Random thoughts on Jared A. Ball Four Part Series, " Hip-Hop and the Corporate Music Industry"

1. I recommend reading all four parts. I was charged with reading the third part and questioned several of his premises - he wrote them as unexplained assumptions - but they were in fact set forth in earlier parts and were well defined.
2. Never used the term post-colonialism...really striking and powerful.
3. Title of the third part is interesting, 'Colonialism is the lens and hip-hop is the mirror.' There is that common assumption that hip-hop is about 'bad urban stuff' because it reflects the true gritty life of  Blackness. Ball does a good job dismantling this theory without explicitly doing so - when viewed with the colonialism lens selected by Ball, hip-hop functions as a mirror of white America's self-interested perception of Black America.
4. Crazy wack writing argh...he needs an editor! I was trying to read his writing with the understanding that it must be perpetuating his theories but really I just think it's not well edited. "This decision, it must be noted, also affects my own beloved Washington, DC Pacifica Radio affiliate..." (I don't think it needs noting but if you think it does - just write it!) "Most recently examples of this include the successful lobbying... (Wordy! Just write, 'Recent examples include..." or at least use a comma to distinguish the subject of the sentence) "Pertinent and entirely related that" (Redundant!)
5. D'Mite's Read A Book is hysterical and witty and way too catchy. I do appreciate Ball's comments that perhaps BET was willing to disseminate the video - despite it falling outside the mainstream themes of hip-hop - because it puts the pressure on the individual to change without critiquing or pressuring the system.
6. D'Mite's song Down Witchu is odd. The entire song is a super positive anthem all about being non-judgemental. Oh, ya know, except for that one verse at the 2:45 mark: "You can be straight or gay or a little confused, I might not be amused, but I'm cool witchu." WTF!
7. What do you think of D'Mite's Grown Ass Man? I found it really thought-provoking and interesting. Similar to Read a Book, it encourages its audience to be a good father, value land over other types of property, become educated...both songs are pretty elitist. I'd be interested in what our guest speaker has to say about them.

Reposted from Nothing Is New...



"A new web project is live on the net!

TEENAGE is a film in development by Director Matt Wolf (Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell), Writer Jon Savage with Executive Producer Jason Schwartzman. It’s based on Jon Savage’s book Teenage: The Creation of Youth 1875-1945. (a must read!) We created TEENAGE film blog to share our archival finds, flickr pics, director’s notes, film updates & special guest contributors. I’m curating the content for the site, presenting historic youth culture alongside contemporary teenage happenings. Visit TEENAGE and be sure to watch the teaser—a complete jaw-dropper.
Join TEENAGE film Flickr group and add your historic teen photographs, either of yourself or from your collection. Totally ga-ga over the photographs."

TALKING POINTS #6 // QUESTION FOR CLASS // GLEE

To contradict the argument in my talking points post, what examples can you find of a character whose identity does not become part of the plot line?

For example, Artie's identity as a wheelchair-bound paraplegic remains largely in the background. He just IS in a wheelchair - the aspect to his identity that falls outside of SCWAMP doesn't consume his character and his story lines as it does for most other characters. And as Diana pointed out on someone's blog - he is actually one of the more able-bodied characters on the show.

TALKING POINTS #6 // CONNECTIONS // GLEE

Glee is a show rich with characters outside of dominant ideology.

Applying Lisa Grinner's lens of analysis it is easy to identify those aspects to the show that fall outside of dominant ideology. The show is populated with characters outside the dominant ideologies of SCWAMP with identities that are:
-non-Straight (Kurt, Blaine, the bully Dave Karofsky, and Brittany and Santana to a lesser extent)
- non-Christian (Principal Figgins) but mostly Jewish (Jacob the newspaper editor, Puck, possibly Rachel, Artie and Tina)
- non-White (Tina, Mike, Mercedes, Santana, Principal Figgins)
- non-Able-bodied (in terms of physical ability - Arie the paraplegic, in terms of mental ability - Becky and Jean Sylvester both with Down Syndrome and Emma with OCD, in terms of physical attractiveness - Lauren)
- non-Masculine (many female lead characters and a few male characters inhabiting 'unmasculine' traits such as Kurt)
- non-Property holding (while there is some mention of money problems, this isn't a strong area of thinking outside the dominant box)

The show is also populated with characters whose identities do embody SCWAMP dominant ideologies:
- Straight (everyone except Kurt, Blaine, Dave)
- Christian (with the exception of Principal Figgins and the Jewish characters everyone can be assumed Christian and there are several members of the school participating in Christian-associated activities such as celibacy)
- White (Will, Sue, Beiste, Artie, Rachel, Quinn, Finn, Kurt, Brittany, Emma, Puck, Sam, Becky...)
- Able-bodied (everyone except Artie, Becky, Sue's sister...)
- Masculine (Finn, Puck and Sam are put forth as the the most masculine)
- Property-holding (there's quite a bit of money flowing - designer clothes, prep school...)

I think there are two major things going on with Glee and dominant ideology identity...

1) Most characters (whether possessing dominant ideology identities or not) embody stereotypes associated with their identities. All of the SCWAMP students play football and are homophobic. All of the SCWAP students cheer for the football team. The student characters that aren't Straight, Christian, White, Able-bodied and Masculine? None of them play football or cheer. The only exceptions - and they are slight considering the whole matrix - include Puck (non-Christian but otherwise SCWAMP), Santana (non-White but otherwise SCWAMP) and Mercedes (non-White but otherwise SCWAMP who used to cheer.) The two Asian characters are tech-savvy, rebellious against their parents, and dating one another. The main gay character is obsessed with fashion and musicals. The cheerleaders are boy-crazy and blonde with one exception. The football players are girl-crazy and dumb. The Jewish brunette is driven and bitchy. The black girl is a diva with the strongest voice, too 'fleshy' to be anything other than the token fag hag. To be bluntly honest - I don't necessarily have a problem with this. I think it's great that there is a show with a bunch of teenagers that are straight and gay, white and Asian and Black, able-bodied and in a wheelchair, teenage dreamy and overweight, etc. The characters are stereotypes - but I also have met many people in my life that embody such stereotypes.

2) Much of the show's plots are stories about these stereotyped identities. As the primary gay male character, Kurt is almost exclusively involved in plotlines about his gay identity. As the African-American female character, Mercedes is involved with plotlines about getting along with her white club members - especially the other females. As one of the primary SCWAMP character, Finn's plotlines are about overcoming the limitations of SCWAMP - being less homophobic and more caring towards the women in his life. As the two Asians, Tina and Mike talk about their Asian relationship and their Asian activities.

So no - I really don't criticize Glee for having tech-savvy Asian characters, a diva African-American, and a gaggle of ditzy blonde Cheerios.

I DO criticize Glee for plotlines that doesn't often escape these identities - for not letting its characters that proudly embody non-dominant identities to engage in real stories. For anyone with an identity that falls even slightly outside of SCWAMP ideology, that sense of 'outsiderness' is at its most amplified during the teenage years. So I understand Glee's focus on the teenage identity - but that's why it's unfortunate that for a show about teenage identity, it chose a myriad of cliches to represent.

DIGITAL LIFE

I knew I wanted to focus on geography and I had high hopes for creating a short video that would encompass my digital geography life - much of which resides at work. I think geospatially and recent advancements in technology have made not only my professional life as a cartographer but my personal life so much more geo-easy. But it was too much - so as an alternative I chose 25 minutes out of my day to showcase. I like the abstractness of it.

I read a lot of the Times, Huffington Post, and the hundreds of blogs I subscribe to every day on my way to work. I'd like to have a "no-pho" zone in my car - I KNOW it's safer - but I haven't committed to it yet.

TALKING POINTS #5 // QUESTION FOR CLASS // WESCH

My question for class is a broad one - is college for everyone? Should so many attend? Are students benefiting from it? Are students prepared?

One of my concerns reading the Wesch article is that he is advocating dialogue between professor and student to such an extent that the student body - whether in one course or University-wide - begin to mold the essence of their education.

I have concerns with this. Universities have begun to incorporate student evaluations of professors when considering tenure, salary and hiring practices despite studies showing that a student evaluation directly correlates to a the grade a student anticipates receiving. This has resulted in a spiral effect of 'easier' teachers becoming increasingly more valuable to the University.

The New York Times article, "Plan B - Skip College" raises a number of interesting points about higher education in America.

For college students who ranked among the bottom quarter of their high school classes, the numbers are stark: 80 percent will probably never get a bachelor’s degree or even a two-year associate’s degree.
That can be a lot of tuition to pay, without a degree to show for it.
College degrees are simply not necessary for many jobs. Of the 30 jobs projected to grow at the fastest rate over the next decade in the United States, only seven typically require a bachelor’s degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Among the top 10 growing job categories, two require college degrees: accounting (a bachelor’s) and postsecondary teachers (a doctorate). But this growth is expected to be dwarfed by the need for registered nurses, home health aides, customer service representatives and store clerks. None of those jobs require a bachelor’s degree.
Professor Vedder likes to ask why 15 percent of mail carriers have bachelor’s degree. “Some of them could have bought a house for what they spent on their education,” he said.

I am concerned that as college becomes more of a rite of passage instead of a thoughtful option, educational standards will diminish as colleges and Universities cater to their diversely-prepared populations.

I need to come up with more thoughtful language to make this argument - I am afraid I am sounding elitist which isn't my intention. Perhaps some of you have resources I could look into on this subhect?

Blog posted today by teenage photographer Olivia Bee of teenagers in their bedrooms.

TALKING POINTS #5 // ARGUMENT & HYPERLINKS // WESCH

MICHAEL WESCH From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-able: Learning in New Environments

For today’s University student, the value of a professor’s content-based knowledge has decreased as her ability to instantly access the same content increases. Not only does today’s student have broad access to content but she also possesses sophisticated technological capacity to disseminate, define, and create content.

Wesch notes the “massive transformation” (P 4) that University classrooms have undergone as they become saturated with recent generations of students so adept with transformative Web 2.0 technologies that Wesch argues the technological developments are secondary to what he considers a social revolution.

Michael Wesch argues for a pedagogical shift away from teaching and learning methods that focus on the content of knowledge towards methods that encourage knowledge savviness: the ability to “find, sort, analyze, share, discuss, critique, and create information.” (P 4)

Wesch doesn’t mention “information literacy” or “media literacy” but his text is imbued with these concepts that predate Web 2.0 technologies.

No singular organization promotes or defines information literacy, but the concept gained momentum within the library community – particularly academic libraries – in tandem with increasing internet access during the 1990s. The Association of College and Research Libraries defines Information Literacy  - in part – as “the set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information.” Understanding that information would become increasingly more accessible, librarians along with University faculty and other educators sought to establish their continuing roles during this “Information Age.” The concept of Information Literacy focuses not on the subject matter a student endeavors to learn, but on the student’s ability to locate and isolate pertinent information, to understand its source, and to critique its validity, authenticity and usefulness.

I think Wesch doesn’t reference Information Literacy because he likely sees it as out of date with new media technologies and as a grab by educators for authority over the texts they teach. Information Literacy presumes a hierarchy of valuable sources and leaves out a couple key concepts that Wesch highlights such as the contributions to be made by the student to the common body of knowledge and the interactivity that Web 2.0 technologies promote – not only amongst students but between student and educator alike. Wesch discourages educators from being threatened by the abundance of information available to their students and instead encourages educators to teach tools that will help their students navigate the vast world of information.

The concept of Media Literacy gets closer to Wesch’s idea of knowledge-ableness. The Center for Media Literacy is an agency “dedicated to promoting and supporting media literacy education as a framework for accessing, analyzing, evaluating, creating and participating with media content, (and the agency) works to help citizens, especially the young, develop critical thinking and media production skills needed to live fully in the 21st century media culture.”

I believe Wesch would appreciate the concept of Media Literacy going beyond Information Literacy by at least a couple of steps: it values the skills of creation and participation, particularly within today’s digital world.

Wesch uses this idea of Media Literacy – without saying so – to provide a framework for University educators to incorporate Media Literacy values into their classroom.

Watch the video from Michael Wesch's Introduction to Anthropology class, illustrating the teaching methods advocated in his article.

TALKING POINTS #3: CHRISTENSEN

I am giving myself a 'bye week' for a full blog post...

These are my questions/issues for class

A few criticisms/misunderstandings:
- Christensen seems to oversimplify the roots of the evils she discusses, as if they were manufactured in a particular place at a particular time by the powers that be at Disney, Mattel and Nike. .."

- On page 33, the author discusses the fantasy objectives involved in many of the films and stories. I agree wholeheartedly that the fantasies can be misguided but I think the purpose of fantasy in the world is to create a myth of non-representation - imagining a place or time or new person that you could be... that's a vital resource humans have, particularly the ones that aren't fortunate.

I do agree strongly with a statement on page 131 describing how non-white girls can easily see examples of racism but the gender inequities remained more invisible.

TALKING POINTS #2: RESTORATION OF ORDER

“Hip-hop Sees No Color: An Exploration of Privilege and Power in Save the Last Dance“

Leslie A. Grinner

Race/Gender/Media: Considering Diversity across Audiences, Content, and Producers

Rebecca Ann Lind, ed.

Allyn & Bacon (2009)

Pages 180-187

Certainly, Save the Last Dance follows the same formula as have so many Hollywood movies before it, using an “order, disorder, and restoration of order” narrative structure. (P 181)

I appreciate this boiled-down synopsis. The phase of “order“ precedes the movie for the most part. Sara (white) was a student and ballet dancer living with her mother in the suburbs with the goal of attending Julliard. Derrick (black) was a Georgetown-bound student “rising above” his urban South Side Chicago lifestyle where he has an unwed teenage mother for a younger sister and a juvenile delinquent for a best friend.

The phase of disorder is prompted by the death of Sara’s mother, forcing her to move to Derrick’s neighborhood where she befriends him at school and becomes romantically involved with him. Disorder is characterized by clichéd cultural and racial clashes between Sara and her fellow students, including Derrick.

I find the restoration of order to be the most interesting of the three phases.

The producer (filmmaker, author) has chosen characters and circumstances to change, sets forth a disruption, and ultimately chooses to remove her characters from their circumstance and place them within another of her own construction.

So what ideologies are revealed through the restoration of order chosen by the producers of Save the Last Dance?

Grinner does not expound upon this as much as she does the first two phases (order, disruption) but does offer the following analysis of the film’s conclusions to reinforce the SCWAMP ideology rampant throughout the film:

• “Malachi falls prey to a life of crime and ends up in jail” (P 184)
• “Derrick runs away from (criminal activity) to support Sara during her audition” (P184),
• Derrick’s goodness is marked by his rejection of Blackness in the form of both Malachi and Nikki and his selection of whiteness in the form of Sara” (P 185)
• Sara’s father becomes a “good father” by the film’s end (P 186)
• Derrick is accepted into Georgetown
• Sara is accepted into Julliard

Grinner establishes that much of the SCWAMP ideology runs throughout this film – Derrick is rewarded for adhering to the ideology characterized by the domination of straightness over homosexuality, of Christian values, of whiteness over other, of physical able-bodiedess over dis-abledness,  of masculinity over femininity, males over females, and property-holding over the capital-less.

Much of Grinner’s analysis points to the SCWAMP superiority complex, but does note that with respect to able-bodiedness, “physical ability is highly valued in (this) film dedicated to dance…in fact this is the only area where Blackness is considered superior because it is Sara’s mastery of hip-hop that ultimately secures her acceptance to Julliard.” But Grinner is right to quickly point out that blackness – particularly male blackness - has long been associated with superior physicality and athleticism, often at the “exclusion of other attributes.” (P 185)

Question/Comment/Point to Share:

For those that know the film – can you identify any of its attributes without abandoning the SCWAMP framework? One of my thoughts: learning hip-hop increased Sara’s capital – ultimately the film seemed to view hip-hop as a valid art form that increased her value as a dancer.

TALKING POINTS #1: MEDIA AND IDEOLOGY

Media/Society: Industries, Images, and Audiences

David R. Croteau and William Hoynes

Pine Forge Press (2002)

Chapter 5, Pages 159-168

A few points that I thought were key for me to remember…

Ideology as normalization

The sheer repetition [of pictures of social interaction and institutions] on a daily basis can play important roles in shaping broad social definitions. ...In essence the accumulation of media images suggests what is “normal” and what is “deviant.” (163)

This statement early in the chapter encapsulates the subsequent explanation of Stuart Hall’s notion of hegemony: one dominated – and not just reflected but re-presented - by mass media. Leading to the common-senseness discussed on page 166..

Spectacle of the Bizarre

The media can become part spectacle of the bizarre. The ideological influence of media can be seen in the absences and exclusions as much as in the contents. (163)

For media messages falling outside of “dominant ideology” but represented by mass media – they are positioned in opposition to the dominant culture, for the spectator or consumer to look at from the outside – not identify with. Even as you may identify with the bizarre, you are being taught that it isn’t the dominant, accepted mode.

Hegemony

Power is wielded…in an arena of culture I the realm of everyday life where people essentially agree to current social arrangements. (page 166)

Hegemony operates at the level of common sense…forming a ‘core’ of a person that isn’t pure or natural or truthful but is itself a social construction.

Criticisms…

While these short pages successfully conveyed a few basic concepts of media and ideology, I thought it was poorly written and used hackneyed examples. In contrast, the excerpts of Stuart Hall on page 169 jumped out of the page as taut and exciting writing.

Beginning on page 160, the article set out its own strain of dominant ideology – abandoning the notion of cultural contradiction and complexity that I think even a freshman media studies student would grasp. Croteau and Hoynes' first two examples of “groups scholars are interested in studying the images of” are women and African-Americans, thereby establishing a dominant culture of white maleness. Writing an exclamation point at the obviousness of it, I read on hoping for a savvier take. ALL examples cited throughout the pages we read were white males or white male scenarios: Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Eminem, Priest, Last Temptaton of Christ, school shootings, George W. Bush, William Bennett.

When introducing an alternative media example (to showcase the “media battle”), the authors even use the language “other examples include” and go on to specify “female television characters.” Eminem wasn’t referred to as a male rapper, a white rapper, a rural rapper. Secretary of Educaton William Bennet wasn’t referred to as the male Secretary. While I understand the very point of the article is to explain hegemony through basic examples, the word “female” wasn’t necessary to include in the sentence if the actual examples of media contest regarded single motherhood and lesbianism.

But we know real challenge to hegemony isn’t about that – we know that the very issue of not being a white straight man is often the issue itself. Savvier authors would have explained the basic concepts of media, ideology and hegemony without their own dominant ideology (or maybe it’s their perceptions of their audience’s ideology) being so uncomplicated.

The chapter is written by two white men, cites only white male scholars, uses almost exclusively white male media examples, and posits the remaining three examples with a modifier: female, African-American.

Murphy Brown's son would still be a teen in 2011 - 19 years old!

Question for Class

I'm curious about the drawn-out "war" and battlefield" references. I understand the terms being used within popular culture when discussing media, but I'm not familiar with them being used in any scholarly way. I understand this is a textbook and not a scholarly text, but the extended metaphor seems odd. I am wondering if anyone knows if these "culture war" terms are academic terms...

Introductory Post

I am a 32 year old student who is completing her last two classes at RIC this semester. I majored in geography, minored in women's studies, and work at a historic preservation and archaeological firm producing maps and managing their geographic information.

I absorb a lot of media: I read the New York Times every day, I read the New Yorker every week, I listen to NPR for about three hours daily, and subscribe to about 150 blogs on subjects ranging anywhere from interior decoration to independent music to personal finance to fine art photography.

I manage all of my calendars, to do lists, tasks, and financial accounts in the digital world.

I am interested in learning more about the complexity of the digital native - not all teens have access to the internet, own cellphones, or have a computer at home. I'm curious how socioeconomic and other factors shape a teenager's experience with the digital world.

I mentor a 13 year old who doesn't have a lot of digital access - it's interesting getting to know a supposed "digital native" who uses my phone to peruse her Facebook account!