Watching Jennifer 8. Lee’s TED lecture on cultural assimilation, appropriation and Chinese food last night was a sixteen minute epiphany. Something about her credibility — the maniac pace of the lecture, the brilliant video clips and images, the giggling — it all adds up to something quite entertaining and thought provoking.
Filed under capitalism, cultural appropriation, juxtaposition, media, representation
Check out the colors of change campaign for Trayvon.
There is an interesting campaign to mail a package of skittles the police chief who chose not to arrest Zimmerman. I’m thinking about mailing some skittles to US Attorney General Eric Holder.
Filed under colonialism, hip hop, human rights, juxtaposition, media, memorial, protest, representation, resistance
I’m feeling the lyrics:
“Nerdy Boy/He’s so slow/Tuesday we started Foucault
He’s still stuck on the intro?
He’s a no-go . . .”
Filed under academics, communication, juxtaposition, learning, music, representation
Thanks to kicksonfire for the image.
Nike’s new shoe, the Black and Tan, has been released presumably to take advantage of St. Patrick’s day drinking/marketing opportunities. Whoops. Turns out that the Black and Tan is a sour brand in Ireland because of the hated military/police group which murdered and terrorized civilians during the early twenties.
The Black and Tans were a colonial army recruited from England ostensibly to police the people of Ireland. The lack of oversight and genuine racism in the face of a guerrilla uprising led to a terrible disdain for civilians. The roughshod police force (their name is a reference to the haphazard uniforms of the unit) was almost 7-10,000 strong and recruited from former World War I veterans.
In retaliation for attacks on police forces, the Black and Tans attacked civilians, burned homes and businesses and in one case refused an entire village food. Consider the documentary The Burning of Cork.
The Nike marketing error is evidence of the smooth appropriation transforming actual Irish history into a bizarre tourist narrative emphasizing drinking, leprechauns, and Irish-affiliated brands. These tourist realities corrode against the actual history of Sinn Fein, Home Rule, and the bodily struggles associated with Irish Nationalism.
The assumption of Nike, that their party, party, party language was the universal meaning points to a kind of linguistic arrogance. NPR’s Melissa Block and Robert Siegel interviewed Brian Boyd of the Irish Times on the Nike apology.
BLOCK: Now, Nike has released a statement saying: We apologize, no offense was intended. At the same time, Nike says the sneaker has been, quote, unofficially named by some as the Black and Tan.
SIEGEL: That said, if you look inside the shoe – as we have done with online photos – you see an image of a pint of beer with two colors, black and tan.
BLOCK: Brian Boyd of The Irish Times has reported on some outrage over the shoe. But really, he says, it’s not about a shoe. It’s about a holiday.
BOYD: It’s how the Americans view Saint Patrick’s Day and view Irish culture and history. And it’s the very fact that some people are saying that these are beer-themed sneakers, that the only way to celebrate a national holiday of a country with a very rich culture and a very rich history and literature, et cetera, is to pour massive amounts of alcohol down your body.
It’s how the American treat St. Patrick’s Day. So we’re using this story to say, look, it’s the silly Americans, stupid Americans, look what they’re doing again. They’ve got it all wrong.
via Nike Kicks Up Controversy With ‘Black And Tan’ Shoes : NPR.
Filed under capitalism, colonialism, communication, human rights, juxtaposition, learning, police, propaganda, protest, representation, resistance
Seems like someone is struggling with the cannibalistic weight of the language of the Clipse. Two brothers: Pusha T and formerly-Malice make up the Clipse. Relentless, talented, ruthless, and grimy were the hallmarks of this duo. 2011 saw Malice reject the image and the name (he now goes by No Malice). Here is Malice renouncing his past.
Filed under communication, hip hop, learning, music, representation
But maybe the single most remarkable example of 20th-century totalitarian invective against jazz that Skvorecky ever relayed was here in the intro to The Bass Saxophone, where he recalls — faithfully, he assures us (“they had engraved themselves deeply on my mind”) — a set of regulations, issued by a Gauleiter — a regional official for the Reich — as binding on all local dance orchestras during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia. Get this:
Pieces in foxtrot rhythm (so-called swing) are not to exceed 20% of the repertoires of light orchestras and dance bands;
in this so-called jazz type repertoire, preference is to be given to compositions in a major key and to lyrics expressing joy in life rather than Jewishly gloomy lyrics;
As to tempo, preference is also to be given to brisk compositions over slow ones so-called blues); however, the pace must not exceed a certain degree of allegro, commensurate with the Aryan sense of discipline and moderation. On no account will Negroid excesses in tempo (so-called hot jazz) or in solo performances (so-called breaks) be tolerated;
so-called jazz compositions may contain at most 10% syncopation; the remainder must consist of a natural legato movement devoid of the hysterical rhythmic reverses characteristic of the barbarian races and conductive to dark instincts alien to the German people (so-called riffs);
strictly prohibited is the use of instruments alien to the German spirit (so-called cowbells, flexatone, brushes, etc.) as well as all mutes which turn the noble sound of wind and brass instruments into a Jewish-Freemasonic yowl (so-called wa-wa, hat, etc.);
also prohibited are so-called drum breaks longer than half a bar in four-quarter beat (except in stylized military marches);
the double bass must be played solely with the bow in so-called jazz compositions;
plucking of the strings is prohibited, since it is damaging to the instrument and detrimental to Aryan musicality; if a so-called pizzicato effect is absolutely desirable for the character of the composition, strict care must be taken lest the string be allowed to patter on the sordine, which is henceforth forbidden;
musicians are likewise forbidden to make vocal improvisations (so-called scat);
all light orchestras and dance bands are advised to restrict the use of saxophones of all keys and to substitute for them the violin-cello, the viola or possibly a suitable folk instrument.
Filed under capitalism, communication, music, propaganda, representation
I like to get to my theory class early. Like 30 minutes early. I enjoy sitting in the quiet thinking about what I’m going to say. Two of my favorite students show up almost as early. We’ve developed a casual pre-class discussion forum that starts at 7:30 AM. On wednesday I played them both Kayne & Jay-Z’s “Nigga’s in Paris” and Yasiin Bey’s (AKA Mos Def) version “Niggas in Poorest.”
I’m enjoying Young Guru’s attempt to mediate these two arguments. Should we watch the throne or beware the throne?
Filed under academics, capitalism, colonialism, communication, hip hop, media, music, propaganda, representation
Nice little interview with Ice T. My favorite part? When Belzer describes his reaction to Immortal Technique.
Thanks to what the fuck have you done for the link.
Filed under documentary, hip hop, media, representation
When we amplify cultural appropriation with glossy mediated representations trimmed from context we often get something spectacular. Witness M.I.A.’s new video. Is it a sensationalist exploitation of vague Arab identity? Is it a mediocre song with a snazzy video? Is it an anthem for Arab women’s power and emancipation at a particular moment when Saudi Arabian women are fighting for the right to drive?
Saudi Arabia is the only country that bars women from driving. But the topic remains a highly emotional issue in the kingdom, where women are also not allowed to vote, or even work without their husbands’, or fathers’, permission. For religious puritans, the ban on women driving is a sign that the government remains steadfast in the face of a Western onslaught on Saudi traditions. A political cartoon here once depicted car keys attached to a hand grenade.
via Saudis Arrest Woman Leading Right-to-Drive Campaign – NYTimes.com.
Maybe these sultry hooded women are representations of the terrifying hand grenade of women’s emancipation? M.I.A. is certainly in charge — note that she and the other women are suggested as the stunt drivers in her video. Not quite the dis-empowered sultry video vixen.
Let’s also note the Saudi stunt driving tradition which has provided some of the visual antecedents for M.I.A.’s video.
I think it is a smart way to make the argument. It’s a savvy juxtaposition — to connect the stunt driving (socially acceptable youth rebellion) with women driving (absolute moral panic). But the construction of the argument relies on some of the most blunt images of Arab and Muslim cultures.
Cultural appropriation has a couple of dimensions. One is the absorption of specific cultural traditions into a generic western culture (German sausages become hot dogs which then become America’s national food). A second dimension is the insistence that citizens hide their specific culture: language, food, sexuality in order to gain the benefits of citizenship.
In this case, I think the risk is the other-izing jump to rescue Arab women from their oppressive men. In the buildup to the US-Afghanistan war, the Taliban’s treatment of women was a central theme used to drum up support for military intervention. I think this is an insincere secondary objectification of women’s struggles, a hijack of liberation and autonomy. The American invasion of Afghanistan has not helped the women of Afghanistan and the emotional concern that made ‘Afghan women‘ a news cycle trope seems to have dissipated.
We tend to represent the Arab-other in murky abstractions of difference and this video is a slight variation of an Orientalist theme.
Filed under capitalism, colonialism, communication, feminism, human rights, juxtaposition, music, protest, representation
You should not scrap with fictional characters. They will always win. Murphy Brown crushed Dan Quayle and now the Muppets have their retort in the those-puppets-are-biased-against-oil-companies culture war.
thanks to therapup for the link.
Filed under art, communication, propaganda, representation
Life of refinement 