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arts-culture-honours-programme · 7 years

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“My Red Homeland”: Jewish Contemporary Art

Anna Nesterenko

“The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them”

-Mark Rothko

Shooting into the Corner, Anish Kapoor

In many cases, especially connected to the migration and living among the foreign ethnicities, as it is happens widely with the Jews through history and nowadays, categories of ethnicity and nationality serve as principles for organization of life and social contacts. While these categories are socially constructed, they have objective consequences for access to important resources - including housing, political resources, and opportunities in the labor market (Chong, 2011).

These processes occur both outside the community and inside, when its members distinguish themselves from the rest during the interactions, even with the strangers, (Tavory, 2010). Drawing up such boundaries is based on the ascription and evaluation specific characteristics, which are considered to be significant to the group of people or in our case, the group of art (Barth, 1969). According to Bourdieu, these symbolic and cultural factors are very important in the social construction, as far as they contribute to building a hierarchy in society and allow certain agents to occupy a dominant position that can result in symbolic violence - the imposition of their cultural and symbolic practices (Bourdieu, 1984). When it comes to the art, what is considered to be national is always really a question of social boundaries, that can be described as the “conceptual distinctions made by social actors to categorize objects, people, practices and even time and space” (Lamont & Molnár, 2002). However, the attempt to make a certain homogenous image ends in failure because in reality the concept of “national” in reality is always heterogeneous.

Jerusalem, Moshe Mizrachi

In the past, in spite of the doubts about the theoretical possibility of Jewish, acuteness of this question contributed to its unexpected rise in the XX century, when Jewish identity became an increasing concern in the visual arts (Silver & Baskind, 2011). At this time avant-garde Jewish groups, each with its own concept, arose throughout Europe, finally freed from the political oppression: the artists gathered, argued on this topic, founded magazines and exhibitions devoted to Jewish art in Paris, Berlin, Warsaw.

In other words, it was the process of national self-ascription that was accompanied by an explosion of both reflection on this topic and Jewish artistic creation. The names of Marc Chagall or Chaim Soutine are widely heard, but many of the artists who participated in this process (for example, cubist Max Weber in America or avant-gardist El Lissitzky in Russia), later became classics of European modernism, even though their Jewish dimension usually remains understudied, as far as for some of them the passion for avant-garde art reflected a break with Jewish ancestry and Judaism, especially due to the ideology of atheism in the Soviet Union (Orlov, 2008).

Book cover for "Chad Gadya", El Lissitzky

Sabbath, Max Weber

In the XX century, several approaches emerged to how to express the Jewish contribution to art. One of them, which is popular now in Israel, is an exhibition based on the presence in the work of Jewish artists of the “Jewishness” – their very own experience that is the personal history experienced by the artist as a Jew. This story can either enter creativity directly - for example, as the experience of the Holocaust, - or it can also somehow indirectly affect the choice of scenes or style in some complicated way.

Svayambh, Anish Kapoor

“He was antisemitic and I'm Jewish. Who cares?”

-Anish Kapoor on Wagner

In the February of this year the winner of The Genesis Prize, the so-called "Jewish Nobel Prize", which “recognises individuals who have attained excellence and international renown in their fields and whose actions and achievements express a commitment to Jewish values, the Jewish community and the State of Israel”, was announced Anish Kapoor - a British sculptor of Indian-Jewish origin (The Guardian, 2017). Kapoor said that he would donate a million dollars of the prize to help the refugees: “As inheritors and carriers of Jewish values it is unseemly, therefore, for us to ignore the plight of people who are persecuted, who have lost everything and had to flee as refugees in mortal danger” (The Guardian, 2017).

And canceled the rewarding of the Prize because the celebration is “inappropriate” in the face of the war in Syria “on Israel’s doorstep” (The Jewish Chronicle, 2017).

Anish Kapoor was born in Bombay in 1954, in family of Hindu and Iraqi Jewess. His mother’s relatives are Jews, immigrated to India from Iraq in the 1920s. In 1978, his first exhibition was held in London at the Hayward Gallery. Ten years later, he is already an acknowledged artist, a prizewinner at the Venice Biennale, a laureate of the Turner Prize. In September 2009 Kapoor became the first artist whose personal exhibition was organized in The Royal Academy of Arts during his lifetime (The Jewish Chronicle, 2017).

To set an example, of the modern artist suited into the third approach who express his own stories as the Jew, I would like to focus on him and explore the way he represents it in his artworks and how it is perceived by the both Jewish and non-Jewish audiences. Analyzing a number of interviews with Kapoor and the reviews, we can distinguish several main frames used in order to evaluate him and his artworks: the view from within the Jewish community on Kapoor as a Jew, in the first place, regardless of the positivity or negativity of the review; the frame that focused on the artworks themselves; and the one that explore his personal views, mostly political, including ones that are embedded into the artworks.

The authors and magazines, mostly connected to the Jewish community, such as The Jewish Chronicle, Jewcy, Haaretz, Jewish.ru, etc. prefer to focus on the Jewish origin of the Kapoor and emphasize it: “Most notoriously, in 2015, his work at Versailles was defaced several times with anti-Semitic graffiti, and when Kapoor elected to not remove it to highlight underlying problems, a right-wing politician successfully sued to force him to cover up the vandalism” (Jewsy, 2017).

Anish Kapoor, Dirty Corner

Kapoor himself, while not denying the importance of the Jewish question, tries to avoid discussions about the influence of his origin and especially religion on his art:

“-…And you are part Jewish. Were you formally taught these things, were they formally or casually talked about in the family conversation?

-…But my parents were fastidiously a-religious. So while some of this was around, its much more that I feel that the symbolic world, which I insist is the nub of a problem for an artist like me, is latent in most actions I would wish to make as an artist. And the work is to find that latent content” (The John Tusa Interviews, 2003).

This is especially noticeable in publications related to the outrage on the part of Jewish society, when Kapoor were developing a design of sets for the new Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde: “And many of my Jewish relatives and friends say: ‘How can you?’ Honestly, in the end, one somehow has to put that aside” (Jeffries, 2017). He responds to all these criticism: “In the end, who cares if the artist is a nice person?” (Jeffries, 2017). For him, some practical actions are obviously more important, he actively expresses his views on the pressing issues of our time, both personally and in his art.

Thus, other more independent authors focus mostly on his views in the art itself. Such as the support for refugees or protest against the policy of Tramp, when Kapoor altered one of the posters created in the 1974 for the performance “I Like America and America Likes Me” of the artist Joseph Beuys. Kapoor placed his portrait on the poster and changed the title. In his version, it sounds like: “I Like America and America Doesn’t Like Me”. He says: "I call on fellow artists and citizens to disseminate their name and image using Joseph Beuys' seminal work of art as a focus for social change. Our silence makes us complicit with the politics of exclusion. We will not be silent" (ArtDaily, 2017).

Anish Kapoor, I like America and America doesn't like Me

The exhibition “My Red Homeland” in the The Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center in Moscow also caused a debate about its insert meaning. Because of the current political situation in Russia and strong associations between the red colour and history of the country, a lot of local visitors were looking for the some kind of the hidden message. However, Kapoor states that, “the works point in certain directions, but they’re not prescriptive in their meaning. I think that means that they allow for a possible openness of interpretation and that can be responsive to the time in which the work is shown. It’s not incidental that I’m showing My Red Homeland here in Russia. In one way it’s slightly naughty, and in another way, I quite like the idea of engaging with the questions” (Small, 2017).

Anish Kapoor, My Red Homeland

Nevertheless, even if for the artist the question of his cultural affiliation is open, in his artworks Kapoor emphasizes that the most important things are to be hidden in sight and that a work of art is not a finished form, but an ongoing process.

Above all these issues, in the case of Kapoor, there is still the effect of the social boundaries can be seen, as far as for the reviewers from Jewish community, the emphases of his Jewishness is a subconscious way to claim him authentic and draw the boundary between his art and the rest. At the same time, the definition of the essence of Jewish art no longer has priority over artists and works of art, as we also can see on the example of Anish Kapoor. Art should not be reduced to the biographies of its producers or be analyzed only with respect to the intended audience or limited religious community.

References:

Anish Kapoor recreates seminal artwork in anti-Trump protest. (2017). ArtDaily. Retrieved from: http://artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=93455#.Wed8DGi0OMo

Anish Kapoor. Artist. Jewish. Color Renegade. (2017). Jewcy. Retrieved from http://jewcy.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/jewish-artist-anish-kapoor

Barth, F. (1969). Ethnic groups and boundaries: The social organization of culture difference. London: Allen & Unwin (‘Introduction’).

Bourdieu, P. (1984) [1979]. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Trans. Richard Nice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Chong, P. (2011). Reading difference: How race and ethnicity function as tools for critical appraisal. Poetics 39 (1): 64-84.

Conversations with Artists, Selden Rodman, New York Devin-Adair. (1957). p. 93.; reprinted as 'Notes from a conversation with Selden Rodman, 1956', in Writings on Art: Mark Rothko (2006) ed. Miguel López-Remiro.

Gutmann, J. (1961). The "Second Commandment" and the Image in Judaism. Hebrew Union College Annual, 32, 161-174.

Hesli, V., Miller, A., Reisinger, W., & Morgan, K. (1994). Social Distance from Jews in Russia and Ukraine. Slavic Review, 53(3), 807-828.

Jeffries, S. (2017). Anish Kapoor on Wagner: 'He was antisemitic and I'm Jewish. Who cares?'. The Guardian. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/jun/08/anish-kapoor-on-wagner-he-was-antisemitic-and-im-jewish-who-cares.

Lamont, Michèle & Virág Molnár. (2002). The study of boundaries in the social sciences. Annual

Orlov, A. (2008). First There Was the Word: Early Russian Texts on Modern Jewish Art. Oxford Art Journal, 31(3), 385-402.

Prize ceremony for Anish Kapoor cancelled because of Syrian suffering (2017). The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved from: https://www.thejc.com/news/israel/prize-ceremony-for-anish-kapoor-cancelled-because-of-syrian-suffering-1.437797.

Review of Sociology 28 (1): 167-195.

Silver, L., & Baskind, S. (2011). Looking Jewish: The State of Research on Modern Jewish Art. The Jewish Quarterly Review, 101(4), 631-652.

Small, R. (2017). Anish Kapoor Colors Russia Red - Interview Magazine. Interview Magazine. Retrieved from: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/art/anish-kapoor-jewish-museum-and-tolerance-center [Accessed 18 Oct. 2017].

Tavory, I. (2009). Of yarmulkes and categories: Delegating boundaries and the phenomenology of interactional expectation. Theory and Society, 39(1), 49-68.

The Guardian. (2017). Anish Kapoor condemns 'abhorrent' refugee policies as he wins Genesis prize. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/feb/06/anish-kapoor-condemns-abhorrent-refugee-policies-as-he-wins-genesis-prize.

The John Tusa Interviews, Anish Kapoor. (2003). Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00ncbc1

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arts-culture-honours-programme · 7 years

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What is South African culture? I give you: Die Antwoord

‘’Whatever Man’’

Check it,

I represent South African culture.

In this place you get a lot of different things:

Blacks,

Whites,

Coloured,

English,

Afrikaans,

Xhosa,

Zulu,

watookal.

I'm like all these different things,

all these different people,

fucked into one person.

Whatever man.

When the members of South African music group Die Antwoord speak these words, they present themselves as the embodiment of South African culture. In contemporary society, South African culture includes people from countless different ethnic backgrounds. But this has not always been the case.

It is probably sensible to say that South Africa knew a more peaceful time before colonialism. European countries, specifically the Netherlands, took the country of South Africa under their wing. Not necessarily in the positive sense, but with a rather forceful emphasis on imperialism. In doing this, masses of Dutch people immigrated to South Africa. They packed their bags with clothes, wealth, and feelings of white superiority. When the colonialists arrived in South Africa, these feelings were manifested into the act of simply conquering land that belonged to the country’s first inhabitants (Minty, 2006).

Clearly, white supremacy and racial segregation are issues that South Africa has dealt with for centuries. Segregation has been argued to support the development of the capitalist system in South Africa, thus perpetuating white economic ideologies that the colonialists brought with them (Dubow, 1989). It is this course of events that lead to the notion of apartheid. Apartheid may also refer to ‘’separate development’’ (Wolpe, 2006, p. 425). The oppressive government implemented apartheid quite literally. African communities were relocated to townships where the police could exercise constant control. (Wolpe, 2006). Gradually, black and white communities were separated altogether. A structure was built in which the white settlers gained full control over the African inhabitants. Ironically, the minority dominated the majority.

It appears that apartheid challenges the definition of South African culture. The separation of communities may be argued to have created two developmental paths, or rather two histories: that of white people and that of black people. Since colonialism, the history of black people is characterized by resisting white domination (Wakashe, 1986). The opposition between blacks and whites defines the structure of South African culture, and is of central importance to every South African citizen today. (Minty, 2006).

But what exactly is South African culture? Did South Africa only have its own distinctive culture before European interference? Is it a mixture of cultures, or is it authentic due to its historical path? The remnants of cultural elements that colonialists left behind, including racist ideologies, are omnipresent in South African culture. Not only this, but also the development of ‘’Afrikaans’’ language, similar to Dutch language, makes up a great deal of South African identity. An interesting subject to discuss is where this particular aspect of culture collides with art.

The Afrikaans music scene has exploded in the last decade. Noticeably, the majority of artists in this music scene are white (Marx & Milton, 2011). This raises complications in defining Afrikaans identities, especially because the Afrikaans music scene speaks to a wider (less whiter) audience in South Africa (Coetzer, 2009). Within the field of whiteness studies, Marx & Milton (2011) find that this challenges the normative stance of whiteness. Whiteness is argued to be the standard that white people use to measure other identities. (Perry, 2001). Or, as Heavner (2007, p. 65) puts it, white identity has been ‘’serving as a marker against which difference is drawn’’. In South Africa, this argument does not necessarily hold. Marx & Milton (2011, p. 723) comment that ‘’white people are acutely aware of their whiteness’’. They feel responsible for limiting their performance of whiteness. This condition of practicing whiteness unsettles culture: unwritten rules and codes are broken (Hall, 1997).

In a culture as unsettled as in South Africa, a reconfiguration of white identity is taking place. This is especially evident in the art world, and in this case: the music scene. The negotiation of Afrikaans identity, however, seems contradictory within this scene. Afrikaans commercial music invokes nostalgia and glorifies what it means to be Afrikaans. Alternative music opposes these characteristics, and denounces the apparent stability of Afrikaans identity. In addition, it expresses cynicism with the dominant position of Afrikaans identity (Marx & Milton, 2011).

Die Antwoord belongs to the latter category of alternative Afrikaans music. Die Antwoord is a white music group based in Cape Town, South Africa, and consists of three members: Yo-Landi Vi$$er, Ninja (Watkin Tudor Jones), and DJ Hi-Tek (Jeffries, 2017). They can be categorized into the genres of rap and hip-hop. Typically, these genres are associated with black artists. Black people are socially marked, because they deviate from whiteness, which is considered the norm (Brekhus, 1998). Due to this markedness, black artists find themselves confined within genres. White artists, as the ‘unmarked’, are not explicitly associated with specific genres or styles. But precisely because Die Antwoord performs within typical black genres, they call for a reconfiguration of white (Afrikaans) identity. They appear to do this in an almost parodical way.

Afrikaans bands like Die Antwoord challenge white identity by participating in ‘zef’-culture. They consider ‘zef’ to be the ultimate South African style. ‘Zef’ means being common, and was considered kitsch when the term originated in the 1980s (Marx & Milton, 2011). Nowadays, being ‘zef’ is ascribed with credibility, and according to author and singer Koos Kombuis, ‘’being truly zef takes guts’’ (cited in Fourie, 2010). Yo-Landi explains what it means to her in an interview: ‘’It’s just a style that came out of South Africa. Like, my haircut is zef. And Ninja’s tattoos are zef, and the fact that he wears his underpants, that’s zef’’ (YouTube, 2017). Poplak (cited in Marx & Milton, 2011), associates ‘zef’ with being white trash. White trash is not common in negotiating white identity, so by expressing themselves through this particular ‘zef’-culture, Die Antwoord’s whiteness becomes marked (Marx & Milton, 2011).

‘Zef’-culture is clearly visible in the way Yolandi Visser and Ninja strut their style. However, this ‘zef’ identity also presents itself in their music. By employing the encoding/decoding model, music can be read as a text in which artists negotiate their identity (Laubscher, 2005). ‘Zef’ identity is thus reflected in the music that Die Antwoord produces. One of their songs, ‘’Dis iz why I’m hot’’, accurately describes what they represent:

I'm hot because I'm ZEF, you ain't because you not

Furthermore, Ninja comments on the omnipresence of racial issues, even outside of the context of South Africa itself:

When you say South Africa the first things that come to mind

Is, yup, racism apartheid and crime

Fuck a racist, motherfuckers is stuck in '89

But the crime's still wildin' - word to my 9

In the lyrics above, Ninja discards ideas of racism and criticizes immediate race-related associations with South Africa. Being part of ‘zef’-culture, for Die Antwoord, signifies that South Africa should be treated as one distinctive culture. Their music may be regarded as a social commentary on the complexity of race inequalities. This is also apparent in earlier mentioned lyrics, where he proclaims:

I represent South African culture

This is a contradictory statement, because Die Antwoord is negotiating a white Afrikaans identity. How can they then represent an entire culture consisting of so many different identities? Perhaps, representing South African culture is embedded within the act of criticizing traditional white identity. By being so expressively ‘zef’, the members of Die Antwoord mark themselves and challenge the normativity of whiteness (Heavner, 2007).

This negotiation of Afrikaans identity has not always been perceived with positive connotations. Some black critics have argued that Die Antwoord has appropriated styles commonly identified with black music forms (Marx & Milton, 2011). This sparks a debate about the authenticity of ‘zef’-culture, and Die Antwoord’s music positioned within it. According to Peterson (2005), authenticity is a social construct, in which membership of an ethnic group is the only criterion to obtain the right to represent that group. In this vein, black critics have questioned the right of white artists to use rap music in expressing themselves (Marx & Milton, 2011). However, crossing this line may blur existing boundaries between ethnic groups. One may call it appropriation, but adopting other ethnicities’ cultural elements is one step towards forming one distinctive South African culture, which Die Antwoord seems to advocate for. After all, ‘’ethnic groups only persist as significant units if they imply marked difference in behaviour’’ (Barth, 1969, p. 15). Hence, by adopting each other’s behaviour, gaps between ethnic groups are reduced. Whether or not this process is a desirable one is up for discussion, because it does hold implications for the persistence of authentic ethnic cultural heritage.

Conclusively, how does Die Antwoord represent South African culture? They do not, necessarily. They do represent the construction of white Afrikaans identity and thereby challenge relationships between South African ethnicities. So what is South African culture? As to that, there is no definite answer… But Die Antwoord definitely is controversial.

Bibliography

Barth, Fredrik. (1969). Ethnic groups and boundaries: The social organization of culture difference. London: Allen & Unwin (‘Introduction’).

Brekhus, Wayne. (1998). A sociology of the unmarked. Sociological Theory 16 (1): 34-51.

Coetzer, D. (2009, August 29). Speaking in tongues: Afrikaans artists find mainstream success in South Africa. Billboard.

Dubow, S. (1989). Racial Segregation and the Origins of Apartheid in South Africa, 1919-36. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan UK.

Fourie, M. (2010). The dummies’ guide to zef. news24.com. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from

http://www.news24.com/Entertainment/SouthAfrica/The-Dummies-guide-to-Zef-20100216

Hall, S. (1997). The spectacle of the other. In S. Hall (Ed.), Representation: Cultural

representation and signifying practice (pp. 223-290). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Heavner, B.M. (2007). Liminality and normative whiteness: A critical reading of poor white trash. Ohio Communication Journal, 45, 65-80.

Jeffries, D. (2017). Die Antwoord [Blog post]. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from https://www.allmusic.com/artist/die-antwoord-mn0002454832/biography

Laubscher, L. (2005). Afrikaner identity and the music of Johannes Kerkorrel. South African Journal of Psychology, 35(2), 308-330.

Marx, H., & Milton, V. C. (2011). Bastardised whiteness: ‘zef’-culture, Die Antwoord and the reconfiguration of contemporary Afrikaans identities. Social Identities, 17(6), 723-745. doi:10.1080/13504630.2011.606671

Minty, Z. (2006). Post-apartheid Public Art in Cape Town: Symbolic Reparations and Public Space. Urban Studies, 43(2), 421-440. doi:10.1080/00420980500406728

Perry, P. (2001). White means never having to say you’re ethnic: White youth and the construction of “cultureless” identities. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 30(1): 56-91.

Peterson, Richard. (2005). In search for authenticity. Journal of Management Studies 42(5): 1083-1098.

Wakashe, T. P. (1986). ''Pula'': An Example of Black Protest Theatre in South Africa. The Drama Review: TDR, 30(4), 36-47. doi:10.2307/1145780

Wolpe, H. (2006). Capitalism and cheap labour-power in South Africa: from segregation to apartheid. Economy & Society, 1(4), 425-456. doi:10.1080/03085147200000023

YouTube. (2017, September 17). Why Yolandi Visser is a queen in a 10 minute video [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ogw-FdnMuUY

‘’Whatever Man’’

Check it,

I represent South African culture.

In this place you get a lot of different things:

Blacks,

Whites,

Coloured,

English,

Afrikaans,

Xhosa,

Zulu,

watookal.

I'm like all these different things,

all these different people,

fucked into one person.

Whatever man.

Yo-Landi Vi$$er and Ninja

I'm hot because I'm ZEF, you ain't because you not

Furthermore, Ninja comments on the omnipresence of racial issues, even outside of the context of South Africa itself:

When you say South Africa the first things that come to mind

Is, yup, racism apartheid and crime

Fuck a racist, motherfuckers is stuck in '89

But the crime's still wildin' - word to my 9

I represent South African culture

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arts-culture-honours-programme · 7 years

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Voluntourism: Valuable Volunteering or Unconscious Colonialism?

In recent years, there has been a surge of an alternative form of tourism in which tourists, who are often white, Western and from developed countries, travel to developing countries and spend part of their vacation volunteering in poverty stricken communities. Most of us have probably encountered one of these young, starry-eyed travellers; enthusiastically recalling the humbling, eye opening volunteer tourism (or voluntourism, for short) experience they had during their gap year. They may reminisce about the bright smiling faces of the children they cared for in a Kenyan orphanage, or the young students in a run-down Cambodian elementary school, all the while expressing their deepest gratitude for having had the chance to really “make a difference.”

Encountering these travellers and their stories has become increasingly common, with voluntourism being widely considered as an excellent way of participating in sustainable tourism that mutually benefits both tourists and their host communities (Pastran, 2014). Discussions on, and recollections of, voluntourism often highlight a long list of positive implications, describing the selflessness of the volunteers, the cross-cultural exchange and education, and the lasting effects on the volunteers who return to their home countries with a new, life-changing perspective on the world (Becklage, 2013).

However, while there may be positive implications of, and altruistic intentions behind, voluntourism, there is also a tendency to overlook certain negative, racial, implications of the act. Often lurking behind the seemingly well-intentioned discourse on voluntourism are neocolonial assumptions that very much reproduce structures of racial/ethnical power, privilege and oppression (Pastran, 2014). One of these underlying assumptions derives from the lack of education provided to Western volunteers about the local culture, history and general way of life of their host community, resulting in a one-dimensional, simplified perspective that highlights the neediness, poverty and apparent incapability of the “underdeveloped” locals (Mohamud, 2013). Rather than acknowledging the complexity and socio-historical contexts of these communities, or attempting to find cross-cultural similarities between the developing and the developed world, many voluntourists (and the organizations they make arrangements through) choose to instead emphasize the ‘otherness’ of their host communities and ethnic residents, defining them simply by their needs and ‘uncivilized’ nature (Guttentag, 2009). Such simplified classification is exemplified in the documentary ‘The Voluntourist’ (Sanguinetti, 2015), in which a local, employed at a Cambodian school accepting Western voluntourists, expresses his discomfort at the frequent generalization of the character of Cambodia (22:20 – 23:35). Referring to the sole focus on the neediness, or otherness, of the country, he exclaims “Really?! Is this how you view Cambodia?” suggesting the existence of a multi-dimensional perspective, or even reality, of Cambodia that is being largely ignored.

Link to 'The Voluntourist': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E16iOaAP4SQ&list=PLp1c-iNf31IYOI4OJcRhjKW-P0o7joNzP&index=3

Moreover, the poverty, or otherness, of host communities is often romanticized by privileged volunteers, and associated with emotional and social wealth, or a ‘poor-but-happy’ attitude to life. (Simpson, 2004) That is to say, voluntourists have the tendency to assume that locals in developing countries feel a certain sense of freedom, happiness and gratitude not experienced by those in first world, Western countries, who are too corrupted and restrained by economic wealth and material possessions to pursue the emotional/social wealth that is apparently so prevalent in third world communities. This is highly problematic, as not only does it allow for the justification of world wide material inequality, it is also quite reminiscent of the colonialist concept of the ‘noble savage’. This literary character/ideal has existed since the 16th century, representing the primitive ‘wild human’, uncorrupted by civilization and thereby innately ‘good’ (or in the modern case, more grateful and content with life) (Ellingson, 2001).

By adopting such simplified perspectives, volunteers effectively engage in the cognitive classification of these residents and their communities (Brubaker et al, 2004), emphasizing the boundaries between “them” and “us”, and further perpetuating common, colonialist stereotypes of the needy, underdeveloped, yet noble (i.e. content and grateful) ethnic groups who are unable to move forward without the help of the civilized, Western savior.

This leads us to our next underlying assumption of voluntourism, namely the above- stated belief that poverty-stricken countries/communities require the help of Westerners to induce development. This belief is referred to as ‘the white savior complex’ and stems from white, Western fantasies of ‘saving’ minority groups in developing countries (Cole, 2012). It is an idea that allows voluntourists to travel to these countries with the neocolonial assumption that even unqualified and inexperienced Westerners, with little to no understanding of the local resources and contexts, can ‘make a difference’ simply by being there (Saguinetti, 2015). Moreover, it indicates the assumption that unknowledgeable Westerners are still somehow more in a position to teach the community how best to partake in their own development than local residents, implying their perceived superiority of white, Western culture, and further enforcing the dichotomy of the superior, benevolent giver and the inferior, helpless ‘other’ (Sin, 2009). Clearly, the agency, knowledge, and capabilities of local residents in developing countries is largely ignored in these situations, a problem which Teju Cole (2012) thoroughly discusses and criticizes in his article ‘The White Savior Industrial Complex’. He examines the American outrage regarding humanitarian crises in Uganda in 2012 (which came to Western consciousness through the viral Kony 2012 video), as well as the Western desire to save the country. Responding to these concerned calls for Western heroism, Cole (2012) argues that a well-intentioned Westerner can ‘save’, a place like Uganda by first adopting a sense of respect for the agency of Ugandan people in their own lives, and through the abandonment of the ‘we have to save them because they can’t save themselves’ mentality. While most voluntourists are not engaged with humanitarian crises such as this one, the argument is still applicable to Westerners wanting to ‘save’ smaller, developing communities in Thailand, Cambodia, South Africa and other typical voluntourist destinations.

While wanting to ‘save’ developing communities is a common, well intentioned yet misguided (even ignorant) motivation to engage in voluntourism today, there are also other motivations amongst voluntourists that further imply the negative implications of this industry. First, as exemplified by Ossob Mohamud (2013) in her article ‘Beware the voluntourists doing good’, there is often a highly self-congratulatory atmosphere amongst these volunteers, who partially and perhaps unconsciously embark on these trips to inflate their own egos. Considering this common attitude, as well as the sole focus on the volunteer’s search for an authentic, self-fulfilling experience amongst many advertisements within the voluntourist industry, Mohamud questions whether these types of trips are designed more for the fulfillment of the volunteer, rather than reduction of global poverty. Often, there appears to be more of an emphasis on the volunteer feeling good, feeling as if they’ve made a difference, rather than on actually making a difference. Callanan and Thomas (2005) refer to this phenomenon as ‘shallow volunteer tourism’, where volunteers are more concerned about career achievement and self-development/fulfillment than about the well being of the local community. Sin (2009) confirms the commonality of this rather selfish motivation, claiming that interviews in his research on voluntourism reveal that many volunteers’ motivations revolve around the ‘self’, their own desires and expectations, rather than around the host community.

Another questionable, common motivation behind these trips lays with the search for authenticity, for an authentic ‘uncivilized’ experience with the cultural other. John Urry (1990) refers to this as ‘the tourist gaze’, i.e. a set of expectations, often based on stereotypical racial and cultural stereotypes, adopted by Western tourists and placed on local populations and communities. Locals are often forced to respond to these expectations and reflect back, or act according to, this Western gaze in order to benefit financially, and to please tourists who have spent money to engage with these “authentic” experiences. This process is very harmful, as it reduces important local cultural expressions and norms to little more than commodities. Furthermore, the tourist gaze is often rooted in neocolonial myths, e.g. ‘the myth of the uncivilized’ (Echtner & Prasad, 2004). Influenced by a nostalgic version of the era of colonial exploration, many modern day tourists (and voluntourists) idealize destinations containing “primitive, untamed nature and natives” (Echtner & Prasad, 2004, p. 675), wishing to participate in the discovery and exploration of these wild, uncivilized frontiers, much like the ‘great’ (white) explorers before them.

Many voluntourists were found to be adopting a sort of tourist gaze in, for example, Chen and Chen’s (2009) study ‘The Motivations and Expectations of International Volunteer Tourists’. They examine the motivations of Western voluntourists for volunteering in an underdeveloped village in Shaanxi, China. Interviews were conducted with the participants of the project, and amongst the most frequently mentioned motivations for volunteering was the desire for an authentic experience. Many respondents wished to immerse themselves in the Chinese culture, and to interact with the cultural other engaging in culturally authentic activities (Peterson, 2005) They expressed wanting to see “the real [Chinese] story” and to “get a close look at how people lived day by day in the village” (p. 439).

While the desire to immerse oneself in authentic cultural activities may seem admirable, a critical view on this common search for authenticity should be adopted, as not only does it often supersede what should be the core motivation and intention of volunteering (i.e. helping the community), but also reinforces stereotypes of the cultural other, potentially placing pressure on local communities to act according to these stereotypes. Furthermore, this search may result in people engaging in these ‘authentic’ experiences, simply to be able to claim a bit of authenticity for themselves, to construct and present themselves as an authentic, worldly, culturally aware person (Peterson, 2005). Voluntourists may very well be (un)consciously choosing this form of tourism to add something to the identity they perform, to develop (or at least perform a self that has developed) an authentic, deep understanding of the local conditions of developing communities (Sin, 2009). This, of course, is not, or should not be, the purpose of volunteering, and greatly differs from the supposed altruistic intentions that most voluntourists claim to have.

In conclusion, though it has a few positive aspects, volunteer tourism is a problematic industry, which contributes to the continuation of neocolonial power structures. However, it is possible to break from these structures if voluntourist organizations and travellers are willing to challenge and examine the discourses, history and assumptions behind the practice with a critical eye. Adopting the perspective of the host communities is essential in achieving this break from development that only furthers neocolonial relationships. If well-intentioned Western volunteers begin to engage in this analysis, to consider root structural and institutional causes of global inequality, and to understand their own role in this issues, perhaps a new, more effective and less self-focused form of development can emerge. Simply put, volunteering in Africa may seem like an impactful, sophisticated thing to do, but before running off to that orphanage in Kenya, perhaps one should take the time to ask themselves to what extent they really want to make a difference.

Bibliography

Blackledge, S. (2013). In defence of ‘voluntourists’. Retrieved October 11, 2017 from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/25/in-defence-of-voluntourism1

Brubaker, R., Loveman, M., & Stamatov, P. (2004). Ethnicity and cognition. Theory and Society, 33(1), 31-64.

Callanan, M., & Thomas, S. (2005).Volunteer tourism. Niche tourism: Contemporary issues, trends, and cases. Wallington, UK: Butterworth- Heinemann.

Chen, L. & Chen, J. S. (2011). The motivations and expectations of international volunteer tourists: A case study of “Chinese Village Traditions”. Tourism Management, 32(2), 435 – 422

Cole, T. The White-Savior Industrial Complex. Retrieved October 12, 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/03/the-white-savior-industrial-complex/254843/

Echtner, C. M., & Prasad, P. (2004). The context of third world tourism marketing. Annals of Tourism Research, 31(2), 469-471

Ellingson, T. (2001). The myth of the noble savage. Berkely, CA: University of California Press

Guttentag, D. A. (2009). The possible negative impacts of volunteer tourism. International Journal of Tourism Research, 11 (6), 537 – 551

Mohamud, O. (2013). Beware the voluntourists intent on doing good. Retrieved October 10th, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/13/beware-voluntourists-doing-good

Pastran, S. H. (2014) Volunteer tourism: a postcolonial approach. University of Saskatchewan Undergraduate Research Journal, 1(1), 45 – 57.

Peterson, R. A. (2005). In search of authenticity. Journal of Management Studies, 42 (5), 1083 - 1098

Sanguinetti, C. (2015).Documentary ‘The Voluntourist’: Is Voluntourism doing more harm than good? Retrieved October 15, 2017 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E16iOaAP4SQ&list=PLp1c-iNf31IYOI4OJcRhjKW-P0o7joNzP&index=3

Sin, H. L. (2009). Volunteer tourism – “involve me and I will learn?” Annals of Tourism Research, 36 (3), 480 - 501

Simpson, K. (2004). ‘Doing development’: the gap year, volunteer-tourists and a popular practice of development. Journal of International Development, 16(5), 681 – 692.

Urry, J. (1990). The tourist gaze: leisure and travel in contemporary societies. London: Sage.

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#OscarsSoWhite #WhoisToBlame

A refreshing inside on the continuous issue of minority representation within the academy awards and beyond

What the... Oscar is wrong with the academy awards? From Leonardo DiCaprio who forever seemed to remain Oscarless, to woman hastagging Me-too as result of sexual intimidation to the ongoing debate on the lack of ethnic minority nominations. The #OscarSowhite first appeared in 2015 when, as a reaction to all white nominations in the top Oscar Award categories, one citizen turned to twitter, tweeting:

The following year when the list of nominees portrayed a similar lack of minorities nominated for an Oscar, several actors and directors decided to boycott the annual academy awards (Cox, 2016). This year the awards did however, after a quick “envelope snafu” (Gray, 2017, p. 1), have the coming-of-age drama about a gay black man, Moonlight, win the Oscar for Best picture. Still the question remains whether this shattered a glass ceiling for ethnic minority directors, actors and films (Gray, 2017)

In the heat of this debate, On the one hand, the highly feasible ‘academy’ and its “colour-blind” (Rodriguez, 2006, p. 645), mostly white organizational structure is often addressed to as the Evil-doer. However, on the other hand looking at what the Academy awards are a representation of: the film industry, one may argue that the industries occupational careers, predominantly occupied by white man, and the markets “whitewashing” (Lowrey, 2016, p.1), is what leads to disadvantages in opportunities for racial/ethnic minorities. This post revives the ongoing trend of racial and ethnic representation in the film industry & academy awards commenting on the effects of colour-blindness within the organization of the Academy, the industries “social & symbolic boundaries” (Lamont, Molnar, 2002, p. 2 & 3) as well as the whitewashing of film in general. Not to mention the role of the critical/ biased audience in the issue of diversity. In order to get an inside in #whosis/aretoblame for the #Oscarsowhite and finally propose the possible first steps into solving the problem.

In the mist of the 2016th Academy award show La times published an article on the Unmasking of the Oscars arguing that there is an overwhelmingly unequal proportion of white male members in relation to those from a minority (Horn, Sperling, & Smith, 2012). Since 2012 the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is mostly white (94 percent) and predominantly male (77 percent) (Horn, Sperling, & Smith, 2012). At that time, black members only accounted for just 3 percent of the group (Williams, Rosen, & Dvalidze, 2015). From an abstract liberalist perspective this lack of diversity, grounded in the Organizational structure (membership list), would have no effect on those who are nominated for opportunity has no colour (Rodriguez, 2006). Besides this, from a quote by Frank Pierson it appears that ethnic and racial matters within the academy are to a certain extent naturalized as he argues “We represent the professional filmmakers, and if that doesn't reflect the general population, so be it," (as cited in Horn, Sperling, & Smith, 2012) withholding any argument incorporating racial or ethnic differences (Rodriguez, 2006). Rodriguez (2016) describes how the above-mentioned sayings are part of a colour-blind ideology emphasizing a perceived equality between racial and ethnic groups despite unequal social locations and varying histories. By claiming that success knows no culture the white dominated academy ‘marks’ themselves as “cultureless” (Perry, 2001, p. 57). I purposely say mark because even unintentionally culturelessness can become a mean to white racial superiority (Perry, 2001)

A solution making sure Academy members avoid marking themselves as cultureless would be easy; simply invite more ethnic minority actors, directors, filmmakers etc. into their voting systems. Unfortunately, this is, as the Oscars uphold a prestige position within the movie industry, not so easy (Williams, Rosen, & Dvalidze, 2015). From the official Oscar website, it appears that becoming a member you must either be sponsored by two current academy members from within their own branch, or be nominated for an Oscar, which automatically puts them up for membership consideration (“academy membership”, 2017). These requirements form both a symbolic boundary; ethnic minority actors, directors etc. who feel unwelcome within the voting sphere of the Academy, as well as an objectified boundary; manifested in their unequal access to and unequal distribution of roles within the voting academy (Lamont, Molnar, 2002) It seems that as long as the current academy voters do not vote for more diversity these boundaries remain persistent. yet nonetheless, an analysis by the Economist (2016) suggests that voter prejudice is not the sole reason for social boundaries. As minority actors have secured only 15 % of the top roles the Academy’s choices remain limited. (“How racially skewed are the Oscars?”, 2016)

“If the industry as a whole is not doing a great job in opening up its ranks, it's very hard for us to diversify our membership." – writer-director, Phil Alden Robinson (as cited in Horn, Sperling, & Smith, 2012)

From the quote by Robinson it appears that social and symbolic boundaries are also visible in the film industry at large (Lamont, Molnar, 2002). From a historical context it’s found that when post war America had tried to assimilate native Americans into American culture but failed to offer an equal position, the upcoming movie industry knew a similar process failing to include the society at large (Magnien, 1973). From history, onwards this white ideal has led to today’s whitewashing of the movie industry (“BBC Interviews Dr. Nancy Wang Yuen on Whitewashing”, 2017). Whitewashing is the practice of erasing people of color commonly with a white actor replacing a minority actor, or the other way around (Lowrey, 2016). Those in favour of non-white actors and actresses playing Asian or African kings and pirates, argue that the industry “simply choses the best” (Lowrey, 2016, p. 4) regardless of their ethnicity. Besides that, financial uncertainty causes director and producer to choose star power over risking to lose their audience to unknown minorities (Lowrey, 2016). These are all excuses according to Dr. Nancy Yueng who, in her book Reel inequality, comments on the lasting problem of whitewashing in the movie industry. In an interview with the BBC commenting on the recent movie cancelling of actor Ed Skrein after receiving criticism for being cast for an originally Asian role, he asks Yueng: haven’t we not passed the white washing? (“BBC Interviews Dr. Nancy Wang Yuen on Whitewashing”, 2017) No, Yueng responds. saying that “Hollywood isn’t just there yet” (as cited in “BBC Interviews Dr. Nancy Wang Yuen on Whitewashing”, 2017) due to their risk adverse behaviour (“BBC Interviews Dr. Nancy Wang Yuen on Whitewashing”, 2017). An example of this can be found in how, casting calls often call for “Caucasian or any other ethnicity” (Lowrey, 2016, p.4), marking any ‘other ethnicity’ as the odd ones out, is simultaneously preferring the unmarked category of the ‘Caucasian’ (Brekhus, 1998). As a result of marking ethnic minorities are often typecast in particular roles. For example, black actors who are type casted into ghetto roles, characterized by an alternative speech (Yueng, 2010). These type castings again limit the reach of ethnic or racial minority cultural practioners, but why?

Although only being small part in the production process is the audience demands, it is worth mentioning that looking at the cognitive behaviour of the audience, it becomes clear that a reason for the industry her whitewashing and typecasting can be found in the fact that even “America’s minority audiences watch the movies that ignore them” (Cox, 2016, p.1). The audience, critical demand for a more diversified industry is in immediate contrast to what we buy our tickets for (Cox, 2016). When looking ate Griswold’s “Cultural diamond” (“Diagrams of Theory: Griswold's Cultural Diamond”, n.d, p.1) it seems that consumer demands influence cultural producers but cultural producers also influence consumer demands creating a virtuous circle (see figure 1.1). So as long as America needs the motion picture business, and the motion picture business needs the United States audience, ethnic minorities are stuck in the typecasting roles that have brought the audience commercial success and the audience viewing pleasure (Magnien, 1973). In order to break this circle solutions must be found both from within as well as from the outside.

Luckily, today, audience demands are influenced by changing demographics, where people are growing up in more diverse environments and want to see people that represent themselves and where they come from. (“BBC Interviews Dr. Nancy Wang Yuen on Whitewashing”, 2017). This is in line with what McCarthy (2016) describes as searching for the real authentic experience. The industries reaction to this upcoming trend would in contrast to the whitewashing of film, cast more people of color for roles written for them in order to achieve the ‘real’ dimension of the film and generate the authentic experience. As the ongoing debate from the outside the industry has already revised conventional patterns of markedness, by bringing the lack of ethnic minority representation within the film industry to the foreground (Brekhus, 1998). Brekhus (1998) argues that from within, marking everything, filling in all the shades of social continua, there can no longer be a distinction made between cultural practioners from different ethnic backgrounds. This can only be achieved however through the further ornamentation not only of the unmarked centre but of the interior segments of the poles that fall below a visible threshold of markedness (Berkhus, 1998). no longer distinguishing between ‘causation’ and ‘other ethnicities’ on their calling sheet will only affect ethnic minority inclusion once the choice is no longer effected white predjudice. As far as for the academy, as they are eventually choosing the best and the “professional” (as cited in Horn, Sperling, & Smith, 2012) in doing so it is however important to not ignore but incorporate the unequal positions of actors, directors and filmmakers within the industry instead.

All in all, answering the question of who is to blame for the Oscars being so white it is difficult to point fingers into one direction. Although we may to some extent speak of increasing cultural awareness within the field, the vicious circle which entails how the academy’s colour-blindness might be a reflection of the industry’s easily replacing of an actor with color for a white actor in order to be certain of their market success, is still persistent as the debate continuous to exists. The question remains whether the future will ever know the hashtag of #Oscarssoinclusive. And Even when, in the search of authentic as well as raising cultural awareness, marking everything, will lead to a more diversified movie industry and more ethnic minority representational in the nominations, we must quickly move onto the next issue because hey, what would the Oscars be without a little scandal?

By Bente Lutteke

Bibliography

Academy Membership. (2017, October 13). Retrieved October 29, 2017, from http://www.oscars.org/about/join-academy

“BBC Interviews Dr. Nancy Wang Yuen on Whitewashing”. (2017, August 29). Retrieved October 30, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIp9a0LkbE4

Brekhus, Wayne. 1998. A sociology of the unmarked. Sociological Theory 16 (1): 34-51.

Cox, D. (2016, February 26). What #OscarsSoWhite got right – and wrong. Retrieved October 30, 2017, from https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/feb/25/oscarssowhite-right-and-wrong-academy-awards-audience

Diagrams of Theory: Griswold's Cultural Diamond. (n.d.). Retrieved October 31, 2017, from https://www.dustinstoltz.com/blog/2016/12/30/diagrams-of-theory-griswolds-cultural-diamond

Gray, T. (2017, October 26). Oscars: Why Wrong-Envelope Snafu Sets the Tone for the New No-Rules, No-Logic Race. Retrieved October 30, 2017, from http://variety.com/2017/film/news/2018-oscars-wrong-envelope-snafu-1202598359/

Hancock, B.H. 2008. “Put a little color on that!” Sociological Perspectives 51 (4): 783-802.

Horn, J., Sperling, N., & Smith, D. (2012, February 19). Unmasking Oscar: Academy voters are overwhelmingly white and male. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-unmasking-oscar-academy-project-20120219-story.html

How racially skewed are the Oscars? (2016, January 21). Retrieved October 29, 2017, from https://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2016/01/film-and-race

Lamont, Michèle & Virág Molnár. 2002. The study of boundaries in the social sciences. Annual Review of Sociology 28 (1): 167-195

Lowrey, W. (2016). People Painted Over: Whitewashing of Minority Actors in Recent Film. Lake Worth, FL: Palm Beach State College. Web, 11.

MacCarthy, M. (2016). Touring ‘Real Life’?: Authenticity and Village-based Tourism in the

Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea. In ALEXEYEFF K. & TAYLOR J. (Eds.), Touring

Pacific Cultures (pp. 333-358). Australia: ANU press, pp. 335

Magnien, N. (1973). An Actor’s Outrage, or a Generation’s Wake-up Call? Native American Activists’ Declaration at the 45th Academy Awards Ceremony. KANATA, 40, 118.

Perry, P. (2001). White means never having to say you’re ethnic: White youth and the construction of “cultureless” identities. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 30 (1): 56 – 91.

Rodriquez, J. (2006). Color-Blind Ideology and the Cultural Appropriation of Hip-Hop. Journal Of Contemporary Ethnography, 35(6), 645-668

Williams, B., Rosen, C., & Dvalidze, I. (2015, February 20). Why It Should Bother Everyone That The Oscars Are So White. Retrieved October 29, 2017, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/20/oscars-diversity-problem_n_6709334.html

Yueng, N. W. (2010, April 9). Playing "Ghetto": Black Actors, Stereotypes, and Authenticity « Page 1 « Black Los Angeles. Retrieved October 30, 2017, from https://fromthesquare.org/blackla/?p=17&cpage=1

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Who are we?

Since October the Netherlands have a new government. In the past few weeks new plans of the government already found its way to the media. Among these were also policies regarding the arts and culture sector. For schools it will be mandatory to bring their pupils to the parliament and the Rijksmuseum, the national museum of art and also partly of history. Subsequently, the schools are obliged to learn the pupils the Dutch national anthem, het Wilhelmus, not only the lyrics, but also the context behind the song. The government said to introduce these plans as they will secure the national identity in times of insecurity and globalization (Thole, 2017). This plan fits within the discussion within the Netherlands about what our identity is, if there even is one. The Dutch queen Máxima stated back in 2007 that the Dutchman does not exist. If there is no coherent image of what the Dutch national identity is in the country itself how can the plans introduced by the government secure the identity. Is the plan not a way of creating or forcing an identity on the Dutch people (children)?

In this blogpost I try to give an answer to the question if identity can be forced on people and if so, what is the role of arts and culture in this identity formation. This question will be answered by discussing how identity and culture are constituted in the first place by the text of Nagel. Second, the role of memory in the constitution of identity will be described by the theory of Assman and DeNora. I chose to focus on memory for it Is mentioned in many text that is used for both the construction of ethnic identity and national identity. Third, the role of arts and culture in the process of identity making will be documented.

Constructing Ethnic Identity and Culture

According to Nagel (1994) ethnic identity is something that is constructed through ascription by others and the view one has of oneself; it answers who we are. The extent to which individuals or groups can construct ethnicity themselves is narrow as ethnic categories are imposed by others (Nagel, 1994).

Ethnicity consists of culture and history, these are also used to construct ethnic meaning (Nagel, 1994). Nagel (1994) states that culture is constructed by collecting and selecting items of the past and the present. As ethnic identity answers who we are, culture answers what we are. Culture is mainly constructed through the reconstruction of history and the construction of a new culture (Nagel, 1994). The cultural construction techniques aides, among other things, the construction of community as “they act to define the boundaries of the ethnic identity, establish membership criteria, generate a shared symbolic vocabulary, and define a common purpose” (Nagel, 1994). The reconstruction of history is according to Hobsbawn seen as the invention of tradition (Nagel, 1994). This invention of tradition can be used for different reasons defined by Hobbsbawn (Nagel, 1994): “a) to establish or symbolize social cohesion or group membership, b) to establish or legitimize institutions, status and authority relations, or c) to socialize or inculcate beliefs, values or behaviors”. One could argue the invention of tradition has to do with the construction of community.

Cultural construction, as documented in the text of Nagel (1994), is especially important for poly-ethnic groups for they are composed of subgroups with different histories and traditions which once were, in some cases, in conflict with each other.

Memory

Memory is a way to construct national identity. Nations use collective memory to let people feel part of the same nation.

Assman (2006) makes distinctions between individual, collective/social, cultural and political memory.

According to Assman (2006) memories help constitute our individual and societal identity. As for the construction of ethnic identity, especially political and cultural memory are important (Assman, 2006). Political and cultural memory are mediated, they rely on material representations and symbols; on museums, monuments and libraries and on education. These types of memories are (meant as) transgenerational memories (Assman, 2006): the memories pass from generation to generation. When memories are transformed to cultural and political memories, these memories become institutionalized top-down memories. The transformation of these memories, however, sometimes cause criticism in society (Assman, 2006).

The political memories can be (ab)used in the construction of collective identities by institutions, states and nations (Assman, 2006). Institutions, states and nations do not ‘have’ memories, they ‘make’ memories. They make memories together with symbols, texts, images, rituals, monuments, etcetera. With these memories such institutions construct an identity (Assman, 2006). The memories used for the identity are strictly selected. They reside in material media, symbols and practices which have to be engrafted in the hearts and minds of individuals (Assman, 2006). These memories have to be engrafted in the hearts and minds of people to be able to be part of the collective identity. Political memories are relatively homogenous as they are reconstructed by historians and represented by public education, national celebrations, narratives, images and film which will enhance emotions of empathy and identification (Assman, 2006). “History turns into memory when it is transformed into forms of shared knowledge and collective identification and participation” (Assman, 2006; p. 216). In this case history is turned in an emotionally involved ‘our history’ which will be absorbed in a collective identity.

National memory is a form of political memory (Assman, 2006). Only the memories referring to the national history that strengthen the positive, heroic self-image are selected. This is in coherence with the text of Nagel (1994) that people have a nostalgia for the past and therefore go back to or create a golden age. In hegemonic nations victories are celebrated, defeats are remembered as consolidation of their power by a sense of imminent danger (Assman, 2006). Minority nations remember their defeats with much pathos, they founded their identity on their suppression by hegemonic states and the defeats represent the counteractions of the minorities against the hegemonic states (Assman, 2006). In either way, victories and defeats are remembered as mythical, heroic events. The seventeenth century is considered the golden age of the Netherlands, the Dutch were the biggest traders and ruled over sea, the Netherlands had a lot of wealth; streets are named after and statues are mad of the heroes of this time such as Michiel de Ruyter. The seventeenth century is also the era of the Dutch masters like Rembrandt and Vermeer, works of these painters are presented in the Rijksmuseum. In this way the Dutch history is glorified.

The memories that are excluded from the national identity are historical events of shame and guilt as this part of national history endangers the positive, heroic self-image (Assman, 2006). The Dutch involvement of slavery is an example for the Netherlands; the Dutch people are not proud of this which results in very little focus on this phase in Dutch history in for example education.

There is, however, a shift going on from the trend of ‘forgetting’ to sharing. There now seems to be a new form of collective memory in which ethnic responsibility is among other things a new concept. Shameful historic moments and traumatic historic moments are now admitted and talked about instead of ‘forgotten’ (Assman, 2006).

An example of an art form that lets people remember or relive certain memories is according to DeNora (2000) music. DeNora (2000) talks about the role of music in the constitution of the self. She acknowledges that music can be used as a tool to remember certain events. If there is a connotation with particular music and a particular event constructed by oneself or by others, this music serves as an aid to remember that event, aide-mémoíre (DeNora, 2000). And as memories help construct a collective identity and as music helps to remember memories; music is an example of an art form that helps constitute identity. This also applicable on het Wilhelmus, I believe, the national anthem is mostly heard at the Dutch national festive, Koningsdag, and with international sport games. Being Dutch is central in both examples. So whenever Dutchmen hear this anthem they remember these patriotic events. In this way het Wilhelmus contributes to the Dutch national identity.

Conclusion

If we take the theories of Nagel (1994), Assman (2006) and DeNora (2000) in consideration, we can come to the following conclusion. Ethnic identity is constructed through self-ascription and ascription. Ethnic identity consists of culture and reconstruction of history. Memories are important in the construction of ethnic identity as well; especially political and cultural memories. These memories are also constructed.

Since ethnicity and memories are constructed by others as well and since there is little space for ethnicities to create their own identity, one could argue that ethnic identity can be forced upon people.

As the memories are reduced into symbols, statues, libraries, museum etcetera and as music is a tool to remember events, one can conclude that arts and culture play a significant role in the construction of ethnic identity.

Thus one could argue that the Dutch government can construct or ‘secure’ the Dutch identity with memories reduced in art that enhance the heroic image of the Netherlands. The Wilhelmus refers to Willem van Oranje, the ancestor of the Dutch monorachy; learning and learning about the lyrics will thus enhance a positive self-image. In the Rijksmuseum the Dutch masters of the seventeenth century are exhibited, this clearly enhances the mythic self-image. However, in 2020 there will be an exposition about slavery in the Rijksmuseum (Zeil & Beukers, 2017); this will not contribute to the positive self-image of the Netherlands. The remarkable choice of the government to let pupils visit the museum, could be explained with the shift to ‘sharing’ instead of ‘forgetting’ as explained by Assman.

Only time will tell if the plans have the desired effect. Only time will tell if queen Máxima has to revise her statement or that she was right all along.

Literature

DeNora, T. (2000). Music in everyday life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (46-74)

Assman, A. (2006). The Oxford handbook of contextual political analysis (pp. 210-226). New York, NY: Oxford University Press

Nagel, Joane. 1994. Constructing ethnicity: Creating and recreating ethnic identity and culture. Social Problems 41: 152-176.

Thole, H. (October 10th 2017). Een filosofe vindt het helemaal geen slecht idee dat schoolkinderen het Wilhelmus moeten leren. Business Insider Nederland. Retrieved from: https://www.businessinsider.nl/wilhelmus-leren-basisschool-regeerakkoord-kabinet-rutte/

Zeil, W. & Beukers, G. (February 10th 2017). Nieuwe directeur Rijksmuseum breekt met verleden en maakt tentoonstelling over slavernij. De Volkskrant. Retrieved from: https://www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/nieuwe-directeur-rijksmuseum-breekt-met-verleden-en-maakt-tentoonstelling-over-slavernij~a4460392/

Cato Overbeek (453735)

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Tommy Hilfiger: the idealised simulacrum of the American identity

Brianne Wind, 434761

Let’s play a game… Guess the fashion designer. The hints? Red, blue and white. Supermodel Gigi Hadid. Classic American cool style.

We have a winner!

Let me invite you into the world of Tommy Hilfiger - the American fashion brand shaping the desires of the youth. How you might wonder? As Emma Moore from the London Times once stated: “It would be hard to find a designer more fiercely American in inspiration and outlook.” (2001, p. 46). Simply said, Tommy Hilfiger is America and America is Tommy Hilfiger. Ultimately, Tommy Hilfiger enables you to live the American dream life through fashion.

The power of clothing to enhance one’s sense of identification has long been recognized (Crane, 2012). Identification can occur based on a diverse set of cultural traits, but, relatively little is known about fashion in relation to national identity. In this blog I will argue that fashion can: strongly be inspired by a nation; produce nationwide symbolic values; form the foundation for a national frame of identification and; contribute to a sense of American pride. From a production perspective, I have studied the specific case of the all-American fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger. Research has been conducted on how fashion can be considered as a means of national identification, supported by both the effective use of symbolic references and a unique branding strategy.

Fashion as a means of national identification Hilfiger has carefully selected some elements of the American culture rather than others to create an ideal version of the American identity – an identity especially the younger population seems to consume and relate to. As Crane (2012) mentions, clothing has the power to exercise cultural agency and thereby influence the behaviour and attitudes of the person who wears it. By wearing Hilfiger’s clothes, the youth tends to feel part of the American dream lifestyle, a form of role-playing, solely by dressing accordingly.

Ethnic identities concern to what extent one relates to an ethnic group, thus a community which shares the same cultural background (Nagel, 1997). The focus of Hilfiger on expressing the national background of America is, therefore, a cultural trait many can relate to. Especially, in the contemporary social world where ethnic involvement is more concerned with the social construction of identity as a form of agency and several commercial companies are competing for the attention of the same consumers (Nagel, 1997; Crane, 2012). In these competitive environments, brand equity is enhanced by “leveraging a brand, or borrowing equity through linking the brand to another person, place, or thing.” (Keller, 2003, p. 595). Idolised America in this case.

By the representation of the American identity, Tommy Hilfiger consciously “create[s a] reality and common sense by embodying ideals that allow the unfamiliar (the abstract) to be categorized and in doing so they are made familiar and concrete.” (Davis, 1992; Moscovici, 1984, p. 27). This coherent narrative - or as Manlow calls it, ‘mythology’ (2011) - highlights the brand’s values, frames the identity of the American lifestyle, materializes it into products and ultimately offers it to the consumer to be purchased and worn.

The power of the symbolic in fashion Tommy Hilfiger effectively expresses this national identity through the use of symbols, which function as signs of belonging to the ethnic group and formulate symbolic boundaries that distinguish one group from the other (Gans; 1979; Nagel, 1997). Why are especially these symbolic values so important for a commercial brand, you might wonder? Well, to consumers, clothing “[acts] as a filter between the person and the surrounding world.” (Hitlin & Piliavin, 2004, p. 382). Shoppers are very selective about the clothing items they select since it correlates to both the message they want to communicate to others and thereby their process of identification. Hence, as a producer, you have to understand identity politics as a business strategy by “imagining the consumer” and resonating with their symbolic values in order to deal with demand uncertainty and gain commercial success (Crane & Bovone, 2006).

Seemingly paradoxical, fashion producers are expected to renew and develop symbolic values per collection launch (Crane & Bovone, 2006; Smith, 1997). With each new collection the clothing’s aesthetic codes, like texture, pattern, colour, and silhouette, take new form (Davis, 1992). However, in the case of Tommy Hilfiger, the symbolic values have always remained centred around the American identity, or the myth. But, cast in ways that are relevant to today’s consumers. Thus, as American society changes over time, so do the themes, icons, and values the American brand culture relates to, thereby staying true to its source of inspiration (Manlow, 2011).

The most striking American symbol in both the clothing and logo design of Tommy Hilfiger is the prominent use of the national colours blue, red, and white. Furthermore, by taking inspiration from both elite and popular American culture – sport, art, music, television and film – and translating them into designs, Hilfiger shapes national symbols. Via these readily identifiable symbols, the youth can communicate a widely accepted sense of American style (Manlow, 2009, 2011; Smith, 1997).

Branding of the Tommy Hilfiger a.k.a. American identity One of the most effective ways to endure the meaning of brands and to iconize it is through cultural branding. Interesting is the “brand bible” for employees of Tommy Hilfiger, which is loud and clear from the first sentence on: “It began as the great American dream.”. Only a few sentences later it is mentioned how America defines the vision of the brand and to quote part of the Hilfiger core values: “We believe in: The values embodied in the American dream – optimism, determination and success.…” (Manlow, 2011. p. 93, p. 95). Through the introduction of a certain brand bible, Hilfiger makes sure all employees spread the American message he is so keen on, stimulating the genuine outlook of the brand to consumers.

Especially noteworthy is the unique branding and marketing strategy of Tommy Hilfiger. Because, while serving a global mass audience, the brand’s aura is one of exclusivity and elite. This is realized through a strategy of ‘mass customization’ (Manlow, 2009; Smith, 1997). Hereby, the personalization of custom-made fashion is used as a form of high art, together with the relatively low costs of mass production. To consumers, these mass-produced clothing lines hold the image of designer high fashion, partly since they are launched and covered by the press as if they are couture collections. Another technique Hilfiger uses to express a certain standard of status is via the use of logos on his clothing, a trend he is considered to have started (Smith, 1997). Manlow (2009) even argues his clothes serve as a kind of currency due to the global recognition of this social status linked to the brand name ‘Tommy Hilfiger’. The clothing is hence related to upper-class and wealth, while at the same time appealing to the diversity of mainstream America due to its relatable national identity and accessibility; upper-class life has become inclusive (Manlow, 2009; Smith, 1997).

The promotion of the brand is intensively enhanced by collaboration with celebrities, such as sportsmen, musicians, and models. As briefly touched upon before, not only place but also persons can enhance brand equity (Keller, 2003). To exemplify, the collaboration with the stereotypical American supermodel Gigi Hadid - the ‘pretty girl next door’ type of commercial model with a tremendous followers base on social media – boosted international sales with a growth of “double digits” (https://www.pvh.com/brands/tommy-hilfiger).

The American identity Tommy Hilfiger creates is further embellished and positioned by symbolic references in advertisements and fashion shows, such as the American flag, the Statue of Liberty, and popular national sports (Manlow, 2009, 2011). To illustrate, the men’s fragrance was once advertised as: “the new American fragrance” and the women’s perfume was referred to as “a declaration of independence” (Smith, 1997). Hilfiger seems a master of representation as he almost actualizes a simulacrum – when the image is considered more real than the actuality it refers to (Manlow, 2009).

Enhancing American pride However, Hilfiger was not only inspired by America, like a one-direction flow. Rather, we may argue Tommy Hilfiger enhances the national pride and promotes the ideals of American unity in turn. Because, alongside recent processes of cultural globalization, contemporary national societies have generally become more fragmented. For the case of America, Kuipers (2012) even argues there never even was a national standard, because, in history, no national elite succeeded in setting one. Consequently, national symbols, stories, and rituals are used to stimulate the sense of national identity. Just like the way Hilfiger uses symbols to promote the popular culture of the American dream - an idealized identity not only Americans can relate to, but also the youth on a global level. Therefore, arguably contributing to the worldwide process of Americanization.

It is exactly this simulacrum of the ideal American lifestyle as visualized by Tommy Hilfiger, that makes the brand so loved. Tommy Hilfiger, on the one hand, uses the national identity – more specifically, a careful selection of cultural elements considered to be essential – as a reference to something outside itself to increase brand equity. On the other hand, by promoting the positive hyperreal image of America on a global level, Hilfiger contributes to a sense of American pride. However, further research should be conducted on how consumers decode the American identity in clothing as well as on the global impact of the spread of national identities. Besides, why does a commercial brand such as Tommy Hilfiger rely so strongly on the American identity, whereas nationalism in European fashion is either manifested very subtle or not at all? And lastly, we might question the paradox of inclusiveness and exclusiveness; why some national elements are included in the brand image rather than others?

References Crane, D. & Bovone, L. (2006). Approaches to material culture: the sociology of fashion and clothing. Poetics 34, 319-333.

Crane, D. (2012). Fashion and its social agendas: class, gender and identity in clothing. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Davis, F. (1992). Do clothes speak? What makes them fashion? In Fashion, culture and identity (pp. 1-19). Chicago, London: The University of Chicago Press.

Gans, H. (1979). Symbolic ethnicity: the future of ethnic groups and culture in America. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 2(1): 2-20.

Hitlin, S. & Piliavin, J.A. (2004). Values: reviving a dormant concept. Annual Review of Sociology, 30, 359-393.

Keller, K.L. (2003). Brand synthesis: the multidimensionality of brand knowledge. The Journal of Consumer Research, 29, 595-600.

Kuipers, G. (2013). The rise and decline of national habitus: Dutch cycling culture and the shaping of national similarity. European Journal of Social Theory, 16(1): 17-35.

Manlow, V. (2009). Charisma Culture and Representation at Tommy Hilfiger. In V. Manlow (2009), Designing clothes: culture and organization of the fashion industry (pp. 260-276). Unites States of America: Transaction Publishers.

Manlow, V. (2011). Creating an American mythology: a comparison of branding strategies in three fashion firms. Fashion Practice, 3(1), 85-109.

Moore, E. (2001, Sept. 23). From boys to men. The Sunday Times, p. 46.

Moscovici, S. (1984). The phenomenon of social representations. In S. Moscovici, (1984), Social representations: explorations in social psychology (pp. 18-78). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.

Nagel, J. (1994). Constructing ethnicity: Creating and recreating ethnic identity and culture. Social Problems, 41, 152-176.

Smith, P. (1997). Tommy Hilfiger in the age of mass customization. In A. Ross (1997), No sweat: fashion, free trade and the rights of the garment workers (pp.249-262). The United States: Verso.

#tommyhilfiger #hilfiger #fashion #identity #america #submission

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arts-culture-honours-programme · 7 years

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East of Eden: Secret Soviet Rock Life

Mariya Bakhmach

Рок никогда не был движителем масс. Просто музыка выражала что-то, что и так было в воздухе. (Rock was never a mass movement. It was just the music that expressed what was in the air at the time) - Boris Grebenshikov

“Rock ideology is, first and foremost, an ideology of authenticity” was once said by Jack Hamilton (Hamilton, 2016). And it is true since the discourse of rock music within cultural sociology has been rotating a lot around the question of race, cultural appropriation, and its reception. The racial sincerity of this music genre has been widely discussed in a number of ways. Starting from the linking the whitening of rock’n’roll to civil rights movements in 1960’s and arriving at such works as “Media Depictions of Harm in Heavy Metal and Rap Music” by Amy Binder, where the rock is already discussed as a totally white phenomenon per se. A lot has been said and even more has been thought out, but still, in many cases, the study of rock remains predominantly focused on the Western World. In this blog post, I would like to make a shift and “go east” to elaborate on the history of rock movement in the former Soviet Union and more precisely Russia. Can Soviet rock music be perceived as an autonomous authentic experience? And if according to Peterson “authenticity is often artificially constructed”, are there any traces of how Soviet rockers tried to position themselves in the world of music (Peterson, 2005)? An answer to those question will follow up. Stay tuned and let the story begin…

First of all, it might be interesting for you to know, why would I focus on such a narrow topic as Soviet Union Rock. Why would anyone talk about the music genre of the country, which does not even exist anymore? Or, in other words, how is this blog post sociologically relevant nowadays? Let me explain briefly. At the moment of its downfall in 1991, the population of the Soviet Union used to be 293 million people. Two of those people were my parents apparently. They used to be rockers and so were their friends and friends of their friends and so on and so forth. Then they gave birth to me and later on to my music taste. Their friends also had children, who also grew up disposed to the same set of rock songs and artists, the majority of which were from the Soviet Union. Later on, some of us will move on the Beatles and the Rolling Stones or its modern analogs, but the core will remain still, we grew up on Soviet Rock, the genre the majority of the world doesn’t know exist. In the era, when authors like Pamela Perry, raise the question of the whiteness being the synonym to the loosen cultural ties, it might be interesting to take a look at the way, other ethnicities rather than Western European and American, make sense of their own cultural tradition, the part of which has always been music (Perry, 2001).

According to Joane Nagel, “the origin, content, and form of ethnicity reflect the creative choices of individuals and groups as they define themselves and others in ethnic ways” (Nagel, 2014). If we try to apply this to the Soviet and, in some cases, Post-Soviet people, we will see that some of their creative choices when it comes to self-expression and aesthetic taste formation are still pretty much determined by the area and time they were brought up in. Soviet Rock music has been in many cases one of the crucial points of the formation of their identity within the society. No matter whether you belonged to the rock subculture or opposed it, your position was a part of the active social interaction.

Now it is time for a brief introduction into what is this music genre we are talking about, where it came from and how is it different from any other. Soviet Rock has emerged in the 1960s and has quickly broken apart from its western origins. Firstly, it was clearly influenced by the Beatles, who were crazily popular at the time worldwide. Some of the times witnesses would say that: “So it was like a fairytale, thousands of kids grabbing this window from the West to change their image just a little” (Woodhead, 2013). Rock’n’roll music would be associated with freedom of self-expression and speech. Later on, the audience has moved from passive stage of admiration to the reproduction. At this stage in mid-1960’s “listening wasn’t enough – they wanted to do it themselves. They played cover versions of Beatles songs, trying to copy the English words, but most of them had no idea what they were singing about” (Woodhead, 2013). So slowly transitioning, the Soviet independent music scene started to emerge.

Some of the most prominent bands of the movement were Aquarium and Grazhdanskaya Oborona. The first one represented some kind of countercultural intellectual elite scene at the time while another one focused on the ideas of the resistance towards the Soviet politics. A little closer look at their formation might help to see what the genre looked like (and sounded) back at the time.

Aquarium was a rock band established in June 1972 by Boris Grebenshikov and Anatoly Gunitsin. It’s sound and style was heavily influenced by the eastern philosophy and theatre of absurd. The band characterizes the shift of Soviet Rock from the subcultural scene into the formation of a distinct counterculture [8]. The lyrics of the songs are revolutionary, similar to the early 20th-century poetry of Vladimir Mayakovski, and a lot of them express social protest. They use subcultural slang, literary allusions, swear words and raise such taboo themes like sex and liberation from the communist regime. The band brought up the notion about popular among subcultures at the time Buddhism, Hindu, and Rastafari. They also made covers of such popular artists of their time like Jim Morrison of the Doors and Bob Dylan making them accessible to the general non-English speaking public of USSR. Unlike many Western bands at the time, Aquarium did not have much commercial success during the existence of Soviet regime despite their countrywide cultural following.

Grazhdanskaya Oborona (from Russian “Гражданская оборона” Civil Defense) was a psychedelic punk rock band established in 1982 by Yegor Letov and Konstantin Ryabinov [8]. No other way can summarize the biography of the band, then this quote from Letov: “The mother of our (second guitarist) Babenko, she was a sort of a party official, she listened to our records and went to the KGB and said, "Comrades, my son is involved in an anti-Soviet organization" [9]. The lyrics of their songs were quite often anti-authoritarian and politically prominent, reflecting the concerns of the mass audiences and everyday struggles of everyday life. Occasionally, the band would mix in Siberian folklore and pre-Christian beliefs motives due to its situation in Omsk, a city east of the Ural Mountains. Grazhdanskaya Oborona was getting more and more popular among radical Soviet youth until its sudden hiatus in 1990, which band commented as an attempt to avoid the commercialization of their music and countercultural message.

Studying the emergence of the Soviet rock from the cultural sociological perspective, one can argue that the western influences in this music can be easily traced and the whole uniqueness of the phenomenon can be doubted. However, on the other hand, if “authenticity does not inhere in the object, it is said to be authentic and made by someone and either accepted or rejected by relevant others”, then this we can argue for it to be highly distinct (Peterson, 2005). Soviet rockers would construct their own musicscapes and elaborate on the society around them in order to create something relatable and personal for the youth of their time. And the children of that youth, and grandchildren of this youth, because this is how their “unspoken” rock history goes...

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References

1) Hamilton, J. (2016). Just Around Midnight: Rock and Roll and the Racial Imagination. Harvard: Harvard University Press. pp. 17-28.

2) Nagel, J. (1994). Constructing ethnicity: Creating and recreating ethnic identity and culture. Social Problems 41: 152-176.

3) Perry, Pamela. 2001. White means never having to say you're ethnic: White youth and the

construction of “cultureless” identities. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 30 (1): 56-91.

4) Peterson, Richard. (2005). In search for authenticity. Journal of Management Studies 42(5): 1083-1098.

5) Rock in the USSR: Leningrad's short-lived subculture – in pictures

Retrieved on 27/10/2017 from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2016/sep/06/soviet-union-rock-music-late-1980s-american-culture-perestroika.

6) Warikoo, Natasha. (2007). Racial authenticity among second generation youth in multiethnic New York and London. Poetics 35: 388-408.

7) Woodhead, L. (2013). How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin: The Untold Story of a Noisy Revolution. USA: Bloomsbury. pp. 26-29.

8) Рок музыка в СССР. Энциклопедия групп. (Rock music in USSR. The Encyclopedia of bands.)

Retrieved on 29/10/2017 from: http://sovr.narod.ru/books/rock_muz_enc/00002.html.

9) Егор Летов: «Конец наступает тогда, когда уничтожается живая энергия творчества» (Yegor Letov: The end comes, when the force of art gets demolished)

Retrieved on 29/10/2017 from: http://grob-hroniki.org/article/1990/art_1990-10-xxb.html.

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The hijab becoming a fashion statement?

Loes Julicher

Taking a glance of this fashion magazine, I see five beautiful girls, but all five of them with the same fashion ‘model look’. Wherever I look, I see this same thin and exclusively Anglo-looking models. Not only models fit this stereotype (Mears, 2009). Also the fashion collections are very Western orientated, despite that they have customers from around the world (Yotka, 2016). However, this fashion industry was about uniqueness, right? Or as Coco Chanel once said: ‘Don’t be like the rest of them darling.’ Why does the the fashion industry emphasize on this uniqueness, but are they still using one type of model looks to represent their fashion and one type of designs? The fashion industry is becoming under pressure and it is changing step by step. Since people are becoming more and more aware of the homogenous white look in the fashion industry, they want to generate ethnic diversity by hiring more diversified models and producing more diversified cultural clothes. One of the most extraordinary examples is the hijab[1] fashion (Young, 2017). Designers and models show with this fashion icon that Muslim women don’t always fit the stereotype.

Why does this homogenous look dominate the fashion industry? This can be explained by the fact that producers, bookers and clients (gatekeepers) are confronted with market uncertainty[2]. Due to this uncertainty gatekeeper rely on conventions, stereotypes and imitations to organize their decisions. These gatekeepers serve different fashion markets (editorial and commercial market) and that is why models need to meet different features.[3]

The looks of the commercial models are more diverse in size and ethnicity. The editorial market posses mostly extreme thin, slim, young and white models. Due to the riskier market, producers stronger hold on to conventions (Mears, 2009). Only the white and thin models should be hired in the editorial market and are worth considering. With this the producers draw symbolic boundaries.[4] The producers favour the dominant group of the white and thin looking models, which result in social boundaries.[5] The whiteness ‘look’ and size zero are not intended to be the homogenous look, but through the conventions they are institutionally reproduced. Over here the colour-blind ideology [6] applies. This is a tool frequently used to delegitimize the social disadvantages of an ethnic minority (Bonilla-Silva, 2015). In other words, agents and clients emphasize that they do not want to reproduce racial inequality, but that they just do not see the edgy look around in coloured models. These coloured girls do not fit the bill with their curvy body and would lead away the focus of the clothes. They would only be hired for a show, if they have the same body as a white girl with another skin colour. Agents and clients will not inform this kind of racism and blame everyone and everything accept themselves. The producers, clients and bookers create and reproduce culture though the fashion feminine look along race and class lines (Mears, 2009).

However, this homogenous look is changing in the fashion industry. Nowadays for example more Muslim models enter the fashion world. Think for instance about the hijab-wearing Somali-American model Halima Aden, who was casted by Kanye West for Yeezy Season 5 and made her runway debut at New York Fashion Week (Young, 2017). A possible reason for this changing model look is the increasing demand from Muslim women (Muslimahs) of fashion clothes and accessories. As a respondent to Mears’ (2009, p. 37) research mentioned: ‘They hire the white face, because those are the ones that buy the clothes’. With this changing demand of Muslimahs, the model look is changing as well. Simultaneously this provokes more demand for specific kind of clothes in the Fashion world, which coexist with the movement to symbolic ethnicity. An example of these specific clothes, is the hijab, which is entering the fashion world (Yotka, 2016).

As we can see in the video below, representations of the hijab in the fashion industry is making big efforts. Take for example the Muslim fashion designer Anniesa Hasibuan, who featured hijabs in every outfit on the New York Fashion Week catwalk. 48 different looks with 48 appropriate hijabs (Young, 2017; Fenton, 2016). Not only Hasibuan represents the hijab in the fashion world, Dolce and Gabbana, H&M and Nike are putting women wearing a hijab in the centre of their advertisements (BBC News, 2017).

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The hijab is a very interesting object. Especially in the fashion world the representation of the hijab has some interesting developments. This hijab has some century-old functions. A Muslim woman is wearing a hijab to conceal her beauty. In other words, everyone else except her husband and relatives. This covering of their aurat (parts of the body, which are forbidden to be seen) are one of the fundamental teachings of the Islam and based on the interpretations of the Quran (Fakhruroji & Rojiati, 2017; Latiff& Alam, 2013). Besides, the hijab functions also as a political symbol within the Muslim societies and the global political arena. Since the 80s until now wearing hijabs at universities, schools and government offices is a highly debated subject. This debate negates women’s right to religious freedom and education. (Vojdik, 2010; Gruyter, 2004). This kind of possible political policies can form and shape ethnic boundaries and influence patterns of ethnic identification. These ethnic boundaries, which determine who is an ethnic group member and who does not possess specific ethnic features, construct individual identification at a particular time and space. So, covering the body is part of a religious, political and social practise which helps constructing a collective identity within a particular location at a specific time (Nagel, 1994, p. 154; Vojdik, 2010).

Nowadays the hijab is becoming a new phenomenon in the fashion world as well. This alteration led to a new way of identification of Muslimahs. This is among other things due to the rise of Hijabers communities like the Indonesian Hijabers Community Bandung (HCB). HCB generates new narratives about the hijab, which are more trendy and fashionable. This is contrary to the previous stigma, which was monotonous and traditional (Fakhruroji & Rojiati, 2017). Thus, this identity is socially constructed in which it culturally never has been stable and always changing. This identity in combination with culture are the basics for constructing ethnicity, which can be seen as well as a dynamic, in which the individual identity and the group organization are a constant evolving property (Fakhruroji & Rojiati, 2017; Nagel, 1994).

The new ways of framing the hijab not only as a traditionalist object (the hijab forced upon women as religious prescriptions and as political symbol), but also as a contemporary fashionable object, evokes different reactions. These reactions depend on being part of the ingroup, which are the more traditional Muslims (the group that anchor ethnicity) or the outgroup, the people that do not belong to the more traditional Muslims (both less strict believers as well as not Muslims). The ingroup feels disappointed about the fashionable adaption of the religious veil. They feel like something sacred is being undermined and changed into something as simple as a fashion statement (i.e. see above picture of Gigi Hadid, who modelled for the first ever edition of Vogue Arabia with a hijab and received a lot of critique on this picture from the ingroup) (BBC News, 2017; Dailymail, 2017). The outgroup, like the HCB believes that the hijab becoming more of a fashion item must not be seen as unsacred. These less traditional Muslimahs believe modern culture can be accepted simultaneously with protecting their identity as Muslimahs at religious level (Fakhruroji & Rojiati, 2017). Other outgroup members like De Gruyter (2004) argued: ‘Let the Hijab become an enormous hype, only than will the hijab lose her political symbolic function.’ The Muslimahs, who really want to wear the hijab, will continue this. But the women wearing this veil only to send a political message, will think twice. Thus, positivity exist toward the ingroup and negativity against the outgroup, which adapted the religious (/political) item in a fashion object. The familiar religious item is preferred and seen as superior, while the outgroup adaption is seen as inferior and bad (Brewer, 1999). The outgroup itself does not see the problem with this adaption and is open to new ideas.

Altogether to say in theoretical terms: The hijab wearers are confronted with a changing ethnic identity, which may be turning into symbolic ethnicity. Not only hijabs but as well Muslim women become more visible in the fashion world. They are confronted with an upward mobility, because they act more in public and visibly than they did in the past. Furthermore, Muslim women cannot take their identity for granted any longer as they have grown up as a third generation without assigned roles or groups that anchor ethnicity. The new generation Muslimahs must look for new ways of expressing their ethnic identity, better known as symbolic ethnicity. This happens by using symbols and using the religious veil as part of the fashion world (Gans, 1979). Eventually when the hijabs become a trend, Muslimahs can distinguish themselves from others by using other kind of hijabs and construct an individual class identity. For example, silk hijabs will represent someone of the higher social class than someone with a cotton hijab (Gruyter, 2004). Furthermore, symbolic ethnicity is becoming more visible due to the media (Gans, 1979). The media have a dominant role in influencing women to wear a hijab also as a fashion trend. Since the Eastern and Western cultures are interacting, the Muslim fashion is changing its dynamics. The high street, catwalk and fashion magazines influence the Muslim girls to cover their whole body, but at the same time look great in a new outfit. Lately there are a lot of demand from young Muslimahs, who are looking for fashion that does not disconnect them from the rest of society. For them it is a combination of both a fashion style (imposed by the media) as holding onto the Islamic regulations. That is the reason fashion designers start to mix the hijab with the latest fashion (i.e. fashion brand Dolce & Gabanna and Anniesa Hasibuan) (Latiff & Alam, 2013).

‘Don’t be like the rest of them darling.’ Mrs. Coco Chanel, believe me, slowly but certainly the fashion industry is following your advice! The homogenous white look in the fashion industry is changing, thanks to, for example, the increasing fashion clothes and accessories demand of Muslimahs. This event provokes simultaneously more demand for specific kind of clothes in the Fashion world, which coexist with the movement from a changing ethnic identity to a symbolic ethnicity. An alternation, which became more visible due to the media.

[1] The word means literally curtains, barrières and something which is stuck between two things. Functionally the hijab is also defined as ‘cap, curtain, veil, screens, coverings’ and so on. There are different terms that have the same meaning as the word hijab (i.e. dir, veil, niqab, jilbab). To make it a bit easier only the word hijab and veil will be used in this blogpost (Fakhruroji & Rojiati, 2017).

[2] Caves (2000) defines this concept as ‘nobody knows’.

[3] This is related to Bourdieu’s field theory. High-Fashion in the editorial market can be seen as commercially successful art and can be divided in words of Bourdieu (1985) into the ‘restricted production field’. The Mass-market fashion in the commercial market can be seen as avant-gardist art and is similar to Bourdieu’s ‘large-scale production field’.

[4] ‘Conceptual distinctions made by social actors to categorize objects people practises and even time and space’ (Lamont & Molnár 2002, p. 168).

[5] ‘Unequal access to resources and opportunities for particular social groups’ (Lamont & Molnár, 2002, p.168).

[6] ‘Ideology emphasizing essential sameness between racial and ethnic groups despite unequal social locations and distinctive histories’ (Rodriquez, 2006, p. 645).

References

BBC News. (2017). Why catwalk Hijabs are upsetting some Muslim women. Retrieved from BBC News: http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-39743960 (19-10-2017).

Bonilla-Silva, E. (2015). The Structure of Racism in Color-Blind, “Post-Racial” America. American Behavioral Scientist, 59(11): 1358-1376. 

Bourdieu, P. (1985). The market of symbolic goods. Poetics, 14: 13-44.

Brewer, M. B. (1999). The psychology of prejudice: Ingroup love and outgroup hate?.Journal of social issues, 55(3), 429-444.

Caves, R.E. (2000). Creative Industries: Contracts between Art & Commerce. Cambridge & London: Harvard University Press.

Dailymail. (2017). ‘Wearing a hijab is not cool or fashionable’: Supermodel Gigi Hadid provokes a furious backlash after posing in a headscarf on the cover of the first Vogue Arabia Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4277924/Gigi-Hadid-criticised-Vogue-Arabia-cover-shoot.html#ixzz4whPkfaSc Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook. Retrieved from Dailymail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4277924/Gigi-Hadid-criticised-Vogue-Arabia-cover-shoot.html (19-10-2017).

Fakhruroji,M., & Rojiati, U. (2017) Religiously Fashionable: Constructing Identity of Urban Muslimah in Indonesia. Malaysian Journal of Communication Jilid 33(1): 199-211

Fenton, S. (2016). Anniesa Hasibuan’s collection featured silk hijabs in ivory, peach and grey silk. Retrieved from independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/new-york-fashion-week-hijab-collection-muslim-designer-anniesa-hasibuan-djakarta-a7310796.html#gallery) (19-10-2017).

Gans, H. (1979). Symbolic ethnicity: the future of ethnic groups and culture in America. Ethnic and Racial Studies 2(1): 2-20

Gruyter, C. d. (2004). Allemaal een hoofddoek op! Retrieved from NRC: https://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2004/02/12/allemaal-een-hoofddoek-op-7673596-a521158 (22-10-2017).

Lamont, M., & Molnár, V. (2002). The study of boundaries in the social sciences. Annual Review of Sociology 28 (1): 167-195.

Latiff, Z. A., & Alam, F. N. (2013). The Roles of Media in Influencing Women Wearing Hijab: An Analysis. Journal of Image and Graphics, 1(1): 50-54.

Mears, A. (2010). Size zero high-end ethnic: Cultural production and the reproduction of culture in fashion modeling. Poetics 38 (1): 21-46.

Nagel, J. (1994). Constructing ethnicity: Creating and recreating ethnic identity and culture. Social Problems 41: 152-176.

Rodriguez, J. (2006). Color-blind ideology and the cultural appropriation of hip-hop. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 35 (6): 645-668. 

Vojdik, V. K. (2010). Politics of the headscarf in Turkey: masculinities, feminism, and the construction of collective identities. Harv. JL & Gender, 33: 661.

Yotka, S. (2016). Dolce & Gabbana’s Embellished Hijabs and Abayas Are Great News for Muslim Women—When Will Other Brands Follow Suit? Retrieved from Vogue: https://www.vogue.com/article/dolce-gabbana-hijab-abaya-collection (22-10-2017).

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arts-culture-honours-programme · 7 years

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Biennials: Supporting global culture & suppressing ethnic authenticity

VITTORIA MARTINOTTI

The contemporary art world is usually seen by the public as a realm full of creative people which are perceived as open minded and liberal thinkers (McCord, 2016). Many large-scale art exhibitions, praise their inclusivity as they represent artists from all over the world and therefore label themselves as supporters of cultural diversity (Morgner, 2015). Contemporary art, as everything else, is deeply influenced by the homogenizing effects of globalization, that keep the underlying structure of art worlds still resistant to the construction of ethnic identities (Artsy, 2017). Many critics and experts of the field want us to believe that the so-called imperialist thesis, which claim that there is a one-way flow of products and innovation from the centre, the Western world, to the periphery, the rest of the world, is a past phenomenon (Wu, 2009). However, if we take a closer look, we can immediately notice that the contemporary art world, did not fundamentally change as it still preserves the same old power relations which favour a Western ideology in spite of leaving rooms for ethnic authenticity (Artsy, 2017). A venue that can clearly show the perpetuation of this structure and ideology in the art world is the new global trends of Biennials.

In order to better understand how biennials, through globalizations, are suppressing ethnic authenticity, we should first understand what is contemporary art and ethnic authenticity, and why globalization and cultural hegemony are so relevant in this art form. First of all, authenticity is a socially constructed phenomenon, while ethnic authenticity is seen in scenarios in which recognised group membership gives the right to represent that specific group (Peterson, 2005). Secondly, contemporary art evolved from a previous artistic trend, modernism. This trend resulted in a system that protected Western art from being corrupted by ethnic or popular art through the marginalization of local production, by labelling it as unprofessional (Belting, 2012). Art history and ethnology in modernism were considered as two completely different worlds, which meant that art history was present only in the West (Belting, 2012). Contemporary art instead had a different meaning, since it was influenced by post-modernism, it rejected both art history, supporting a Western meaning, and ethnic tradition, considered as a threat to local culture in such a globalized world (Belting, 2012). In contemporary art there is a strong contradiction between promoting originality by breaking with old conventions, and therefore denouncing Western tradition, and stimulating standardization by excluding ethnic tradition from the new artistic standards (Sassatelli, 2015). For these reasons, new comers from “peripheral” countries struggle to recall Western heritage, typical feature of contemporary art, in their works as they cannot position themselves in the history of modernism (Belting, 2012). According to this underlying ideology, contemporary art is often perceived by insiders as “global art”, however what does global art means? Biennials are a perfect example as they exemplify how global culture is, to a certain extent, suppressing ethnic authenticity as it is considered as a new scene in which hegemonic and homogenic cultural rules are being reproduced (Sassatelli, 2015).

Biennials are large-scale art exhibitions which supply a homogenous culture through the promotion of few artists and movements (Morgner, 2015). This new global format is lately being perceived as a subtle form of cultural hegemony, as the majority of biennials around the world use a standardize format which is borrowed from a Western model that leaves no room for an ethnic account (Sassatelli, 2015). Biennials take place in an economic field in which on one hand, helps creating the circumstances necessary for their distribution, yet on the other hand jeopardize their independence (Sassatelli, 2015). The word biennial became nothing more than a synonym for remarkable events with a Western typology that permeated its proliferation in every corner of the world, displaying Western domination through artistic exhibition (Sassatelli, 2015).

Biennials are the archetypal form of cultural imperialism, underlined by the attempt to impress the audience by employing plurality and mobility at the surface, to hide the actual structure which is dominated by few elites that shape and control a new form of culture from a very small and unchanged centre (Sassatelli, 2015). However cultural construction is typical of human agency and aim at preserving and renewing culture, therefore it is constructed through the interaction of individuals in society at large which also use ethnic boundaries to determine identities and groups composition (Nagel, 1994). Biennials instead, shape a culture in which ethnic boundaries are erased in favour of a homogenizing narrative borrowed from a Western ideology. Biennials structure is a such dominant process that threatens the art that these platforms are trying to display (Sassatelli, 2015). Exhibitions are not characterised by any specific art movement or artists but by their hegemonic setups, which have as goal the one of creating ad-hoc art that through its support to the format and ideology, favour uniformity and forget any link with ethnic and racial authenticity (Sassatelli, 2015). Therefore, biennials are generating a field based on standardize conventions that oblige newcomers to give up on their ethnic heritage if they want to be part of this network (Sassatelli, 2015).

Biennials are perceived as key institution in this globalized artworld hence, they are criticised for two main reasons (Morgner, 2015). The first critique is that due to the vast amount of biennials around the world there is an increasing formation of so-called biennials artists and culture, that through the use of city branding strategies and a new global policy, make expositions look the same everywhere (Morgner, 2015). The second argument is that global participation is threatened by the claim that biennials exclude artists form non-Western countries and force them to hold to Western practices (Morgner, 2015). This can be explained by the fact that white raciality is perceived as culturelessness and therefore their hegemonic power is reinforced, even unintentionally, since culturelessness can be a mean to racial superiority (Perry, 2001). Biennalization lead to the so-called “McGuggenization” (McNeill, 2000) which means the eradication of local cultures in favour of a more standardized global culture, as Westerns curators are the patrons of this hegemonic rationale which is exported globally by exposing the same artists and concepts all over the world (Morgner, 2015). Thus, biennials are said to be lacking of any sort of cultural diversity as their production of “biennials” culture and artists, are contributing to a further homogenization of the art world that prevail on several forms of multiculturalism (Morgner, 2015). Regardless of how far from the Western ancestor, biennials’ nature connects any of its platform to this global new culture that exclude ethnic artists and movement to this lucrative professional sphere (Morgner, 2015). Thus biennials maintain a hierarchical and concentric structure, hierarchical because as all dominant interactions there is a centre, the West, and a constellation of peripheral clusters, and concentric because it is formed by a centre and a periphery, and in order to reach the top, the centre, artists must give up on their ethnic identity (Wu, 2009). As Wu (2009) described it “Despite its decolonizing and democratic claims, proved still to embody the traditional power structures of the contemporary Western art world; the only difference being that “Western” has quietly been replaced by a new buzzword, “global” (p. 115).

The so praised internationalism of biennials is nothing more than a political and economic rationale which is reinforcing Western authority on other countries (Buchholz & Wuggenig, 2014). Even though international exhibitions, such as biennials, made unknown art scenes visible around the world, this trend did not modify the relationship of inclusivity and exclusivity in the art world but instead tried to obscure their endurance (Buchholz & Wuggenig, 2014). Hence, ethnic boundaries still persist regardless of a flow of people across them, and stable social relations are maintained and reinforced through these boundaries which are usually based on dichotomized ethnic positions (Barth, 1969). Despite the sad conclusion reached about biennials, not all the fields within the contemporary art world are so stuck with this old power relation. Another key institution in the contemporary art world is the one of auction houses. Contrarily to biennials, auction houses are thought to be a place in which wealthy people invest money into just to have fun, as collectors sometimes are not even experts anymore (Mead, 2016). Despite its consideration as more of an “economic” field and less of an artistic open realm, like The Venice Biennial could be, the auction house Sotheby’s in May 2017 introduced a new African-American segment, in addition to their Asians, Aboriginals and Islamic sections, showing how even more elitist venues do not consider ethnic art as a marginalized novelty anymore (Banks, 2017).

Bibliography:

Artsy. (2017). Can Art Change the Future for Racial and Ethnic Identity? A Roundtable Conversation. Retrieved from Artsy: https://www.artsy.net/article/the-art-genome-project-can-art-change-the-future-for-racial-and

Banks, P. A. (2017, May 25). Sotheby’s Modern & Contemporary African Art Sale. Retrieved from C&: http://www.contemporaryand.com/magazines/fluid-categories/

Barth, F. (1969). Introduction. In F. Barth, Ethnic groups and boundaries: The social organization of culture difference. London : Allen & Unwin.

Belting, H. (2012). Contemporary art and the museum in the global. Disputatio, 16-30.

Buchholz, L., & Wuggenig, U. (2014, July). ‘Cultural Globalization Between Myth and Reality:. Retrieved from ART-E-FACT: http://artefact.mi2.hr/_a04/lang_en/theory_buchholz_en.htm

McCord, K. (2016, June 17). EQUITY, DIVERSITY, AND INCLUSION IN THE ARTS: IT IS POSSIBLE. Retrieved from Alternate ROOTS : https://alternateroots.org/equity-diversity-and-inclusion-in-the-arts-it-is-possible/

McNeill, D. (2000). McGuggenisation? National identity and globalization . Political Geography, 473-494.

Mead, R. (2016, July 4). The Daredevil of the Auction World. Retrieved from The New Yorker : https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/04/loic-gouzer-the-daredevil-at-christies

Morgner. (2015). Multiculturalism and the Global Art World: The Policies of Large Scale Art Exhibitions. The Journal of Multicultural Society Vol 6, 62-98.

Nagel, J. (1994). Constructing ethnicity: Creating and recreating ethnic identity and culture. Social Problems 41, 152-176.

Perry, P. (2001). White means never having to say you're ethnic: White youth and the construction of “cultureless” identities. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 30, 56-91.

Peterson, R. (2005). In search for authenticity. Journal of Management Studies 42, 1083-1098.

Sassatelli, M. (2015). The biennalization of art worlds: the culture of cultural events . Handbook of The Sociology of Art and Culture.

Wu, C. T. (2009). Biennials without borders? New Left Review 57, 107-115.

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arts-culture-honours-programme · 8 years

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The day Beyoncé turned black

DENNIS DOBROWOLSKI

“She is one of those stars of colour who – until now – has been beyond race for the mainstream audience” (France; 2016)

Super Bowl 50 on February 7th, 2016. The annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), is one of the biggest sport events in the world. With an average of 111.9 million viewers, the latest edition became the third most-watched television program in American history (Nielsen; 2016). Only the biggest names in pop music are selected to perform at the Super Bowl halftime show; performers like Madonna, The Black Eyed Peas, Prince, The Rolling Stones, U2 or Bruno Mars. This year’s headliner has been the British band Coldplay with a guest appearance of American R&B singer and national treasure Beyoncé ‘Queen Bey’ Knowles (NFL; 2016).

America has seen better days. In a time of recurring mass shootings, incidents of police brutality, an exhausting presidential election, black lives matter protests, congress in a deadlock, and a social divide that appears to become larger and larger, it is events like the Super Bowl that bring a fragmented nation back together in front of a TV screen. At least for a night. This year, however, Beyoncé’s performance of her song Formation sparked controversy and added fuel to the fire of the ongoing discussion about race relations in America. The ‘pro-Beyoncé’ camp appreciated the “potent declarations of black pride on a stage that prefers studied neutrality” (Caramanica; 2016), while the ‘anti-Beyoncé’ camp accused the singer of paying homage to the controversial Black Panther movement, as well as inciting violence against law enforcement. The public backlash inspired a skit titled The day Beyoncé turned black on the comedy sketch show Saturday Night Live, which satirizes white people suddenly realizing that Beyoncé is in fact a black artist and that her new music “maybe isn’t for [them]” (YouTube; 2016). The sketch, as well as France’s (2016) article imply that some stars of colour (Beyoncé, Kerry Washington) are perceived as beyond race by audiences. Beyond race. What does that mean? In almost 20 years in the music industry, did Beyoncé’s ‘blackness’ somehow slip through the cracks of public perception? And if it did, why does it suddenly matter? What has changed?The American pop music industry is full of non-white artists. In fact, there is a considerable overrepresentation with 20 songs on the current Billboard Hot 50 (week of October 29, 2016) being performed by black artists. That is a whopping 40 percent, even though the share of African-Americans in the population as a whole only is about 12.6 percent. When choosing a pop music genre, black artists are remarkably homogenous; virtually every single one of the above-mentioned songs can be categorized as either R&B or Hip Hop (both music genres that originated in black culture). Drawing on Carter (2003), making ‘black’ music is a way to adopt specific legitimate scripts that define and label one’s ethnic identity. A crossing or blurring of this identity is relatively uncommon. Encountering a black artist singing country pop or growling to heavy metal guitars might only be slightly less extraordinary than spotting a unicorn (and yes, country music too has roots in black music). The same does not apply for white artists. You do not have to be a genealogist to recognize that Justin Bieber, Iggy Azalea, or Eminem are not as black as their music might have you believe. The appropriation of black music is one of the oldest tricks in the pop playbook. Garofalo describes the history of popular music as “black roots, white fruits” (2002): Black artists innovated musical genres; white artists make them popular. Elvis Presley’s 1956 release Hound Dog, for instance, is a cover version, originally recorded by Big Mama Thornton three years prior.

The adoption of different cultural scripts (music, slang, style, etc.) can be observed by a sheer endless number of white artists. Yet, when a black artist crosses the ethnic boundary, this gathers significantly more attention. Jimi Hendrix is one of those cases. “Arguably, the greatest instrumentalist in the history of rock music” (Rock & Roll; 2016), his audience mainly consisted of white people. As Friedlander points out, this was met with heavy criticism from the black community, which felt like “he was not playing wholly African-American music” (1996). Warikoo’s (2007) explains that people of an ethnic group signal their membership through practices framed as ‘black’. This not only maintains the ethnic boundaries, but also defines a person’s position and symbolic status within a group. Hendrix’s refusal to conform to these conventions by playing music predominantly represented by white musicians let to him being “anathema to many blacks” (Friedlander; 1996). Is this hostility understandable? In the postcultural society, whiteness, or white culture has become the hegemonic norm (Perry, 2001), resulting in the formation of invisible privileges for white people, to the disadvantage of African-Americans and other ethnic groups (Hughey, 2010). This becomes particularly apparent in the Arts and Culture. Sure, African-Americans might be central in pop music, but this only applies to a short list of ‘black’ music genres. The ‘Oscars so white’ controversy of 2015 is just one example of black artists struggling to be recognized by a predominantly white industry (Cox; 2016). Whiteness as the hegemonic form of culture, however, can have more serious repercussions than not being nominated for an award.

As indicated above, racial tensions in contemporary America have skyrocketed due to a number of issues. Black Americans are 5.1 times more likely to be incarcerated in state prisons, than white Americans (Puglise; 2016). According to a study by the Washington Post, “40 percent of the unarmed men shot to death by police [in 2015]” (2016) were black, although black men only account for 6 percent of the U.S. population. The shooting of unarmed Michael Brown, or Alton Sterling have let to the eruption of civil unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, as well as Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and sparked headed discussions all across the country (Craven; 2016).

Does this imply that racism is a natural consequence of hegemonic whiteness? Institutional and individual racism certainly is alive and well, and an important consideration concerning these issues. But regarding the way discourse about race is organized in the American society, a different concept is worth mentioning: colour-blindness. According to Bonilla-Silva (2015), colour-blindness is a frequently used tool to delegitimize the social disadvantages of an ethnic minority. The “ideology emphasizing essential sameness between racial and ethnic groups despite unequal social locations and distinctive histories” (Rodriguez; 2006) includes the idea of abstract liberalism (‘there are equal opportunity for all’), as well as avoiding race related remarks altogether. In other words, many white people are in denial about the fact that race and ethnicity are significant factors influencing the position of a person within a society. In many cases, African-Americans have more societal obstacles to overcome, in order to achieve the same result as their white counterpart. Or, to put in the words of rapper Jay Z’s grandmother, who inspired the title of Beyoncé’s 2016 album Lemonade: “I was served lemons, but I made lemonade” (Stephens; 2016).

Based on what has been stated so far, can Beyoncé be considered as an artist beyond race? Musically speaking, the answer is no. Beyoncé has always been an R&B artist; a genre rooted in black culture. What could be argued is that up until the release of Formation and Lemonade, as well as her Super Bowl performance, she has not addressed black culture and the black experience of living in America as explicitly as in her new material. Beyoncé has reached super stardom with songs titled Crazy in love, Baby boy, Naughty girl, and (who could forget) Single Ladies (Put a Ring on it). The genre she refers herself to is based on the ethnic foundation of black culture, but the lyrical content of her most successful hits have not been socially marked as specifically ‘black’ themes. This has changed with the release of her new music. There is an obvious difference between lyrics like “all the single ladies now put your hands up” (Genius; n.d.) on the one hand and “I like my negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils” (Genius; 2016) on the other. In that sense, Saturday Night Live had a point in alleging that Beyoncé suddenly ‘turned black’ in the perception of some white audiences. But there is another layer to this, which I already touched upon earlier. The Super Bowl is the most watched TV spectacle in America annually. Conservatives criticized Beyoncé for having taken advantage of the platform that has been given to her at the Halftime Show. As former republican major of New York Rudi Giuliani put it in an interview on the right-wing network Fox News: The Super Bowl is a place for “decent, wholesome entertainment” and not to be used “to attack the people who […] put their lives at risk to save us.” (YouTube; 2016) In this statement, Giuliani exemplifies two key aspects of colour-blindness. Firstly, raising racial issues is inappropriate and spoils the fun of an event. Secondly, police officers are wrongfully attacked. There is no problem in this country. In conclusion, what does a black artist have to do be regarded as ‘beyond race’? There seems to be a correlation between avoiding controversial, racial symbolism and being perceived as ‘beyond race’ by white audiences; between incorporating specifically black themes into one’s art and being perceived as a ‘black’ artist. Being ‘beyond race’ means not rocking the boat, not associating oneself with one’s racial background too much, keeping it easily digestible for white audiences, and most importantly: If somebody tells you that there are no race-related problems in America, do NOT disagree. Keep it light.All the single ladies… All the single Ladies…

References Bianco, M.-C. (2012). “Ein rassistisches Ausgrenzungstool”. Retrieved from: http://www.taz.de/!5103355/

Bonilla-Silva, E. (2015). The Structure of Racism in Color-Blind, "Post-Racial" America.American Behavioral Scientist, 59(11), pp.1358-1376. 

Caramanica, J. (2016). Review: It’s Coldplay, Starring Beyoncé, at Super Bowl Halftime Show. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/08/sports/football/beyonce- coldplay-super-bowl-halftime-show.html

Carter, P. (2003). ‘Black’ cultural capital, status positioning, and schooling conflicts. Social Problems 50 (1), 136–155.

Craven, J. (2016). Here’s How Many Black People Have Been Killed By Police This Year [Updated]. Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-people-killed-by-police-america_us_577da633e4b0c590f7e7fb17

Cox, D. (2016). #OscarsSoWhite: who is really to blame fort he Oscar’s lack of diversity. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/feb/25/oscarssowhite-right-and-wrong-academy-awards-audience

France, L. R. (2016). Why the Beyoncé controversy is bigger than you think. Retrieved from: http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/23/entertainment/beyonce-controversy-feat/

Friedlander, P. (1996). Rock and roll: a social history. Westview Press, Inc..

Garofalo, R. (2002). Crossing over: From black rhythm & blues to white rock ‘n’roll. Rhythm and business: The political economy of black music, 112-137.

Genius (2016). Formation. Retrieved from: http://genius.com/Beyonce-formation-lyrics. Genius (n.d.). Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It). Retrieved from: http://genius.com/Beyonce-single-ladies-put-a-ring-on-it-lyrics

Hughey, M. W. (2010). The (dis) similarities of white racial identities: The conceptual framework of ‘hegemonic whiteness’. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 33(8), 1289-1309. 

NFL (2016). Super Bowl Entertainment. Retrieved from: http://www.nfl.com/superbowl/history/entertainment

Nielsen (2016). SUPER BOWL 50 DRAWS 111.9 MILLION TV VIEWERS, 16.9 MILLION TWEETS. Retrieved from: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2016/super-bowl-50-draws-111-9-million-tv-viewers-and-16-9-million-tweets.html

Perry, Pamela. 2001. White means never having to say you're ethnic: White youth and the construction of “cultureless” identities. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 30 (1): 56-91.

Puglise, N. (2016). Black Amercians incarcerated five times more than white people – report. Retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/18/mass-incarceration-black-americans-higher-rates-disparities-report

Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2016). Inductees. Retrieved from:https://www.rockhallstore.com/prod-45-1-734-4/jimi-hendrix-t-shirt.html

Rodriguez, J. (2006). Color-blind ideology and the cultural appropriation of hip-hop. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 35 (6): 645-668. 

Stephens, B. (2016). Here’s why Beyoncé Titled Her Album Lemonade. Retrieved from:https://www.popsugar.com.au/celebrity/Beyonce-Lemonade-Album-Meaning-41051485

Warikoo, N. (2007). Racial authenticity among second generation youth in multiethnic New York and London. Poetics 35: 388-408.

Youtube (2016) – Raw Story. Fox & Friends attacks Beyonce's Super Bowl performance.Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqnvcVsWamI

YouTube – Saturday Night Live (14.02.2016). “The Day Beyoncé Turned Black” - SNL. Video File. Retrieved from:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ociMBfkDG1w

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arts-culture-honours-programme · 8 years

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Samba: Brazil’s (Not-So-) National Music

JULIA F. GRUNBERG LINDOSO

Brazil, the country of soccer, of Carnival, the country of SAMBA! If you ask any foreigner to describe Brazil, any of these words will probably be one of the first things they will say, and in a way, they will not be wrong. Brazil indeed has a strong soccer, or as we say it, football tradition, as well as one of the most well-known parties of the world, Carnaval, which goes on for almost a week, every year and throughout the whole country. And when the topic is Carnaval, Samba will probably follow. Known worldwide, Samba is seen as the national music of Brazil, as its hybridity of rhythm is said to represent the mix of Portuguese, African and Indigenous people that created the modern Brazilian society.

Originated in Rio de Janeiro’s periphery in the early 1900s, Samba, a rhythm characterized by its African roots, is not only present during the Carnaval season as it can be found in cultural manifestations and celebrations all year long (Naveda and Leman, 2008). Although it seems so, Brazil is not samba, and samba is not Brazil. The idea that the rhythm and the country is one and the same has spread throughout the world and the Brazilian government was the one responsible for spreading this myth (Finn, 2014), which is propagated by the average Brazilian to this day.

“Wait!,” calls out the the foreign reader, “are you telling me, that there is more to samba than its infectious beat, and mesmerizing dance?” Indeed, I am, dear reader, but more than that, I am telling you that there is an untold story behind samba’s rise as a national rhythm, but before that how the rhythm gave voice to a disenfranchised part of the society.

I am now going to tell you the story of samba, how the rhythm emerged as a protest against Rio de Janeiro’s mainstream society and in celebration of a marginalized social group and their culture. Only to, years later, be stripped of its social and racial context to guarantee the cultural and territorial unity of Brazil (Finn 2014).

It started with the abolition of slavery, in 1888, which led to the migration of large numbers of former slaves to Brazil’s then capital city of Rio de Janeiro. The migration happened at the same time that Brazil’s white elite began a path towards erasing the country’s slave-owning past and redefining Brazilian culture in terms of European aesthetic notions (Needell, 1995). The government, led by this white elite, would talk about the country’s racial mix in terms of branqueamento, or “whitening,” that is, the idea that miscegenation would slowly bring about the whitening of society. The white race, through interracial marriage, would overcome black characteristics, both culturally and physically in the future generations, eventually producing people white enough to meet the European ideal (Skidmore, 1990; Finn, 2014).

This search for a “white Brazil” led to the physical segregation of Brazil’s negro-mestiço1 population, especially prominent in the city of Rio de Janeiro due to its elite’s attempt to transform the city into the “Paris of South America” (Finn, 2014, p. 71). In practice, this led to the expulsion of approximately 20,000 of the city’s poorest residents, who happened constitute mostly of negro-mestiços1, from the city’s center into the city’s periphery, creating the shantytowns that are now known as favelas (Shaw, 1999; Finn 2014). The city’s non-white residents were marginalized, physically and culturally (Needell, 1995).

In the words of social activist bell hooks (1990), marginality is not only a place of deprivation but also a space of resistance, a prime location for the production of a counter-hegemonic discourse. In their marginality, carioca (from the city of Rio de Janeiro) negro-mestiços developed their own culture and way of life which emphasized their African and mixed roots. Seeking to assert their identity and in the creation of this Afro-Brazilian cultural consciousness, negro-mestiços, with their limited education and literacy, turned to music (Finn, 2014). For all of the first half of the 20th century, Afro-Brazilian cultural expressions, such as their lively and catchy music, were intensively repressed by the state. The intensive variety of musical rhythms were kept concentrated within the favelas, and it was from the mix of these rhythms that samba emerged (Houard, director, 1987).

Samba “acted as an identity marker for the poor, largely black community, whose territory was frequently taken away” (Shaw, 1999, p. 5). This music was used as a tool for community solidarity since it offered a motive for social gatherings and it inspired the participation of any and all who wanted to join. Heitor dos Prazeres works show the social aspects of samba, the large number of people in the rodas de samba, or ‘samba circles,’ playing any number of instruments, singing or dancing (Houard, director, 1987).

Illustration by Heitor dos Prazeres - Roda de Samba (1965)

youtube

At this point, the repression of samba was to such an extent that being caught by the police with an instrument such as the pandeiro, a type of tambourine central to samba’s rhythms, could lead to imprisonment (Vianna, 2004). Due to its African roots, samba was not tolerated by the ruling elite, so all practices connected to the music genre was criminalized. For around 30 years after the abolition of slavery, Brazil’s African heritage was seen as a source of shame for the mainstream Carioca society.

(This is a cat playing a tiny pandeiro)

After the end of World War I, the way Brazil engaged with its culture changed significantly. The idea that national borders should be the same as borders of culture and language emerged, and it was no longer in the interest of the elites to accept African heritage as separate from “European Brazil” (Finn, 2014)

Brazil began to be described as a country of three races: Portuguese, African, and Indigenous. The mindset changed and spread due to the emergence of racial democracy. An eminent Brazilian sociologist called Gilberto Freyre argued that racial miscegenation happened naturally (not due to the goal of branqueamento). In his book, The Masters and the Slaves, first published in 1933, Freyre (1986) says that racial mixing should be embraced as it distinguished Brazil from other countries. He went so far as to say that in Brazil, whites, blacks and mestiços (mixed race) worked together to achieve common goals.

In a way, there was a reimagining of slavery, in which the slave-owning period was described as much less severe than it was. The racial democracy rhetoric popularized the idea that the widespread miscegenation proved that racial discrimination was not a problem in Brazil. Instead, discrimination only occurred in terms of social class. So, without having to actually face the horrors of more than three centuries of slavery, racial democracy included Afro-Brazilians in the mainstream society (Finn, 2014). This new mindset turned the cultural focus of the elites away from Europe, and inwards to Brazil.

Artists, writers, composers sought to define a truly Brazilian national identity. “Samba – the music itself, the noted, melodies, rhythms, and syncopations – played an active role in Brazil’s shift from cultural traditionalism to modernism, and from branqueamento to (the myth of) social democracy” (Finn, 2014, p. 75). The process to make the musical symbol of Afro-Brazilian identity came to symbolize the nation as a whole was deliberate.

Now comes a plot twist. The very same government that once repressed any kind Afro-Brazilian culture was now using samba, arguably an essentially Brazilian artistic expression, to guarantee the country’s national integrity. The idea that music is connected to particular geographical sites, as well as its link to not only cultural and ethnic elements but also geographical elements of identity (Connell and Gibson, 2003) is well accepted within academia. There are examples of music being used in the creation and maintenance of national and local identities all over the world from Germany (classical music – Bach, Beethoven, Brahms) to South Korea (K-Pop), the ‘Liverpool Sounds’ and American Midwest country music (Appelgate and Potter, 2002; Connell and Gibson, 2003; Lie, 2012; Stokes, 1994; Vianna, 2004). The Brazilian president at the time, Getúlio Vargas, concerned with a perceived regionalization and potential fragmentation of Brazil, set out on a nationalistic mission (Vienna, 2004). Vargas saw in samba the perfect object to build unifying identity so that Brazilians from all parts could connect by having a common destiny, with its roots in a shared past (Shaw, 1999).

Through subsidies, sponsorships and prizes, the government stimulated artists and writers that fit within that nationalistic frame (Finn, 2014). To that end, samba was shaped to promote ‘Brazilian-ness.’ It was deliberately associated to Carnaval, and it became the indicator of the peaceful cultural and racial integration that was said to have been reached in the country (Shaw, 1999).

Long story short, samba was stripped from its cultural and racial context as it lost its connections to Rio’s marginalized negro-mestiço population. As Finn (2014) calls it, the great irony of the story is that it was only through cultural whitening that samba was removed from its Afro-Brazilian context and made to stand for the nation as a whole, a nation claiming to have reached racial democracy. Samba is by far not the only rhythm to have been removed from its racial context and reduced to entertainment for a white majority. Hancock (2008) tells the tale of the Lindy Hop, a historically Afro-American genre, that was appropriated by the American white mainstream in the 1990s. Jazz, Blues, Hip Hop, Brazilian Axé amongst many other music styles and cultural expression can be argued to have gone through the same, as Hancock calls it, ‘dehistoricizing’ process (2008, p. 785).

Even though the Brazilian government, starting in the early 2000s, changed its official discourse accepting racial democracy as a myth and taking steps towards affirmative action (Htun, 2004), the idea of racial democracy is still common and propagated in mainstream media (Ribeiro, 2010). In a way, it was 20th century Brazil’s inability to engage in a conversation about racial problems that led to the paradox of contemporary Brazilian race relations. Racial inequalities and pervasive discrimination are a Brazilian reality, and while racial democracy is obviously a myth, there is considerably more mixing and less residential segregation than most other countries (Telles, 2004).

What should you take out of this story? You should understand that there is a difference between appreciation and appropriation. The fact that Samba became nationally – and later, internationally – recognized as a Brazilian music and was appreciated by other racial groups is not bad in itself. The bad is in the fact that to reach this stage of recognition it had to be removed from its roots. It had to cease to offer an alternative source of social cohesion; cease to be a voice of protest and be embedded into the mainstream as a meaningless rhythm.

“But hey!”, Says the foreigner, “this was supposed to be a post about Brazil, and Brazil is happy, not sour. Brazil is supposed to be synonymous with soccer, nice beaches, and carnival.” Although it may seem so, and we certainly do not like to contradict your shallow, yet optimistic view, foreign friend, not everything in Brazil ends in samba.

Expectation:

Reality:

Flama’s “Things Brazilians are sick of hearing” (2:23 – 2:30) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmm7LCE9GVc

Notes

1Negro-mestiço is a term in Brazilian Portuguese used to describe people of African descent. Negro stands for the black population and mestiço describes the ‘mixed’ people.

References

Applegate, C., & Potter, P. M. (2002). [Preface]. In Music and German National Identity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Connell, J., & Gibson, C. (2003). Into the Music. In Sound Tracks: Popular Music, Identity and Place (pp. 1-18). New York, NY: Routlegde.

Dos Prazeres, H. (1965). Roda de Samba [Painting]. Retrieved October 25, 2016, from http://enciclopedia.itaucultural.org.br/pessoa10428/heitor-dos-prazeres

Finn, J. C. (2014). Soundtrack of a Nation: Race, Place, and Music in Modern Brazil. Journal of Latin American Geography, 13(2), 67-95. doi:10.1353/lag.2014.0024

Freyre, G. (1986). The Masters and the Slaves (Casa-Grande e Senzala): A Study in the Development of Brazilian Civilization (Vol. 351). Berkeley: University of California Press.

Hancock, B. H. (2008). "Put a Little Color on That!" Sociological Perspectives, 51(4), 783-802. doi:10.1525/sop.2008.51.4.783.

hooks, b. (1990). Marginality as Site of Resistance. In R. Ferguson, M. Gerver, T. T. Minh-ha, & C. West (Eds.), Out There: Marginalization and Contemporary Cultures (pp. 341-344). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Htun, M. (2004). From "Racial Democracy" to Affirmative Action: Changing State Policy on Race in Brazil. Latin American Research Review, 39(1), 60-89. doi:10.1353/lar.2004.0010

Lie, J. (2012). What Is the K in K-Pop? South Korean Popular Music, the Culture Industry, and National Identity [Abstract]. Korea Observer, 43(3), 339-363. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1268147490?accountid=13598

Naveda, L. A., & Leman, M. (2008). Sonification of Samba Dance Using Periodic Pattern Analysis. ARTECH 2008. 4th International Conference on Digital Arts. Proceedings,16-26. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-503793

Needell, J. D. (1995). Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires: Public Space and Public Consciousness in Fin-de-Siècle Latin America. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 37(3), 519-540. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0010417500019794

Niogret, H. (Producer), & Houard, J. (Director). (1987). A História do Samba Carioca[Video file]. Brazil: TF1. Retrieved October 18, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzlg1KvM2qI

Ribeiro, M. H. (2010). The White Media: Politics of Representation, Race, Gender, and Symbolic Violence in Brazilian Telenovelas (pp. 1-40, Rep.). Austin: The University of Texas at Austin.

Shaw, L. (1999). The Social History of the Brazilian Samba. Aldershot, England: Ashgate.

Skidmore, T. E. (1990). Racial Ideas and Social Policy in Brazil, 1870-1940 (R. Graham, Ed.). In The Idea of Race in Latin America, 1870-1940 (pp. 7-36). Austin: University of Texas Press.

Stokes, M. (1994). Ethnicity, Identity and Music [Introduction]. In Ethnicity, Identity, and Music: The Musical Construction of Place (pp. 1-28). Oxford, UK: Berg.

Telles, E. E. (2004). [Preface]. In Race in Another America: The Significance of Skin Color in Brazil (pp. 1-23). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

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“Mystic East” in music videos: Hymn for cultural appropriation or appreciation?

ELISA MEHTO

Opening scene. Hindu gods, holy men in their orange robes, temples and peacocks. Scene changes. Mumbai, busy streets, noisy traffic, the Western pop star in a taxi cab, happy street children running around, women in saris, colours, singing on the street, the Western pop star riding an elephant. Psychedelic trance that leads you to a spiritual journey. Suddenly ninjas appear with their katanas, but instead of Japan, you are thrown in to a setting that resembles far more ancient China. Dancing asian-looking ladies act as props behind the Western pop star who wears a bindi or something else taken from another culture. In the background, men in turbans play the tabla and sing in foreign languages; no one knows which language but it sure sounds nice. The pop star sings about getting drunk and high. Later when asked the Western pop star tells her aesthetic inspiration was definitely India, or maybe China, or perhaps Middle-East. Or, like, she means it might have been just tribal in the end; she does not know.

The previous portrayal does not accurately portray any one specific pop musician, it rather is a mixture of pop stars and their music videos using Asian imagery and culture analogous to the ways in which pop stars themselves make an oriental mixture of Asian cultures. This has been common since Madonna using henna during her performances and Gwen Stefani with her “Harajuku Girls” but in recent times, the trend has been gaining popularity among many artists. Iggy Azalea uses the Indian woman and gods as a costume in her music video “Bounce”. Selena Gomez did not know which culture she was portraying in “Come & Get It” with her Punjabi background singers and bindis. Major Lazer, DJ Snake and MØ situate their video “Lean On” in unknown time and place in India using the culture and people as props. Lastly, the two time wrong do-er Coldplay used different Asian cultures almost mixing them in “Princess of China” and later in “Hymn for the Weekend” that I am going to concentrate on more.

However, first I have to explain the common factor between all these different music videos; they all are contributing to “Mythic east” trope by creating a hypnotic, dream-like depiction of India. Roots for this are in the tradition of excotism or Western orientalism which basically can be defined as the tendency of Western people to come up with monolithic and degrading fantasies, that have little to do with reality, about the “East” and its people (Said cited in Seppä, 2010). This is due to the asymmetrical relationship between the West and East in which West has the dominant position and ability to represent the East as they wish (Said, 2003). This kind of discourse dates back to the times of colonialism and confirms many former colonial Asian countries as the passive “other” (Heehs, 2003). So basically, the power held by the Western world over the East can be seen in this “Mystic East” trope that the popular culture keeps regurgitating in different forms. Literary example could be the book Eat, pray, love which portrays India as a paradise perfect for spiritual rebirth of a white Western lady.

Nevertheless, music videos and other visual forms usually create more controversy because, to reinforce this myth of the East, they use imagery of these different cultures, and not only that; often you can, indeed, see a Western white pop star wearing a sari and bindi or other traditional type of dress. This kind of cultural appropriation, the use of a culture’s symbols, artefacts, genres, or rituals by members of another culture (Rogers, 2006), has many negative connotations especially since, in this case, it is a privileged group taking advantage of marginalized group's culture for economic and social capital. Those in power can de-contextualize cultural objects from their history and real meaning and use them to seem cooler (Rodriguez, 2006) or more bohemian in the case people using Indian culture. It is possible to turn this cultural capital into economic capital for example by selling this image in a music video as a marketing trick. Adding insult to injury, the symbols, appropriated by whites and then deemed cool, have been used as ammunition against members of the culture they belong to; white pop star wearing a bindi is cool while most Indian women living in the Western world know not to wear one publicly to avoid bullying and discrimination.

The theoretical framework for orientalism and cultural appropriation in the modern Western societies, but especially in the USA, can be seen linked to colourblindness. This ideology believes that ignoring race and ethnicity will make people more equal which obviously just ends up serving the white domination (Bonilla-Silva & Forman, 2000). Still this predominant ideology in our societies has lead many people viewing all kinds of cultural loans, from wearing a kurti during a holiday to India to using the Holi festival colours in parties and running events around the Western sphere for profit, as forms of cultural appreciation. Using another culture then is just a way to show how much one appreciates this culture. This, of course, is not an opinion everyone shares considering the past and other above mentioned problems and, thus, certain discourse is created around cultural appropriation versus appreciation.

Coldplay's music video for Hymn for the Weekend depicting a mythical India falls right into this discourse. All different articles and blog posts written clearly showcase a debate going on in the media whether the video does right by Indian culture. Quite a few articles and blogposts take an extremely critical look. For example, Independent and the Huffington Post seem to be very critical of Beyonce who is featured on the video wearing traditional ornaments and meddhi (henna) while making mudra with her hands, and accuse her of cultural appropriation since in this case she is “the American Superstar Seeking International Crossover Appeal” (Bhatt &, 2016) while the Guardian sees her, a black woman, as another collateral to Coldplay's appropriation plans and white domination (Chugh, 2016; Loughrey, 2016; Kumar, 2016). Nevertheless, all these articles find the music video guilty of faulty representation in addition to cultural appropriation. Independent calls for better and more modern representation (Chugh, 2016; Loughrey, 2016). The Guardian proceeds to discuss real problems on a darker note through Stuart Hill's ideas on representation and how representations have real power. Thus, how the music video “romanticizes Hinduism to further exoticize India as a westerners’ paradise” (Kumar, 2016) is dangerous considering the rise of Hindu nationalism already causing internal friction in the multicultural country (Waheed, 2015). The Huffington Post follows on the same lines by saying that the vast culture of India is reduced to “a 4-minute fethisized Western fantasy”(Bhatt & 360, 2016) and the real problems are ignored. Many less prestigious publications continue on this line of thought; the music video is cultural appropriation and misinterpretation simply trying to make an easy buck by riding on the recent mystical India trend.

However, we could not talk about a debate if there was not strong voices defending the Coldplay music video, too. Many of the articles viewing the video positively note some of its problems but also give it quite a lot of merits. The Hindu, for example, discusses the ever occurring stereotypes of people singing on the streets or people throwing holi colours around all the years but also praises the video showing other sides of India that Western videos do not normally like the youth travelling illegally in “triples” on a motorbike or “uncles” waving at any camera near them, everyday things that anyone travelling around India gets to notice, too. The paper also claims that being categorised as exotic is not that bad because at least the portrayal is concentrating on positives and India markets itself as “Incredible India”(Lazarus, 2016). Other blogposts concentrate on all the ways, the production team knowingly tried to avoid making same mistakes after the controversy around the music video Princess of China during which the band was accused of culturally appropriating Chinese culture (Cardiff, 2012). The kids and the Holi festival is on the forefront while the band is mostly in the background as secondary to the community. Beyonce's costumes were designed by Indian designers. Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor has a role and the old cinema projectionist is included, too. Brining Indians to the forefront and into the production team was probably an attempt to add accuracy and authenticity since outsiders of a culture are not able to produce authentic expressions of said culture (Young & Haley, 2006). Also giving a more active role in the representation to actual Indians might have been an attempt to show the appreciation for Indian culture especially compared to other earlier mentioned music videos using India as a backdrop. One writer sees the video Coldplay “inviting their fans to celebrate, experience, and learn about India with them”(Lakshimin, 2016) concentrating on the positive parts; sense of community, colour and playfulness overall. These factors are important for the writer but also, as implied, for most Indians, too. For them Hymn for the Weekend is appreciation.

Clearly these views show that this debate is subjective and the opinions depends much on the people voicing them. It is still always important to remember that whites embracing of other cultures has never been unproblematic; there are complex on-going processes in which whites cherry pick what they like, embrace, disdain or completely reject in other cultures. This easily leads to derogatory stereotyping or whitewashing. White interaction with other cultures, whether in the form of appreciation or appropriation, needs to be seen in the context of wider socio-historical racial domination. The dominant groups use their symbolic power to reproducing the dominant social order falling victims to these processes themselves, too (Hancock, 2008). This in mind, Coldplay probably does not intentionally portray the modern, rapidly growing economic powerhouse of India as a poor, mystical and almost primitive place. Due to persisting symbolic power structures, they end up doing it anyway, and in the process they lose the whole truth about the amazing, innovative, and real country that India is.

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Tourist Art – Searching for Authenticity in Staged Performances

LOUISA KRAUSE

The promotion and marketing of places and their associated cultures are increasingly becoming a lucrative strategy within the tourism industry, which is particularly noticeable when we consider the presence of diverse marketing outlets such as television commercials, newspaper articles, or internet ads. The online advertisement of the holiday agency keteka, for example, is remarkably in accordance with the mentioned strategy since it intends to serve a “gateway to authentic tours and activities in Latin America”. However, the agency is not simply promoting a usual holiday package of a trip to America – rather it promises a trip that allows us to experience this place in an authentic manner. Thus we can expect to become part of an experience that can enable us to” to step out of the daily treadmill into a more wonderful, exciting and challenging world” (Schouten, n.d., p.191) which will give us the opportunity to become deeper connected to another culture and to make our dreams of boating along the Amazon River as natives habitually do come true.

In addition, this idea of promoting an ‘authentic’ experience is not only reduced to the field of selling holiday packages, as it is presented in the case of keteka. It is noticeably further expanded to other elements of the tourism industry, including artistic productions such as holiday souvenirs (tourist art) or even artificially constructed ‘cultural’ places within our own culture.

However keeping these aspects in mind, it might be essential to question whether the promoted idea of authentic experiences are in balance with the actual perception made by the consumers.

As most researchers demonstrate, especially since the rise of the modern society, traveling within our leisure time has become an essential part of life of the Western population (Cohen, 1988; Urry, 2002). As a consequence, the tourism industry has significantly expanded after the 19th century, leading to the current period of ‘mass tourism’ (Urry, 2002). As already mentioned earlier, one of the growing trends of holiday suppliers is the promotion of ‘authentic’ travels.

A good example of this trend is the advertisement of the company Florida Seminole Tourism. The company is promoting its holiday packages, which basically offer the opportunity of discovering the way of life of an old Indian tribe, using the following statements:

Experience Native Culture, Adventure and Untamed Beauty in the land of the Unconquered Seminole Indians. Learn about our history at the Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki museum. Discover over 20,000 artifacts representing the Seminole Tribe of Florida over the last 300 years. Explore 2,200 acres of untamed swamplands at Billie Swamp Safari. Enjoy a family filled adventure in our award-winning ecosystem on an airboat or swamp buggy. Relish in the wonders of the Florida Everglades at the Big Cypress RV Resort. Relax at our full-service resort offering guests both grassy and paved RV sites with full hook-ups, tents and air-conditioned cabins. The Seminole Tribe of Florida is a federally recognized indian [sic] tribe, the only tribe in America who never signed a peace treaty. (Florida Seminole, 2014) http://www.floridaseminoletourism.com/

Nevertheless, in general these touristic trips are not able to mirror real life conditions of the culture we are exploring (= host cultures). Especially MacCannell (1973) points out that as compared to situations within everyday life, host cultures tend to present themselves differently when they are facing and engaging with tourists. Thus, he regards the whole touristic experience as being rather a ‘staged authenticity’, since we are not confronted with a real image of the place and culture, but with a strategically constructed and altered copy of it.

From this point of view it is furthermore possible to find similarities to the theories of Erving Goffman (1959) and his notions about the presentation of the self. Following Goffman, tourist’s perceptions of a true authentic experience involve having a look into the backstage, instead of frontstage behavior, of local cultures. However, since host cultures’ behavior is biased due to the presence of tourists, we are reduced to grasp their frontstage activities. Therefore the whole tourist experience seems to be rather a long-term planned strategy aiming to attract tourists. Similarly in case of the example of the Seminole Tribe Tourism we can already assume beforehand that our experiences of authenticity might be highly limited. Making use out of modern technology, full service resorts, and customized employees, the consumer will most probably question the prior promoted authenticity of the opportunity of discovering an old Indian tribe.

Another example of this ‘staged authenticity’ can be found in the production of arts by host cultures. As Graburn (1984) explains most souvenirs are exclusively made for the tourist market, but conversely they are sold as ‘authentic’ art pieces of the specific host culture. As a general rule, one can assume that every souvenir is still related to a traditional origin but which is however altered in its meaning and often also in its aesthetics. Graburn summarizes this modification within the following three characterizations:

1. Fine art: Art has a function it itself, thus it is not made with the purpose for cultural exchange.

2. Commercial art: Art already incorporates some changes which are contributed through influences of other cultures. Thus an exchange of these objects can be taken into consideration.

3. Tourist art: Art is completely adopted to and for the tourist demand. Therefore, as Hume (2009) argues this happens when host cultures are financial endangered so that they are willing to set consumer’s satisfaction as a priority while producing their altered traditional art pieces.

Accordingly, one can make the assumption that it is possible to see this change and modification of traditional art pieces into souvenirs in most cases when tourist art is discussed. Hume (2009), for example, applies Graburn’s classification on the boomerang, which is nowadays a popular Australian souvenir. In earlier decades, the boomerang had a strong functional purpose for Aborigines, since it was used for hunting and catching wild animals. Later the meaning shifted towards being a symbolic tool for identification and collective representation. Nowadays the boomerang has been completely taken up by the cultural industries and produced as an ‘authentic’ cultural souvenir of Aboriginal culture. Similarly also several other researchers used Graburn’s classification for explaining the development of tourist art, including Kaeppler (as cited by Daniel, 1996) who mainly focuses on the transformation of the Hula dance of Hawaii, Scott, Burns, Lester and Bibbings (2010) who exemplify the modification of traditional Mayan carvings for the tourist demand, and Evans-Pritchard (1987) who explores the alterations of Indian jewelry in New Mexico.

Conversely, past researchers have mainly stressed that the promoted cultural experiences are strictly place-bound, and connected to the region of their origin, such as the boomerang and Australia. However, contributing to the research findings mentioned before, we can additionally consider the rising trend of tourist attractions where culture and place are not linked together. Particularly cultural industries increasingly promote ‘authentic’ experiences of other cultures within our own culture. Personally, I can refer to the example of Pullman City Harz, which is a small constructed town within the middle of Germany and which offers shows, museums and a zoo according to the image of an old American Western city. To advertise their concept, they use the following statements: Step closer and experience the unique Western city in the Harz. You can expect Western shows filled with action, authentic performances and a world full of experiences. Dig for gold at the Yukon or visit the Indians in their huts and experience more about the life and culture of the Wild West (translated from German, Pullman City, n.d.). Therefore as shown with this case, we can see than holiday agencies started taking the strategy of promoting authentic experiences to a broader level. Since these experiences do not necessarily have to be created in connection to a specific place anymore, they can be likewise created independently of their origin.

To sum up, it is definitely true that we, as tourists, can no longer have the certainty that we are able to perceive the authenticity within our travel adventures as it is promoted within several marketing outlets. However, since my post was mainly restricted to outline these touristic experiences from a merely pessimistic point of view, I believe that we should rather question ourselves whether tourist art and the whole marketed touristic experience might be even necessary to fulfill our expectations of ‘dream holidays’. Hence, the described development within the tourism industry might be therefore simply a reflection of our demand and expectations of ‘fake’ authenticity. Similarly, Urry (2002) reflects on the interplay between consumers’ demand and producers’ supply within the tourism industry. He especially focuses on the existence of certain stereotypical myths around places and cultures which are created and enhanced by the media within our everyday lives (television, newspapers, etc.). Consequently, he explains that consumers are seeking to fulfill this received distorted images (or ‘tourist gaze’) of “daydreaming and fantasy, of intense pleasures” (p.3). As a result, the tourist industry exploits and even reinforces this ‘tourist gaze’ through creating experiences, such as tourist art, that exactly match the consumer’s expectations.

Thus, as Boorstin (2012) argues the modern Western individual might be even aware of the fact that he is deceived by inauthentic performances, especially in those situations where it is undeniable obvious such as it is the case of my example of the Western city in Germany. Nonetheless, we similarly tend to accept the delivered ‘staged authenticity’ by the tourism industry, since it can give us the security that our experiences are going to mirror our anticipated expectations and dreams.

References

Boorstin, D. J. (2012). The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America. Vintage.

Cohen, E. (1988). Authenticity and commoditization in tourism. Annals of tourism research, 15(3), 371- 386.

Daniel, Y. P. (1996). Tourism dance performances authenticity and creativity. Annals of Tourism Research. 23(4), 780-797.

Evans-Pritchard, D. (1987). The Portal case: Authenticity, tourism, traditions, and the law. Journal of American Folklore, 287-296.

Florida Seminole. (2014). Florida Everglades Vacation with the Seminole Tribe. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-qb4bnhk9s.

Goffman, E. (1959). The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Random House.

Graburn, N. H. (1984). The evolution of tourist arts. Annals of Tourism Research, 11(3), 393-419.

Hume, D. L. (2009). The development of tourist art and souvenirs—the arc of the boomerang: from hunting, fighting and ceremony to tourist souvenir. International Journal of Tourism Research, 11(1), 55-70.

MacCannell, D. (1973). Staged authenticity: Arrangements of social space in tourist settings. American Journal of Sociology, 589-603.

Pullman City. (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.westernstadt-im-harz.de.

Scott, M. K., Burns, P. M., Lester, J. M., & Bibbings, L. (2010). Examining the messages of contemporary ‘tourist art ’in Yucatán, Mexico: comparing Chichén Itzá and the Puuc region. Tourism and Visual Culture. Methods and Cases, 2, 1-12.

Shouten, F. (n.d). The process of authenticating souvenirs. In: M. K. Smith & M. Robinson. (Eds.). (2006) Cultural Tourism in a Changing World: Politics, Participation and (Re) presentation (Vol. 7). Channel view publications.

Urry, J. (2002). The Tourist Gaze. SAGE Publications.

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“Blogging Ever After”

FERNANDA RODRIGUEZ

Once upon a time there was an introduction...

Disney characters are one of the most used motifs in children activities. And how could they not be? In 2015 Disney spent around 1.8 billion dollars in advertising alone, and by the beginning of April 2016, Disney reported earnings of 2.1 billion dollars for its second fiscal quarter (Walt Disney World News, 2016). If someone knows how to make money… it is Disney. However, in the summer of 2015 a gorgeous three year old aboriginal girl called Samara, went with her mom to a Disney event in Melbourne, wearing a Queen Elsa costume from the animated movie Frozen. They had been standing in line for two hours, when suddenly the woman in front of them turned around and said: “I don’t know why you’re dressed up for, because Queen Elsa isn’t black”, to make matters worse -and clearly displaying the high-quality education this classy lady is passing onto her kids- the woman’s daughter added "you’re black and black is ugly” (Carney, 2015). After these ignorant comments, Samara bursted into tears (Cunningham, 2015). This case exemplifies the impact that such movies have in the impressionable minds of children. The typical Disney Princess has an hourglass figure but thin body, a symmetrical face with delicate feminine features; but most importantly, through most of Disney’s history, they have “perfect” white skin (considering that the first Disney Princess movie was in 1937 and the first “ethnic” Princess did not appear until 1992). Therefore, girls grow up with an unrealistic image of what they should to look like and how they should behave (Bispo, 2014). However, fairytales are not a new phenomena, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries many of these stories were written with the goal of taming girls and young women, and showed them how to become “wife material”. In other words, they served as a guideline to female and male gendered values and attitudes (Bispo, 2014). Reflecting on this, I began to wonder if it is possible to identify a pattern connecting the Disney Princess movies and the old versions of the fairytales, in which they are inspired, especially those developed by the Brothers Grimm. Due to the fact, that Disney Princess movies adapted most of their elements from the Grimm’s fairytale versions (Triska, 2015). Thus, in this post I want to explore: How are Germanic beauty ideals popularized through Disney adaptations of Brothers Grimm fairy tales?

To accomplished this, I will study the subjects mainly through the Production of Culture approach, which states that the symbolic aspects of culture are formed by the systems in which they are generated, distributed, assessed, taught and conserved; therefore, culture is the result of the collective activity (Peterson & Anand, 2004). Now, we are ready to start!

How the Grimm Brothers became the fairy-godmother and took German ethnicity to the Palace Ball?

The ethnic groups known as “Germans” originate from the old Germanic tribes of Europe, and was somewhat stabilized during the Middle Ages (Fulbrook, 2004). This group was formed based on shared culture, background and language. During the Age of Enlightenment, the cult for national language gave the Germans a national identity, encouraging expansionism over german-speaking populations and, further on, to other foreign territories (Fulbrook, 2004).

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were not merely fairytale writers, as most people believe them to be, they were German academics and linguists, who were concerned with the rescue of German national culture, and contributed to it by collecting and re-shaping folktales to fit German beliefs (Lehtinen & Sultanov, 2012). In the words of Rudolf Stadelmann: "The Brothers Grimm had no thought of breeding an overweening nationalism, but rather of paving the way for a profounder comprehension of German character, a national self-knowledge (Stadelmann cited in Snyder, p. 1)”. The two brothers started their venture in a convoluted context: At the end of the eighteenth century, German territory was being occupied by France, which established its own legal system and suppressed Germanic culture. In opposition, the intellectuals of the day employed their best efforts to recover everything regarding German traditions (Lehtinen & Sultanov, 2012). Many of the “German Romantics” regarded their ancestral idea of culture as the expression of the Germanic essence (Snyder, 1951). By 1822, the brothers have published a three-volume collection of fairytales, that was hugely acclaimed at a domestic level. Furthermore, they encouraged a common reading experience among children and adults, which reinforced German identity by deliberately indicating the connection between individuals mentality in their stories and the German bloodline (Lehtinen & Sultanov, 2012).

Many argue that the interpretation of these stories is not completely genuine, since the Grimm Brothers were not the original creators of the stories, but rather the collectors and curators of traditional folktales. However, they selected and adapted these tales to become unique to the German-folk (Lehtinen & Sultanov, 2012). In the Grimm’s original versions of Cinderella, Briar Rose, and Rumpelstiltskin, they placidly display the adversity of the German people against foreigners. In Cinderella, for example, one of the feasible interpretations of the story examines the protagonist’s step-family as an allegory for external invasion, in which the intruders are portrayed as unseemly and vicious; on the other hand, Cinderella represents the natal German people, who were marginalized and enslaved in their own home. The final metaphor is illustrated by the role of Cinderella’s father, who is impotent against his new wife, just as the native community is defenceless against their subjugators (Lehtinen & Sultanov, 2012). However, when we take away the nationalistic interpretations, we are left we a superficial image of the “good” women, who are prominently objects of desire, beautiful (according to German standards) and driven. In opposition, their counter-characters, which are usually women as well (e.g. evil queens and step-mothers), are portrayed as ambitious, malicious, unattractive and controlling (Nanda, 2014). Thus, a warning appears within these fairytales: bad things will befall upon women, who choose not to express hegemonic femininity characteristics (Nanda, 2014). This emphasized femininity refers to the acceptance of patriarchy, through the naturalization of behaviours such as: maintaining one’s feminine physical appearance, being emotional and nurturing, and embrace motherhood (Lind, 2007). This image of beauty -entangled with moral overtones- is appealing to the public and have an enduring impact on society (Nanda, 2014). A clear example of the importance of appearance in fairytales is distinctly represented in Snow White, which title itself celebrates the “perfection” of her pale skin tone (Malfroid, 2009).

Mirror mirror on the wall who looks the most Germanic of them all: From Germanic purity to beauty ideals in Disney movies

In a study by Helen Martin (1936), it was revealed that the favourite type of “children’s fiction” in United States were fairytales, followed by animal stories and adventures. Furthermore, when it comes to “traditional” fairytales, the Brothers Grimm occupy the first place in United States, Canada, Great Britain and Continental Europe (Martin, 1936). Even though this is quite an old research, I consider it to be highly relevant, since the year after its publication Disney released the first fairytale animated movie: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), in which the Grimm's’ “fair skinned” heroine, was forever immortalized as an icon of female beauty for the rest of the twentieth century. It is possible to assume that Walt Disney could have taken advantage of the existing popularity of these stories for his own benefit and unknowingly propagated the Germanic ideals even further. Accordingly, it has been long theorized that the ideologies of Walt Disney (believed to be anti-semitic, racist and misogynistic) and Michael Eisner (manager of Disney during the 90’s) influenced the embedded philosophies in Disney movies (Malfroid, 2009). According to Naomi Wood “Disney oversaw the story-making process from beginning to end, and all ideas had to receive his approval before they could be used in a movie… [Disney] replaced stereotypes of European märchens with American ones” (Wood cited in Malfroid, p. 5). Therefore, in Walt Disney’s movies the “German people” turns into the “American family” (Malfroid, 2009). Family relationships in Disney movies represent a warm and nurturing place, in which women are beautiful, submissive, and performed their domestic duties gladly and without question (Bispo, 2014). Very similar characteristics to the ones expressed in the versions of the Brother Grimm stories. However, the new emphasis on appearance and behaviour, does not lessen the subject of ethnicity. In Disney movies -specially Princess movies- the subject of whiteness is universal: either they ignored completely other ethnicities, or they portrayed ethnic characters as stereotypes (Malfroid, 2009). Drawing from Brekhus (1998), it can be said that white is the ethnic norm -in the Disney universe- and all the other ethnicities are seen as the social marked ones, since these “others” are always highlighted. Furthermore, it is interesting that in a world in which every heroine gets her “Happily Ever After” by finding love, the only main female character from Disney’s Classics[1] who does not gets married -or finished her story in a happy relationship- is Pocahontas, who was involved in an interracial relationship; beyond that, all other heroines married within their own ethnicity. Finally, it is worth noting that before 1992 -release year of Aladdin- all Disney princesses were white and European (Malfroid, 2009).

Happily ever after?

As seen above, it is possible to trace a path from some of the Germanic ethnic beliefs embedded in the original fairytales versions of the Brothers Grimm, towards the beauty ideals given to us by the Disney films inspired by the same fairytales. Thus, it is feasible to conclude that there is some method to this madness. When once there was promotion of nationalism, now there is promotion of traditional family values (which are specially charged with hegemonic ideals of femininity). Furthermore, the popularity of this stories at the beginning of the twentieth century, may have contributed to their success when presenting to the public through the distorted lens of Disney animated films. The attack faced by our protagonist (“black is ugly”), can be seen in several of the traditional fairytales of the Brother Grimm, as well as in Disney movies: promoting a codependent relationship between whiteness and beauty. Even when attempts have been made of “diversifying” princesses (e.g. Mulan, Pocahontas, Jasmine, etc), interracial relationships are still taboo within the Disney universe. If one of these princesses wants a happy ending they can only found it among their own ethnic group. I can only hope that the attempts by the Disney corporation of creating films with more empowered and diverse female protagonists, would finally enter the right direction, since it is clear that these stories posses a great impact on society.

References

Bispo, A. (2014). Fairytale dreams: disney princesses’ effect on young girls’ self-images. Retrieved from http://dialogues.rutgers.edu/all-journals/volume-9/148-fairytale-dreams-disney-princesses-effect-on-young-girls-self-images/file

Brekhus, W. (1998). A sociology of the unmarked: redirecting our focus. Sociological theory, 16(1), 34-51. doi:10.1111/0735-2751.00041

Carney, J. (June, 2015). ‘I don’t know why you’re dressed up because queen elsa isn’t black’: three-year-old aboriginal girl left in tears after she is racially abused by a grown woman for wearing her favourite frozen costume. Dailymail. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3134125/I-don-t-know-dressed-Queen-Elsa-isn-t-black-Three-year-old-Aboriginal-girl- left-tears-racially-abused-day-family-wearing-favourite-Frozen-costume.html

Cunningham, M. (June, 2015). 'Black is ugly', three year old told at disney event. The courier. Retrieved from http://www.thecourier.com.au/story/3144181/you-could-never-be-elsa-little-girl-in-racist-attack/

Fulbrook, M. (2004). A concise history of germany (2nd ed). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Lehtinen, J. & Sultanov, A. (2012). To what extent do the grimm brothers’ fairy tales promote german ethnic nationalism?. Nazarbayev University of Astana, Kazakhstan. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/3223612/To_What_Extent_Do_the_Grimm_Brothers_Fairy_Tales_Promote_German_Ethnic_Nationalism

Lind, A. (2007). "Femininities/Masculinities." The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. Ritzer, George (ed). Blackwell Publishing. doi:10.1111/b.9781405124331.2007.x

Malfroid, K. (2009). Gender, class, and ethnicity in the disney princesses series. Universiteit gent faculteit letteren en wijsbegeerte. Retrieved from https://lib.ugent.be/fulltxt/RUG01/001/414/434/RUG01-001414434_2010_0001_AC.pdf

Martin, H. (1936). Nationalism in children's literature. The library quarterly, 6(4), 405-418. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/4302300.pdf

Nanda, S. (2014). The portrayal of women in the fairy tales. The international journal of social sciences and humanities invention, 1 (4): 246–250. Retrieved from http://valleyinternational.net/thijsshi/v1-i4/7%20theijsshi.pdf

Perry, P. (2001). White means never having to say you're ethnic: white youth and the construction of “cultureless” identities. Journal of contemporary ethnography 30 (1): 56-91. Retrieved from http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp330-us15/files/2014/06/White-Means-Never-Having-to-Say-You %E2%80%99re-Ethnic-by-Pamela-Perry.pdf

Peterson, R. A., & Anand, N. (2004). The production of culture perspective. Annual Review Of Sociology, 30(1), 311-334. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.30.012703.110557

Snyder, L. L. (1951). Nationalistic aspects of the grimm brothers' fairy tales. The Journal Of Social Psychology, 33(2), 209-223. doi:10.1080/00224545.1951.9921813

Triska, Z. (Dec 16, 2015). The real stories behind these disney movies will ruin your childhood. The huffington post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/12/the-real-story-behind-eve_n_4239730.html

Walt Disney World News. (May 10, 2016). Quarter 2 earnings report: walt disney world attendance down, revenue and operating income up. Retrieved from http://www.wdwmagic.com/other/walt-disney-company/news/10may2016-quarter-2-earnings-report---walt-disney-world-attendance-down,-revenue-and-operating-income-up.htm

[1] With Disney Classics I refer to the period in which the production of Disney films was either in the hands of Walt Disney or Michael Eisner. A period that goes from 1937 (the release date of Snow White) to the end of the 1990’s.

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arts-culture-honours-programme · 8 years

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If it only was that eazy!

ROBIN EKKART

Meet G-Eazy. G-Eazy is a handsome, 27-year-old guy from Oakland, California who is of Ukrainian descent, who graduated from university with a BA in Music Industry Studies and who has an artist name very similar to N.W.A-rapper Eazy-E's, who is a black rapper mostly known as one of the founders of gangsta rap ("G-Eazy", 2016; "Eazy-E", 2016). G-Eazy became known when he dropped his album 'The Endless Summer', on which he often sounds as if he is trying to produce a gangsta rap/hip hop sound ("G-Eazy", 2016). His songs mostly rely on the conventional hip-hop crossover. There is a rapper on the verses and a singer on the hook, just as we like it. However, this also makes that this all-white boy sounds a lot as if he is trying to compete with original hip-hop, although he is the first to point out that he's not a gangsta rapper. Currently, G-Eazy is touring with this album and apart from G-Eazy being white and rapping, there is something important going in the promotion for this tour. The promotion tells us he is touring with Logic, a fellow white rapper and with YG and Yo Gotti, two black, successful rappers. But, let's take a look at the promo material they use, which is displayed at the top of this blogpost. There is something a bit off, right? What is weird, is that all four of them seem to have the same skin tone (Caramanica, 2016). To quote Jon Caramanica (2016) in his article 'White Rappers, Clear of a Black Planet'; "(…) race has practically been erased.". At best, this could be seen as a very poor job in photo shopping, but at worst this could be seen as a practice of colour-blind ideology. Departing from this finding I'll briefly research the use of colour-blind ideology in contemporary hip-hop.

Before diving into theory, let's take a look at the main elements of hip-hop. According to Alridge and Stewart (2005), hip-hop has always reflected many different aspects of the lives of young people and speaks to them in a way they understand. This is managed through four fundamental elements. There is dancing, break dancing to be more specific, graffiti art and, of course, music. The music is brought to life through the mixing skills of the DJ, who takes care of the beats, and the vocal and rhyming skills of the MC, who takes care of the lyrics (Alridge & Stewart, 2005), as is shown in this clip from the Netflix-original series 'The Get Down', which depicts the rise and origins of hip-hop. All four elements were, as hip-hop in general, originally a form of Afro-American cultural expression, but since the early 1990s a lot of white people became interested in hip-hop and thus some of them started practicing it. This interest quickly turned into white people culturally appropriating the genre, turning it into a mainstream genre without the specific goals or means it had in Afro-American culture (Androutsopoulos & Scholz, 2003). What mostly struck black people was the fact that white people took their music and made their own version of it by imitating and inversing the stories of black rappers, through which it lost its authenticity (Hess, 2005). Later on, when the battle over authenticity cooled down, a bigger problem arose. Due to the appropriation of this black music genre by white people and especially by white people becoming successful with it, some people took on a colour-blind stance. More than often this stance was taken when defending themselves against being criticized on the above mentioned cultural appropriation (Rodriquez, 2006). This colour-blind ideology, or colour-blind racism (Bonilla-Silva, 2015), is described by Rodriquez (2006) as an ideology emphasizing "essential sameness between racial and ethnic groups despite unequal social locations and distinctive histories" (p. 645). In other words, people tend to look at different races as being equal, even if their history and their placing in social strata make them very different from each other.

With this brief piece of theory in mind, I would like to go deeper into colour-blindness in contemporary hip-hop. In this case, scholars can see themselves on two sides of the same story. The binary oppositions in this case can be labelled as a white point of view and a black point of view. Looking into the problem from a black point of view, Gosa (2011) describes in his article 'Counterknowledge, racial paranoia, and the cultic milieu: Decoding hip hop conspiracy theory' how certain conspiracy theories in hip-hop address what is wrong in the Afro-American society and states that hip-hop has always been a black medium of protest. The rags-to-richness stories of black rappers are not pitiful stories, but heroic sagas of black people who are, equal to white people, able to make a living for themselves and to participate in the American Dream. Therefore, G-Eazy, and a lot of other white rappers, benefit both financially and commercially from the dark history of the Afro-American people. Even more, Gosa (2011) states that in "this colour-blind era" (p. 15) the content of hip-hop songs is misused by white people to spread racial anxiety and to cause a moral panic over the shifting of racial demographics. On the other side, thus through the white point of view, some scholars point to black hip-hop artists themselves as the cause of this 'problem'. Hess (2005) states that the black hip-hop artist is often involved in the popularity of hip-hop amongst white people. He notes that some big, household names such as Ice Cube, De La Soul and Dr. Dre "dictate changes in both marketing and content" (p. 386) to make hip-hop attractive to white people. Therefore, it could also be said that we're not living in a colour-blind era, but that hip-hop has grown to be a genre that appeals to everyone and that the industry has grown with it in such a way that the general concept of hip-hop can be seen as concerned with both black and white matters (Hess, 2015). However, it seems as if the afore mentioned black point of view is taken on by most people who are drawn to this problem.

When looking at the examples I use to sketch these binary oppositions some points of critique come to mind. As a first, there is a very fickle, so-called 'we-them', point. An argument that Yousman (2003) makes is that white people look at hip-hop, and more specifically rap music, from a white supremacy point of view, meaning that they look at this matter through a white point of view in which white people are superior to black people. However, when based on Essed and Trienekens (2008), you could ask yourself what he, and other scholars writing about this topic, mean by white. What aspect of whiteness is addressed here? Do they address the fact that the construct of whiteness is socially unmarked (Perry, 2001), or do they address 'white', but generalising, characteristics such as being rich and educated? A second remark, again - loosely - based on Essed and Trienekens (2008), is a question about stigmatization. Accusations about stigmatization go back and forth. Black people stigmatize white people by looking at all of them as little rich kids who try to rap, white people stigmatize black people by thinking they're all chicken eating, basketball playing members of gangs, … However, do black people stigmatize their selves through worshipping their hip-hop legacy? We're living decennia after the 'heat of the moment' and, yes, some matters in Afro-American society still link to what's being addressed in hip-hop, but there is also a much bigger part of black people who, without a hustle, are able to make a living for themselves and who don't have to grow out of the ghetto. It almost seems as if the original topics on which hip-hop reported are not applicable to the black society in general anymore. Leaving you with this thought I would like to conclude this blogpost by giving an advice for further research, as I think this is very much needed.

Throughout this blogpost I briefly discussed the use of colour-blind ideology in contemporary hip-hop and by doing so I've created some loose ends. To be specific, I created two. The first loose end is created by noting that in the binary oppositions towards colour-blindness in contemporary hip-hop most people who are drawn to this problem tend to look at the situation through a black point of view. However, this is only what I saw during my research for this blogpost and is not based on any scientific research. I choose not to go deeper into this because that would bring me too far off topic. A second loose end is created by posing the question whether black people stigmatize their selves through holding on so strongly to hip-hop legacy. I explain why this could be the case in a very short manner and don't link this question to theory. Again, this is because it would bring me too far off topic.

However, I do think that these two matters are important and interesting enough to conduct further research on. Therefore, I would like to propose both the hegemonic black point of view on colour-blindness in contemporary hip-hop and black self-stigmatization through hip-hop legacy as topics for further research. A lot has been said and done about racism in music, but to me it seems as if these two topics are rather untouched. It could be the case that they're too dangerous for academic research, because they are not neutral. However, I think that academia can and should help to destigmatize certain topics and to create a safe environment in which such subtle matters can be discussed without being politically incorrect and without hurting anyone.

References

Alridge, D. P., & Stewart, J. B. (2005). Introduction: Hip hop in history: Past, present, and future. The Journal of African American History, 90(3), 190-195.

Androutsopoulos, J., & Scholz, A. (2003). Spaghetti funk: appropriations of hip-hop culture and rap music in Europe. Popular Music and Society, 26(4), 463-479.

Bonilla-Silva, E. (2015). The Structure of Racism in Color-Blind, “Post-Racial” America. American Behavioral Scientist, 59(11) 1358-1376.

Caramanica, J. (2016, August 18). White Rappers, Clear of a Black Planet.The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/arts/music/white-rappers-geazy-mike-stud.html?_r=0

Eazy-E. (2016, October 20). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eazy-E&oldid=745401169

Essed, P., & Trienekens, S. (2008). ‘Who wants to feel white?’ Race, Dutch culture and contested identities. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 31(1), 52-72.

G-Eazy. (2016, October 13). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=G-Eazy&oldid=744198604

G-Eazy [User name]. (2013, Augustus 13). G-Eazy - Been On (Official Music Video) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQa8Rv-Vq-Y

Gosa, T. L. (2011). Counterknowledge, racial paranoia, and the cultic milieu: Decoding hip hop conspiracy theory. Poetics, 39(3), 187-204.

Happy Weather [User name]. (2015, July 15). White Kid Thinks He's A Gangster [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwAvWR0UBxU

Hess, M. (2005). Hip-hop realness and the white performer. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 22(5), 372-389.

Perry, P. (2001). White Means Never Having to Say You're Ethnic White Youth and the Construction of “Cultureless” Identities. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 30(1), 56-91.

Popping Neneo [User name]. (2016, Augustus 15). Breaking Inspired MC - The Get Down [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpD-8SOlcB4&list=RDlIwjn8OhbTA&index=10

Rodriquez, J. (2006). Color-blind ideology and the cultural appropriation of hip- hop. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 35(6), 645-668.

Yousman, B. (2003). Blackophilia and blackophobia: White youth, the consumption of rap music, and white supremacy. Unpublished manuscript.

ZFLONetwork [User name]. (2014, October 23). The Black People Song [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYjqBqrZVTY

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arts-culture-honours-programme · 8 years

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The Operation Was a Success, but the Patient Died. Unmasking Museums’ Discriminatory Practices

Lilia Sacco

On the 24th of September, the new museum of African American History and Culture, in Washington D.C., opened its doors to the public. The same day, the art critic Philip Kennicott (2016) writes a piece for the Washington Post, titled “Can a thorough, thoughtful museum speak to a new racist age?”, in which he challenges the effectivity of the new institution, by questioning its carefully constructed storytelling approach and traditional design. In fact, the museum has adopted a quite conventional displaying method, with objects and images disposed in a sequential way, drawing visitors to a general consensus. Additionally, the space itself, owned by the Smithsonian, has an authoritative and conservative look. Notwithstanding its unique thought-provoking nature, and the fact that members of the interested communities were involved in the process of art acquisition and installation, it is no surprise that, in a country where multiculturalism has become a synonym for colour blindness, and where police aggressions against powerless black individuals are part of the daily agenda, people may not be ready to face the unpleasant truth of racism, meticulously packaged to fit in a fundamentally mainstream context. Kennicott concludes his reflection with the explicit remark: “This narrative of American history must not be domesticated within a traditional history museum” (2016). The issue, here, is not with the new museum itself but with all the other art and history establishments which have helped shaping, and continue to feed, racial prejudices within the American society.

A very contradictory statement, considered that, by the late Eighteenth century, the educating role of art institutions has shifted from being prerogative of the rich few to become intended for the public good (Britannica, 2016). Since then, inclusiveness has been an imperative aim in museums’ mission statements; aim that has widely been accepted as achieved (Allen, 2010). One may, thus, wonder why public art museums directors do not seem to be awfully shocked to realize that their typical audience remains predominantly white, well-educated and wealthy, while ethnic minorities are still underrepresented (Blackwood & Purcell, 2011). After all, as Grimes (1990) argues, “Even though museums may aim to be cross-cultural in scope and to challenge ethnocentrism, they are also arenas in which one culture displays another. The power to display another, as ‘other’, is considerable” (p. 239).

Criticism over museums practices reached its peak with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Professional journals and symposia were not the only means of discussion; in fact, the interest also spread across activists, among which the Art Workers’ Coalition of 1969 was a prominent example. Ethnic minorities’ frustration was the result of decades of underrepresentation and marginalization within the art world, especially in museums (Simpson, 1996). Since then, these concerns have started to be taken seriously by art organizations. In fact, 91 percent of the curatorial staff is still white (Ostrower, 2013); the majority of the public art galleries persist to exclude minority artists from their permanent collections, and minority communities are even more intimidated by the museum’s atmosphere (Allen, 2010). True, most of the traditional art museums built their collections during the era of colonialism and African trade, when subjects were portrayed with ivory skin as a sign of civilization and fear of invasion from the foreigners - usually depicted as servants-, and when the concept of race was used to ‘mark’ the inferiority of non-white people, and not to indicate white ones (Rosenthal, 2004). Nowadays, nevertheless, museums policies favor ethnic diversity in both boards and cultural assets (Simpson, 1996). Yet, these institutions continue to perpetuate racial hierarchies (Blackwood & Purcell, 2011). In Lynch and Alberti’s words “Encounters between museum professionals and external individuals, particularly those from Diaspora communities, still bear traces of coloniser meeting colonised” (2010, p.14). Racial inequality is encouraged by their collections and visible among their staff. Then, why is it so hard to believe that art museums can inadvertently be racist?

The truth is that ordinary visitors do not question themselves about the symbolic meanings of museums’ collections, because they rely on the curator, who -they believe- made her decisions to grant the public with the most exhaustive historical and artistic accounts. Bourdieu calls this process ‘sincere fiction’, whereby a constructed narrative leads people to appreciate art as an accurate representation of evolutionary societal patterns (Blackwood & Purcell, 2011). Some could argue that the public has acquired sufficient knowledge to interpret museums’ collections for what they are: mere representations or, more appropriately, manipulations of reality. It is obvious for the black child who does not see himself in the paintings, obvious for the white connoisseur, who thinks that the two minority works he has seen at a recent exhibition surprisingly fit with the entire collection: “Brilliant, different art which does not break with the canon, how rare is that?”, and even more obvious for me who, after having heard him saying that, agreed completely on the claim. How, though, did ‘white’ become the norm?

The ‘white’ race has always been taken for granted. It is very much like the unmarked kind, in a pair of categories, described by Brekhus (1998); it is unarticulated, invisible, the perfect yardstick against which the ‘others’ are ‘racialized’ (Brekhus, 1998). The supremacy of white culture is embedded in the concept of whiteness, a social construct, created by individuals in order to distinguish themselves from other people. (Bonilla-Silva et al., 2006). White groups have internalized this conception in a manner akin to the ubiquitous concept of habitus introduced by Bourdieu. Hence, by experiencing and interacting with the world and, specifically, with other ethnicities, the white community engages in a sort of ‘white habitus’ (Bonilla-Silva et al., 2006). Unlike the majority of trends, categorization is timeless; especially because people need to simplify the complex social structure (Brubaker et al., 2004). Racial identity is peculiar in this respect; we feel authentic because we assume to belong to a specific group, even if this means that we are giving up our individuality (Bonilla-Silva et al., 2006). But what does the museum have to do with all of this? The answer is: a lot. It is well known that institutionalized cultural capital has always been and continue to be used as a means for exclusion and racial distinction. Who benefit, in the end, is -what a surprise!- the dominant group, which reproduces its ideas through visual culture, by establishing conventions which are exclusive in nature (Blackwood & Purcell, 2011).

Here, ‘conventions’ can be better understood as ‘stereotypes’, mental models which individuals use to interpret diversity in the world (Brubaker, 2004). These models are usually ascribed to subjects to underline negative qualities. It is through stereotypical thinking that African artworks become ‘exotic’ and ‘primitive’. Not to mention, Africa is often magically turned into a country. A very illustrative example of this tendency was seen during the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007). In fact, Africa was given one Pavilion, thus allowing only two representative tribes to show their works, while countries such as Ireland and Wales occupied entire buildings (Chikukwa, 2010). While these classifying ways stem from a variety of sources, the museum stands out among them, especially because of its function to provide knowledge on ourselves and on other cultures (Baugh, 2016).

Possibly, the fact that contemporary society’s views embody the aesthetic principles imposed by Western culture in the Nineteenth century, is the main cause of the strengthening of racial stereotypes. The creation of a canon for fine art, derived from the European Enlightenment thought, undoubtedly fostered museums’ racialized practices. The boundaries that were set between fine art and the crafts intensified the disadvantages faced by people whose production, because of bigotries about race, was labelled to be of inferior creative value. The establishment of a supreme form of aesthetic was the Western ‘escamotage’ to exclude non-Western cultures, which traditionally had never dissociated practicality from beauty (Berger, 2005). Vogel (1991) points out that the majority of the art works coming from around the world were not explicitly made to be displayed in galleries. The only art which has characteristically been manufactured to fit the museum’s ambience is indeed Western art, from the late Eighteenth century onwards. Curators are rarely concerned about this fact when they acquire new pieces. Aesthetic qualities rather than historical significance are crucial in their decisions whether to expand or not the collections they are responsible for (Allen, 2010). Most of the time minority artworks are appropriated and conferred evident Western connotations. What follows is an orchestrated categorization completed through…drumroll…the unapologetic white perspective. It is a fake experience but, as the saying goes ‘time is money!’. True, a certain degree of decontextualization is unavoidable and effective, if the public is informed about the subjective representation. Museums, however, seem to have completely forgot about this small detail (Vogel, 1991).

Currently, the hot product for public art galleries is the temporary exhibition, specifically dedicated to ethnic minorities. The goal of these events is to guide the viewer towards a more complete understanding of other cultures, and, thus, of society as a whole (Baugh, 2016). Ironically enough, the curators involved are mostly white, so that the final outcome is obviously influenced by their attitudes. People represented in these exhibitions do not have a say on the modes in which their culture is being shown (Allen, 2010). As Baugh (2016) suggests, representation of another culture cannot be authentic but will always be biased by personal preconceptions and aesthetic ideals, which in turn affect those who are being represented. Museum curators are perfectly aware of these limitations but, as the concept of whiteness implies, overcoming racial inequality is hard without letting prejudices affecting the process (Baugh, 2016). By presenting minorities’ artifacts according to their aesthetic endeavors, they hinder detailed historical interpretation and omit the consideration of contemporary issues. The myths of the ‘exotic’ and the ‘nostalgic’ guide the visitor, while Western influences are completely ignored (Simpson, 1996). Art institutions fail to recognize that many of these works are of the same -if not higher- quality of Old Masters paintings, and that, by presenting them together, curators could positively broaden an outdated mainstream mindset (Marzio, 1991).

These considerations stand very much in contrast with the features of the new African American museum. Certainly, its unique nature is completely different from what people are used to see in other public art institutions. It is not yet known how the public will react to its provoking statements. Will people get the messages which it tries to convey? Not likely. What is clear, however, is that the majority of American art curators are still far away from meeting the needs of marginalized ethnic communities. In other words “They've added colorful patches to their garments when the whole cloth needs to change” (Nina Simon, 2016).

References

Allen, S. (2010). Whose identity? The responsibilities of museums in the representation of the past and present (honors); Trinity University.

Baugh, C. (2016). Representing others: a look inside nonwestern and indigenous exhibitions (honors); Indiana University.

Berger, M. A. (2005). Sight unseen : whiteness and American visual culture. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Blackwood, A. & Purcell, D. (2014). Curating inequality: The Link Between cultural Reproduction and Race in the Visual Arts. Sociological Inquiry, 84(2), 238-263. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/soin.12030

Bonilla-Silva, E., Goar, C., & Embrick, D. (2006). When whites flock together: the social psychology of white habitus. Critical Sociology, 32(2), 229-253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/156916306777835268

Brekhus, W. (1998). A sociology of the unmarked: redirecting our focus. Sociological Theory, 16(1), 34-51. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/0735-2751.00041

Brubaker, R., Loveman, M., & Stamatov, P. (2004). Ethnicity as cognition. Theory and Society, 33(1), 31-64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/b:ryso.0000021405.18890.63

Chikukwa, R. (2011). Curating contemporary African art: questions of mega-exhibitions and Western influences. African Identities, 9(2), 225-229. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14725843.2011.556803

Grimes, R. (1990). Breaking the glass barrier: the power of display. Journal of Ritual Studies, 4(2), 239-62

History of museums | museum. (2016). Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 13 October 2016, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/history-of-museums-398827

Kennicott, P. (2016) Can a Thorough, Thoughtful Museum Speak to a New Racist Age? Washington Post.Retrieved 11 October 2016, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/museums/can-a-thorough-thoughtful-museum-speak-to-a-new-racist-age/2016/09/20/945d190c-79d2-11e6-ac8e-cf8e0dd91dc7_story.html

Lynch, B. & Alberti, S. (2010). Legacies of prejudice: racism, co-production and radical trust in the museum. Museum Management And Curatorship, 25(1), 13-35. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09647770903529061

Marzio, P. (1991). Minorities and fine arts museums in the united states. In I. Karp & S. Lavine, Exhibiting cultures the poetics and politics of museum display (1st ed., pp. 121-127). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Ostrower, F. (2013) Diversity on cultural boards: implications for organizational value and impact. (Working Paper). Retrieved from https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/Research-Art-Works-UTX-Austin.pdf

Rosenthal, A. (2004). Visceral culture: blushing and the legibility of whiteness in Eighteenth century British portraiture. Art History, 27(4), 563-592. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.0141-6790.2004.00438.x

Simon, N. (2016). On White Privilege and Museums. Museum 2.0. Retrieved from http://museumtwo.blogspot.nl Simpson, M. (1996). Making representations. London: Routledge.

Vogel, S. (1991). Always true to the object, in our fashion. In I. Karp & S. Lavine, Exhibiting Cultures The poetics and politics of museum display (1st ed., pp. 191-205) Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

#Whiteness Museums

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arts-culture-honours-programme · 8 years

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From Negro to Afrofuturist – the shift in social perception of African Americans

IVANNA-NIKOL POSOBCHUK

“Yes, African Americans have felt the cold weight of shackles and the stinging lash of the field whip. But we’ve also dared to run north, and sing songs from Harriet Tubman’s hymnal. We’ve buttoned up our Union Blues to join the fight for our freedom…”. These words from the B. Obamas` speech at the opening of National Museum of African American History and Culture acknowledge both the unjust history of African American people, their unrestful fight for equality and importance of African American culture in the history of America.

The opening of NMAAHC in the end of September 2016 was log-awaited, in fact, for many Americans and other nationalities the establishment of the museum symbolizes the long desired recognition of African-American people and their significance in the history of the United States (Washington Post, 2016). The long history of establishing of the museum itself can tell a story of challenges faced by the African American people. The first proposition to create a monument dedicated to African-American achievements in arts and sciences took place in 1915, but it didn’t find support from Congress until late 70s, when still was not considered important. Finally, only in 2001 the president George Bush signed a bill for establishing of MNAAHC, that now comprises historical and cultural artefacts of African American`s life. As curator of the museum, Tuliza Flemings, says the art expositions in NMAAHC “tell a story about the culture at the time when people did not have an opportunity to be open about who they are” (Halpering, 2016). While it is arguable that people did not have an opportunity to be open about their identity, it is surely a fact that for long time they did not have an opportunity to present their vision of the world and of themselves across the racial boundaries.

Along with the history halls, the art display in the museum also traces how the historical events shaped the way African-American artists saw themselves and world around them. Indeed, nothing like art can describe how races are represented by those who belong to them. But who chooses what art is presented to people? This question is essential when talking about art created by African Americans, acknowledging the racial issues, which significantly influenced the opportunities of this artworks to be presented to public (Bearden &Henderson, 1993). In this article we will take a look at the role of art world in the interactional communication from the period of Civil Rights movement until the day the NMAAHC was established. More precisely, we will discuss the subject of self-representation by African-American artist and how it was and is received in the art world.

Historically, art museums exhibiting African American art have used an interpretive lens that has painted Black people, and their art by association, as inferior. Prior to civil rights movement, exhibitions of black art in museums were announced as Negro Art highlighting the differences between black and white population (B. Cooks, 2011). With the ascendency of the Civil Rights and Black Power movements in the 1960s works of African American artists gradually started to gain recognition across the racial boundaries. However, American galleries, art agents and museums of the time were mostly white dominated and given the racial stereotypes, not welcoming to the art of African-Americans. In the 1950s and 1960s it was impossible to find galleries interested in exhibiting artworks by unknown African Americans (Bearden& Hendelson,1993).

Needless to say, African-American artists of the time were concerned with the racial issues and delivered their opinions through art, reflecting the changing sense of what constituted African American identity and American Culture. Works of David Hammons, Mel Edwards, Noah Purifoy and others reflect their commitment to the Black Power movements and express their statements regarding the issues of resistance and ongoing silent segregation. This artistic period can be referred as Blackness, as it is rooted in the unjust history of black Americans and their desire to be identified equally with whites (Touré, 2011). Most of the works of this period well known only among the black American communities, but rarely acknowledged by cultural institutions until 1990s.

Realizing their small chances for recognition among white intermediaries, black artists tried to promote their works directly to the public. Among these artists, Jean Michael Basquiat can be considered the most successful one. In late 1970s he first attracts attention for his graffiti in New York City, where he tagged walls of buildings and subway trains with graffiti and social messages. Basquiat`s art focused on the social topics, which criticized power structures and systems of racism. In 1977 artist was selling t-shirts and sweaters featuring his works on the streets of NY and already by 1980s was widely recognized across the country. In 1984 his works were displayed in the first solo exhibition and year later he was presented at the XIIIth Biennale in Paris, gaining the world-wide recognition (Stencilrevolution, 2013). The peak of his fame happened in 2000s, when his works were breaking records in the international auction sales, labeling Basquiat a superstar artist.

The international recognition of black artists changed a social perception of Black Art, which was no longer labeled inferior. In fact, representation of African American art in museums and auctions has significantly increased during past two decades. Recent research of the auction houses finds that out of the 100 artists represented on auctions one is black, but out of the top 10 artists at auctions by volume there are 4 black artists (Bocart, 2016). This study shows that major American museums nationwide are diversifying their collections with African American art, including works of non-black artists, who was heavily influenced by African-American culture. Moreover, one of the oldest auction houses in United States – Swann Auction House is considered to be one of the major market players with dynamic sales of African-American art. If to look worldwide, rising interest to Contemporary African American Art is flourishing in Europe. In London the increased number of galleries expanding collections with African and African-American art and vibrant auction markets led to the 1st Sotheby`s auction dedicated to African and African-American modern and contemporary art, that will take place in 2017 (Sharp, 2016).

With the significant improvement of interracial interaction within the art market, African -American artists now have opportunities to freely communicate their reflections on the world to the audiences. Access to these representations help us to better understand African-American culture and people. Moreover, we can see how artists represent their identity and notice how significant is the change in African American`s self-representation. Touré Neblett, writer, journalist and culture critic, defines 21st century an of Post-Blackness (2011). Arguing that contemporary black artists confront the label of Blackness and aim to redefine the racial standards by referring the skin-color as irrelevant. This goes in line with the MNAAHC curator`s words: “We are emphasizing that this is an American Art gallery- we really don’t discuss race unless it is not germane to the artwork or important to the artist’’ (Halperin, 2016). Racial identity, however, is very important to many contemporary African-American artists. Contrary to Post-Blackness, Afrofuturism defines artists who don`t perceive Blackness as a restriction, they rather acknowledge the past and want to evolve from it. In fact, Afrofuturism digs deeper into Black identity and addresses themes and concerns of Africans and African-Americans through an interaction with technology and science fiction. They do not only reflect the present-day racial dilemmas but also reconceptualize historical events and already construct the future (Word, 2016).

The brief examination of African-American art, as it is seen from historical and social perception describes how race is socially constructed. The long-coming public and institutional recognition of African American the art is reflected in contemporary depiction of African Americans by themselves (Bagley & Castro-Salazar, 2012). From Blackness, that defines the strong reference to the unjust history of African Americans we now notice a shift towards blurring racial boundaries in contemporary African-American art. And although the racial distinction claimed to be irrelevant when talking about art, we find that many modern African-American artists aim to redefine the existent standards of racial authenticity that were historically set by others. The establishment of NMAAHC and flourishing the African American art market signifies the significant shift in interracial relationships that gives hopes about racial equality in the contemporary world.

References

Bagley, C. and Castro-Salazar, R. (2012). Critical arts-based research in education: performing undocumented historias. British Educational Research Journal, 38(2).

Bearden R., Henderson H., A History of African-American Artists. From 1792 to the Present, New York: Pantheon Books, 1993.

Cooks, B. (2011). Exhibiting blackness. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press.

Crooks, R. (2016). African American Art Collections | Smithsonian American Art Museum. [online] Americanart.si.edu. Available at: http://americanart.si.edu/collections/highlights/aaa/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2016].

Halperin, j. (2016). Black History made visible on the Mall. The Arts Newspaper, pp.4-5.

Stencilrevolution.com. (2013). Jean Michel Basquiat Bio: Graffiti Artist Turned Sociopolitical Force. [online] Available at: http://www.stencilrevolution.com/profiles/jean-michel-basquiat/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2016].

The White House. (2016). Remarks by the President at the Dedication of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. [online] Available at: https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2016/09/24/remarks-president-dedication-national-museum-african-american-history [Accessed 22 Oct. 2016].

Touré, (2011). Who's afraid of post-blackness?: What it means to be Black Now? New York: Free Press.

Sharp, R. (2016). How London Developed a Bullish Market for Contemporary African Art. [online] Artsy. Retrieved from: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-how-london-developed-a-bullish-market-for-contemporary-african-art [Accessed 13 Oct. 2016].

Washington Post. (2016). Tour through the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture. [online] Available at: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/lifestyle/national-museum-of-african-american-history-and-culture/guided-tour/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2016].

Word, T. (2016). What to A Shape Shifter is Post Blackness?. [online] A is for Afrofuturism. Available at: http://aisforafrofuturism.tumblr.com/post/63839209437/what-to-a-shape-shifter-is-post-blackness [Accessed 17 Oct. 2016].

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