim at the reduction of African American male culture to stereotypes of deviance, ...
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This multilayered study of the representation of black masculinity in musical and cultural performance takes aim at the reduction of African American male culture to stereotypes of deviance, misogyny, and excess. Broadening the significance of hip-hop culture by linking it to other expressive forms within popular culture, the book examines how these representations have both encouraged the demonization of young black males in the United States and abroad and contributed to the construction of their identities. The book traces black male representations to chattel slavery and American minstrelsy as early examples of fetishization and commodification of black male subjectivity. Continuing with diverse discussions including black action films, heavyweight prizefighting, Elvis Presley's performance of blackness, and white rappers such as Vanilla Ice and Eminem, the book establishes a sophisticated framework for interpreting and critiquing black masculinity in hip-hop music and culture. Arguing that black music has undeniably shaped American popular culture and that hip-hop tropes have exerted a defining influence on young male aspirations and behavior, the book draws a critical link between the body, musical sound, and the construction of identity.Less
This multilayered study of the representation of black masculinity in musical and cultural performance takes aim at the reduction of African American male culture to stereotypes of deviance, misogyny, and excess. Broadening the significance of hip-hop culture by linking it to other expressive forms within popular culture, the book examines how these representations have both encouraged the demonization of young black males in the United States and abroad and contributed to the construction of their identities. The book traces black male representations to chattel slavery and American minstrelsy as early examples of fetishization and commodification of black male subjectivity. Continuing with diverse discussions including black action films, heavyweight prizefighting, Elvis Presley's performance of blackness, and white rappers such as Vanilla Ice and Eminem, the book establishes a sophisticated framework for interpreting and critiquing black masculinity in hip-hop music and culture. Arguing that black music has undeniably shaped American popular culture and that hip-hop tropes have exerted a defining influence on young male aspirations and behavior, the book draws a critical link between the body, musical sound, and the construction of identity.
Kimberly Chabot Davis
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252038433
- eISBN:
- 9780252096310
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252038433.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
Critics often characterize white consumption of African American culture as a form of theft that echoes the fantasies of 1950s-era bohemians, or “White Negroes,” who romanticized black culture as ...
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Critics often characterize white consumption of African American culture as a form of theft that echoes the fantasies of 1950s-era bohemians, or “White Negroes,” who romanticized black culture as anarchic and sexually potent. This book claims such a view fails to describe the varied politics of racial crossover in the past fifteen years. The book analyzes how white engagement with African American novels, film narratives, and hip-hop can help form anti-racist attitudes that may catalyze social change and racial justice. Though acknowledging past failures to establish cross-racial empathy, the book focuses on examples that show avenues for future progress and change. Its study of ethnographic data from book clubs and college classrooms shows how engagement with African American culture and pedagogical support can lead to the kinds of white self-examination that make empathy possible. The result is a book that challenges the trend of focusing on society's failures in achieving cross-racial empathy and instead explores possible avenues for change.Less
Critics often characterize white consumption of African American culture as a form of theft that echoes the fantasies of 1950s-era bohemians, or “White Negroes,” who romanticized black culture as anarchic and sexually potent. This book claims such a view fails to describe the varied politics of racial crossover in the past fifteen years. The book analyzes how white engagement with African American novels, film narratives, and hip-hop can help form anti-racist attitudes that may catalyze social change and racial justice. Though acknowledging past failures to establish cross-racial empathy, the book focuses on examples that show avenues for future progress and change. Its study of ethnographic data from book clubs and college classrooms shows how engagement with African American culture and pedagogical support can lead to the kinds of white self-examination that make empathy possible. The result is a book that challenges the trend of focusing on society's failures in achieving cross-racial empathy and instead explores possible avenues for change.
Lester K. Spence
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780816669875
- eISBN:
- 9781452947068
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816669875.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
A growing number of black activists and artists claim that rap and hip-hop are the basis of an influential new urban social movement. Simultaneously, black citizens evince concern with the effect ...
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A growing number of black activists and artists claim that rap and hip-hop are the basis of an influential new urban social movement. Simultaneously, black citizens evince concern with the effect that rap and hip-hop culture exerts on African American communities. According to a recent Pew survey conducted on the opinions of Black Americans, 71 percent of blacks think that rap is a bad influence. To what extent are African American hopes and fears about hip-hop’s potential political power justified? This book answers this question using a blend of neoliberal analysis, survey data, experiments, and case studies. This book finds that rap does in fact influence black political attitudes. However, rap also reproduces rather than critiques neoliberal ideology. Furthermore, black activists seeking to create an innovative model of hip-hop politics are hamstrung by their reliance on outmoded forms of organizing. By considering the possibilities inherent in the most prolific and prominent activities of hip-hop politics, the book reveals, in a clear and practical manner, the political consequences of rap culture for black publics.Less
A growing number of black activists and artists claim that rap and hip-hop are the basis of an influential new urban social movement. Simultaneously, black citizens evince concern with the effect that rap and hip-hop culture exerts on African American communities. According to a recent Pew survey conducted on the opinions of Black Americans, 71 percent of blacks think that rap is a bad influence. To what extent are African American hopes and fears about hip-hop’s potential political power justified? This book answers this question using a blend of neoliberal analysis, survey data, experiments, and case studies. This book finds that rap does in fact influence black political attitudes. However, rap also reproduces rather than critiques neoliberal ideology. Furthermore, black activists seeking to create an innovative model of hip-hop politics are hamstrung by their reliance on outmoded forms of organizing. By considering the possibilities inherent in the most prolific and prominent activities of hip-hop politics, the book reveals, in a clear and practical manner, the political consequences of rap culture for black publics.
Jessica Nydia Pabón-Colón
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- January 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781479806157
- eISBN:
- 9781479847426
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- NYU Press
- DOI:
- 10.18574/nyu/9781479806157.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Law, Crime and Deviance
Since the dawn of Hip Hop graffiti writing in the late ‘60s, graffiti writers have inscribed their tag names on cityscapes across the globe to claim public space and mark their presence. In the ...
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Since the dawn of Hip Hop graffiti writing in the late ‘60s, graffiti writers have inscribed their tag names on cityscapes across the globe to claim public space and mark their presence. In the absence of knowing the writer’s identity, the onlooker’s imagination defaults to the gendered, classed, and racialized conventions framing a public act that requires bodily strength and a willingness to take legal, social, and physical risks. Graffiti subculture is thus imagined as a “boys club” and consequently the graffiti grrlz fade from the social imagination. Utilizing a queer feminist perspective, this book is a transnational ethnography that tells an alternative story about Hip Hop graffiti subculture from the vantage point of over 100 women who write graffiti in 23 countries. Grounded in 15 years of research, each chapter examines a different site and process of transformation. Under the radar of feminist movement, they’ve remodeled Hip Hop masculinity, created an affective digital network, challenged androcentric graffiti history and reshaped subcultural memory, sustained all-grrl community, and strategically deployed femininity to transform their subcultural precarity. By performing feminism across the diaspora, graffiti grrlz have elevated their subcultural status and resisted hetero/sexist patriarchal oppression.Less
Since the dawn of Hip Hop graffiti writing in the late ‘60s, graffiti writers have inscribed their tag names on cityscapes across the globe to claim public space and mark their presence. In the absence of knowing the writer’s identity, the onlooker’s imagination defaults to the gendered, classed, and racialized conventions framing a public act that requires bodily strength and a willingness to take legal, social, and physical risks. Graffiti subculture is thus imagined as a “boys club” and consequently the graffiti grrlz fade from the social imagination. Utilizing a queer feminist perspective, this book is a transnational ethnography that tells an alternative story about Hip Hop graffiti subculture from the vantage point of over 100 women who write graffiti in 23 countries. Grounded in 15 years of research, each chapter examines a different site and process of transformation. Under the radar of feminist movement, they’ve remodeled Hip Hop masculinity, created an affective digital network, challenged androcentric graffiti history and reshaped subcultural memory, sustained all-grrl community, and strategically deployed femininity to transform their subcultural precarity. By performing feminism across the diaspora, graffiti grrlz have elevated their subcultural status and resisted hetero/sexist patriarchal oppression.
Joseph C., Jr. Ewoodzie
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469632759
- eISBN:
- 9781469632773
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469632759.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
The origin story of hip-hop—one that involves Kool Herc DJing a house party on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx—has become received wisdom. But Joseph C. Ewoodzie Jr. argues that the full story remains ...
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The origin story of hip-hop—one that involves Kool Herc DJing a house party on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx—has become received wisdom. But Joseph C. Ewoodzie Jr. argues that the full story remains to be told. In vibrant prose, he combines never-before-used archival material with searching questions about the symbolic boundaries that have divided our understanding of the music. In Break Beats in the Bronx, Ewoodzie portrays the creative process that brought about what we now know as hip-hop and shows that the art form was a result of serendipitous events, accidents, calculated successes, and failures that, almost magically, came together. In doing so, he questions the unexamined assumptions about hip-hop's beginnings, including why there are just four traditional elements—DJing, MCing, breaking, and graffiti writing—and not others, why the South Bronx and not any other borough or city is considered the cradle of the form, and which artists besides Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash founded the genre. Ewoodzie answers these and many other questions about hip-hop's beginnings. Unearthing new evidence, he shows what occurred during the crucial but surprisingly underexamined years between 1975 and 1979 and argues that it was during this period that the internal logic and conventions of the scene were formed.Less
The origin story of hip-hop—one that involves Kool Herc DJing a house party on Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx—has become received wisdom. But Joseph C. Ewoodzie Jr. argues that the full story remains to be told. In vibrant prose, he combines never-before-used archival material with searching questions about the symbolic boundaries that have divided our understanding of the music. In Break Beats in the Bronx, Ewoodzie portrays the creative process that brought about what we now know as hip-hop and shows that the art form was a result of serendipitous events, accidents, calculated successes, and failures that, almost magically, came together. In doing so, he questions the unexamined assumptions about hip-hop's beginnings, including why there are just four traditional elements—DJing, MCing, breaking, and graffiti writing—and not others, why the South Bronx and not any other borough or city is considered the cradle of the form, and which artists besides Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash founded the genre. Ewoodzie answers these and many other questions about hip-hop's beginnings. Unearthing new evidence, he shows what occurred during the crucial but surprisingly underexamined years between 1975 and 1979 and argues that it was during this period that the internal logic and conventions of the scene were formed.
Mwenda Ntarangwi
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040061
- eISBN:
- 9780252098260
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040061.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, African Cultural Anthropology
To some, Christianity and hip hop seem antithetical. Not so in Kenya. There, the music of Julius Owino, AKA Juliani, blends faith and beats into a potent hip hop gospel aimed at a youth culture ...
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To some, Christianity and hip hop seem antithetical. Not so in Kenya. There, the music of Julius Owino, AKA Juliani, blends faith and beats into a potent hip hop gospel aimed at a youth culture hungry for answers spiritual, material, and otherwise. This book explores the Kenyan hip hop scene through the lens of Juliani's life and career. A born-again Christian, Juliani produces work highlighting the tensions between hip hop's forceful self-expression and a pious approach to public life, even while contesting the basic presumptions of both. This book forges an uncommon collaboration with its subject that offers insights into Juliani's art and goals even as the book explores the author's own religious experience and subjective identity as an ethnographer. What emerges is an original contribution to the scholarship on hip hop's global impact and a passionate study of the music's role in shaping new ways of being Christian in Africa.Less
To some, Christianity and hip hop seem antithetical. Not so in Kenya. There, the music of Julius Owino, AKA Juliani, blends faith and beats into a potent hip hop gospel aimed at a youth culture hungry for answers spiritual, material, and otherwise. This book explores the Kenyan hip hop scene through the lens of Juliani's life and career. A born-again Christian, Juliani produces work highlighting the tensions between hip hop's forceful self-expression and a pious approach to public life, even while contesting the basic presumptions of both. This book forges an uncommon collaboration with its subject that offers insights into Juliani's art and goals even as the book explores the author's own religious experience and subjective identity as an ethnographer. What emerges is an original contribution to the scholarship on hip hop's global impact and a passionate study of the music's role in shaping new ways of being Christian in Africa.
Natasha Kumar Warikoo
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520262102
- eISBN:
- 9780520947795
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520262102.001.0001
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
This examination of children of immigrants in New York and London asks, “Is there a link between rap/hip-hop-influenced youth culture and motivation to succeed in school? The author challenges ...
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This examination of children of immigrants in New York and London asks, “Is there a link between rap/hip-hop-influenced youth culture and motivation to succeed in school? The author challenges teachers, administrators, and parents to look beneath the outward manifestations of youth culture—the clothing, music, and tough talk—to better understand the internal struggle faced by many minority students as they try to fit in with peers while working to lay the groundwork for successful lives. Using ethnographic, survey, and interview data in two racially diverse, low-achieving high schools, she analyzes seemingly oppositional styles, tastes in music, and school behaviors, finding that most teens try to find a balance between success with peers and success in school.Less
This examination of children of immigrants in New York and London asks, “Is there a link between rap/hip-hop-influenced youth culture and motivation to succeed in school? The author challenges teachers, administrators, and parents to look beneath the outward manifestations of youth culture—the clothing, music, and tough talk—to better understand the internal struggle faced by many minority students as they try to fit in with peers while working to lay the groundwork for successful lives. Using ethnographic, survey, and interview data in two racially diverse, low-achieving high schools, she analyzes seemingly oppositional styles, tastes in music, and school behaviors, finding that most teens try to find a balance between success with peers and success in school.
Alejandro Nava
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520293533
- eISBN:
- 9780520966758
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520293533.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This book explores the meaning of “soul” in sacred and profane incarnations, from its biblical origins to its central place in the rich traditions of black and Latin history. Surveying the work of ...
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This book explores the meaning of “soul” in sacred and profane incarnations, from its biblical origins to its central place in the rich traditions of black and Latin history. Surveying the work of writers, artists, poets, musicians, philosophers, and theologians, the book shows how their understandings of the “soul” revolve around narratives of justice, liberation, and spiritual redemption. The book contends that biblical traditions and hip-hop emerged out of experiences of dispossession and oppression. Whether born in the ghettos of America or of the Roman Empire, hip-hop and Christianity have endured by giving voice to the persecuted. This book offers a view of soul in living color, as a breathing, suffering, dreaming thing.Less
This book explores the meaning of “soul” in sacred and profane incarnations, from its biblical origins to its central place in the rich traditions of black and Latin history. Surveying the work of writers, artists, poets, musicians, philosophers, and theologians, the book shows how their understandings of the “soul” revolve around narratives of justice, liberation, and spiritual redemption. The book contends that biblical traditions and hip-hop emerged out of experiences of dispossession and oppression. Whether born in the ghettos of America or of the Roman Empire, hip-hop and Christianity have endured by giving voice to the persecuted. This book offers a view of soul in living color, as a breathing, suffering, dreaming thing.
Ali Colleen Neff
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781604732290
- eISBN:
- 9781604734805
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781604732290.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Popular
In the Mississippi Delta, creativity, community, and a rich expressive culture persist despite widespread poverty. Over five years of extensive work in the region, the author of this book collected a ...
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In the Mississippi Delta, creativity, community, and a rich expressive culture persist despite widespread poverty. Over five years of extensive work in the region, the author of this book collected a wealth of materials that demonstrate a vibrant musical scene. The book draws from classic studies of the blues as well as extensive ethnographic work to document the “changing same” of Delta music making. From the neighborhood juke joints of the contemporary Delta to the international hip-hop stage, it traces the musical networks that join the region’s African American communities to both traditional forms and new global styles. The book features the words and describes performances of contemporary artists, including blues musicians, gospel singers, radio and club DJs, barroom toast-tellers, preachers, poets, and a spectrum of Delta hip-hop artists. Contemporary Delta hip-hop artists Jerome “TopNotch the Villain” Williams, Kimyata “Yata” Dear, and DA F.A.M. have contributed freestyle poetry, extensive interview materials, and their own commentaries. The book focuses particularly on the biography of TopNotch, whose hip-hop poetics emerge from a lifetime of schoolyard dozens and training in the gospel church.Less
In the Mississippi Delta, creativity, community, and a rich expressive culture persist despite widespread poverty. Over five years of extensive work in the region, the author of this book collected a wealth of materials that demonstrate a vibrant musical scene. The book draws from classic studies of the blues as well as extensive ethnographic work to document the “changing same” of Delta music making. From the neighborhood juke joints of the contemporary Delta to the international hip-hop stage, it traces the musical networks that join the region’s African American communities to both traditional forms and new global styles. The book features the words and describes performances of contemporary artists, including blues musicians, gospel singers, radio and club DJs, barroom toast-tellers, preachers, poets, and a spectrum of Delta hip-hop artists. Contemporary Delta hip-hop artists Jerome “TopNotch the Villain” Williams, Kimyata “Yata” Dear, and DA F.A.M. have contributed freestyle poetry, extensive interview materials, and their own commentaries. The book focuses particularly on the biography of TopNotch, whose hip-hop poetics emerge from a lifetime of schoolyard dozens and training in the gospel church.
Catherine M. Appert
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- December 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190913489
- eISBN:
- 9780190913526
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190913489.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, Ethnomusicology, World Music, Popular
In Hip Hop Time goes beyond popular narratives of hip hop resistance to address Senegalese hip hop—Rap Galsen—as a musical movement deeply tied to indigenous performance practices and changing social ...
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In Hip Hop Time goes beyond popular narratives of hip hop resistance to address Senegalese hip hop—Rap Galsen—as a musical movement deeply tied to indigenous performance practices and changing social norms in a modernizing Africa. This is a story of globalization, of diasporic movement and memory, of an imagined African past and contemporary African realities, of urbanization and socioeconomic struggle, and of the relationship between popular music and social change. The book takes readers from Senegalese hip hop’s beginnings among cosmopolitan youth in Dakar’s affluent neighborhoods in the 1980s, to its spread throughout the city’s ghettoized working-class neighborhoods in the mid- to late-1990s, and up to the present day, where political activism and hip hop musicality vie for position in local and global arenas. It connects these classed and generational shifts to postcolonial political, social, and religious structures, as well as to globally circulating narratives of Afrocentricity and Blackness. It shows how, through social networks constructed through and around a shared system of aesthetic values called hip hop, Senegalese youth negotiate gender, class, and family in the context of underdevelopment. An ethnography of the inextricability of musical and social meaning in hip hop practice, In Hip Hop Time charts new intellectual territory in a growing, interdisciplinary body of scholarship on hip hop in Africa and around the world.Less
In Hip Hop Time goes beyond popular narratives of hip hop resistance to address Senegalese hip hop—Rap Galsen—as a musical movement deeply tied to indigenous performance practices and changing social norms in a modernizing Africa. This is a story of globalization, of diasporic movement and memory, of an imagined African past and contemporary African realities, of urbanization and socioeconomic struggle, and of the relationship between popular music and social change. The book takes readers from Senegalese hip hop’s beginnings among cosmopolitan youth in Dakar’s affluent neighborhoods in the 1980s, to its spread throughout the city’s ghettoized working-class neighborhoods in the mid- to late-1990s, and up to the present day, where political activism and hip hop musicality vie for position in local and global arenas. It connects these classed and generational shifts to postcolonial political, social, and religious structures, as well as to globally circulating narratives of Afrocentricity and Blackness. It shows how, through social networks constructed through and around a shared system of aesthetic values called hip hop, Senegalese youth negotiate gender, class, and family in the context of underdevelopment. An ethnography of the inextricability of musical and social meaning in hip hop practice, In Hip Hop Time charts new intellectual territory in a growing, interdisciplinary body of scholarship on hip hop in Africa and around the world.
Natasha K. Warikoo
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520262102
- eISBN:
- 9780520947795
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520262102.003.0002
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
This chapter focuses on taste preferences in the music and style of children of immigrants in multiethnic schools in two global cities, New York and London. Hip-hop is by far the most popular music ...
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This chapter focuses on taste preferences in the music and style of children of immigrants in multiethnic schools in two global cities, New York and London. Hip-hop is by far the most popular music and style. Its predominance in both schools lead some rebellious teens to reject it in favor of rock and punk music, along with the associated Goth or grunge styles. However, neither a taste for hip-hop nor for rock or punk has led to anti-achievement attitudes or oppositional orientations. Music tastes in both cities are found to be remarkably similar. Globalization appears to have made hip-hop a currency for status among urban youth worldwide, suggesting that proximity to African American peers cannot explain the taste preferences of New York youth. Students in both cities and of all ethnic and racial groups are more likely to cite the media than peers as influences on their styles and tastes in music. Significant gender differences in musical taste are also found. Boys express a greater taste for rap music and hip-hop style, associated with delinquency by some authorities. However, no evidence that a taste for rap music leads to oppositional attitudes is found, explaining the perception that minority boys are more likely to engage in oppositional cultures.Less
This chapter focuses on taste preferences in the music and style of children of immigrants in multiethnic schools in two global cities, New York and London. Hip-hop is by far the most popular music and style. Its predominance in both schools lead some rebellious teens to reject it in favor of rock and punk music, along with the associated Goth or grunge styles. However, neither a taste for hip-hop nor for rock or punk has led to anti-achievement attitudes or oppositional orientations. Music tastes in both cities are found to be remarkably similar. Globalization appears to have made hip-hop a currency for status among urban youth worldwide, suggesting that proximity to African American peers cannot explain the taste preferences of New York youth. Students in both cities and of all ethnic and racial groups are more likely to cite the media than peers as influences on their styles and tastes in music. Significant gender differences in musical taste are also found. Boys express a greater taste for rap music and hip-hop style, associated with delinquency by some authorities. However, no evidence that a taste for rap music leads to oppositional attitudes is found, explaining the perception that minority boys are more likely to engage in oppositional cultures.
Natasha K. Warikoo
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520262102
- eISBN:
- 9780520947795
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520262102.003.0003
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Anthropology, Global
This chapter discusses how the drawing of symbolic boundaries between ethnic and racial groups and peer expectations of racial authenticity affect teens' taste preferences, focusing on the subtle ...
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This chapter discusses how the drawing of symbolic boundaries between ethnic and racial groups and peer expectations of racial authenticity affect teens' taste preferences, focusing on the subtle differences in taste preferences between the Indian, Afro-Caribbean, Indo-Caribbean, and white students in the schools. Hip-hop's association with African Americans has elevated black racial identity to high status among peers. Non-black students are sometimes chastised for acting black or inauthentic consumption of black popular culture. Hence, ethnic groups have found ways of engaging with hip-hop that connected with their particular ethnicity. Afro-Caribbean youth are equipped with the most authentic claim to hip-hop because of hip-hop's black roots. South Asian youth engage in hybrid bhangra–hip-hop and Hindi-hip-hop styles because they cannot easily boundary-cross in their consumption without being seen as racially inauthentic. The white youth in London choose from myriad cultural styles. Hence, although popular youth culture and status considerations exist in all social contexts, regardless of race and class, their manifestations differ by race and ethnicity.Less
This chapter discusses how the drawing of symbolic boundaries between ethnic and racial groups and peer expectations of racial authenticity affect teens' taste preferences, focusing on the subtle differences in taste preferences between the Indian, Afro-Caribbean, Indo-Caribbean, and white students in the schools. Hip-hop's association with African Americans has elevated black racial identity to high status among peers. Non-black students are sometimes chastised for acting black or inauthentic consumption of black popular culture. Hence, ethnic groups have found ways of engaging with hip-hop that connected with their particular ethnicity. Afro-Caribbean youth are equipped with the most authentic claim to hip-hop because of hip-hop's black roots. South Asian youth engage in hybrid bhangra–hip-hop and Hindi-hip-hop styles because they cannot easily boundary-cross in their consumption without being seen as racially inauthentic. The white youth in London choose from myriad cultural styles. Hence, although popular youth culture and status considerations exist in all social contexts, regardless of race and class, their manifestations differ by race and ethnicity.
