Music and Race

Academic writing & assessment of writing

supports a white racial habitus

So academic writing is one avenue in which racial modes of meaning making are expressed

Music is another.

the question

how does popular music reinforce white and black meaning making strategies

keep in mind Myser's findings on white racial habitus

individualism, self-determination, autonomy, self-control

person in individual terms, rational, self-conscious

rigor, clarity, consistency

problems = those that disrupt autonomous functioning

(see handout from Inoue)

listen to Dylan, Lennon, and Nirvana.

All these songs are in the top 5 greatest rock songs of all time

how do they illustrate a white racial habitus?

how many voices do you hear?

is there a I or We voice?

Could you dance to this?

What might be hallmarks of African American meaning making:

black joy, play, activism, liberation work, resistance, collaboration, call and response, community

responses to abuse, structural inequality, targeted violence

(p. 102)

listen/watch to Fugees

how many voices?

listen/watch to Stevie Wonder

What do G&B find so fascinating about Stevie Wonder?

Kendrick won the Pulitzer Prize for his lyrics.

Listen/watch his performance of 'Alright.' Start around 1 minute in.

Where do G&B talk about this track? Why do they bring it up?

Google this song "Hell You Talmbout"

What is it about?

Watch/listen to this first 2 minutes

Who is in this group? Where do G&B talk about one of the group members?

Google the lyrics and listen to the track.

While listening, make a mark on a piece of paper for each voice you hear.

Listen to the whole song. Profanity in here. Why?

Let's analyze these lyrics together

how does African-American music mirror AA rhetorical traditions going all the way back to Negro spirituals?

How doe such a rhetorical tradition conflict with academic writing?