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29 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Ethnocentrism definition
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The belief that your culture does things the “right” way and anyone who differs from you is wrong and probably needs to be corrected.
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Cultural relativity definition
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Not the idea that all cultures are equal to one another, but rather that every culture must be evaluated in its own context, not in comparison to ours or anyone else's.
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Style
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A form of cultural ethnocentrism… style is the outward manifestation of substance
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substance
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How much, and what kind of meaning is inherent in the things we do.
STYLE and SUBSTANCE are ALWAYS in a constant state of negotiation in everything we do. |
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history definition (for this class)
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For the purpose of this class history will be defined as: “The story of the political elite.”
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historicity definition (for this class)
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This is a term coined by one of my mentors, the late historian Richard Mercer Dorson, who used it to describe the story of everybody else not covered by history.
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cultural materialism
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used to describe when the material factors of a culture serve as the cause of sociocultural differences between that culture and others.
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hip and the African Wolof verb
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The African Wolof verb hepi means “to see” and their verb hipi means “to open one’s eyes”
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hip was originally from
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So from what was originally a collision of cultures, a racial clash, a context of apparent conflict, there was also, from the very beginning, the roots of a multicultural creation of hipness… and that was through popular culture.
Black and white cultures did not meet in the economic, political, or other societal arenas except for one: pop culture. In music, literature (and here we have to include oral literature in the sense of folklore and folktales) people of either race who chose to enter the sphere of popular culture (through the reading perhaps of Mark Twain’s work, or attending minstrel shows, or listening to spirituals or early blues) all had access to the world of hip. Getting a clue from linguistic sources that it was initially a collision of black and white culture that began to lay the ground work for hipness Finds itself through popular culture…America is only modern society that has ever not existed without popular culture Met solely in popular culture…only way the two races interacted in the beginning…helps us see how both races give us access to world of hip |
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be careful with what
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Getting a clue from linguistic sources that it was initially a collision of black and white culture that began to lay the ground work for hipness
Finds itself through popular culture…America is only modern society that has ever not existed without popular culture Met solely in popular culture…only way the two races interacted in the beginning…helps us see how both races give us access to world of hip Unpopular opinions will show up in pop culture before they do in mainstream outlets |
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hip has a ______ ________
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It’s because hip occupies this dual status and exists largely within the realm of popular culture (there has to be a public element to it… a hermit can’t be hip unless there are people on the outside who dub him/her as such) that we all long for at least some association with it.
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individualism and conformity
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Individualism and conformity: individualism is one of the primary tenets of the american faith..we all have the right to be who we are and to be true individuals but we are also expected to conform to society’s norms…can turn yourself into anything BUT you have to conform
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romanticism and realism
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We can say therefore that hipness in america exists with a conflict of romanticism and realism…everybody should be able to grow up to be president…image that all going to graduate and get decent jobs and find a partner and home with cool life ..america keeps feeding the romantic ideas of this and how we should live…but we need to face the reality
Cognitive dissonance occurs between how you feel and how real life…ideas we sell is always greater than the reality is…we have the idea of this american hero (stands for certain ideals) Hip is the romanticism of having it all while living in the realism of not being able to have it all. |
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6 convergences of hip in American History
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1. 19th century convergence of blacks and whites (Minstrel show, Original Ganstas, the Blues)
2. Early 20th century convergence of country and city (blacks moving north, ex-pats went to Europe, Jazz began) 3. Post WWII music (bop) and literature (beat) combine 4. Urban decay and the DIY movement (punk, hip hop, zines) 5. The 80s internet/technology 6. now |
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music was a way of letting
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Africa in
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most of the slaves were originally...
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Most of these early slaves were not directly from Africa, but rather were “Atlantic Creoles”: slaves from the sugar plantations in the Caribbean and Brazil
No place else in the world it exists the way it exists in the US (letting Africa in) Why brought to the US originally…rice ..tried to get native americans to work for them in the rice places…quickly discovered (people were dying from malaria because the rice patties had mosquitoes)…somebody realized to have the african slaves work there instead…many africans had a sickle cell and had a borne way to avoid malaria |
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For the first 180 years of slavery, different than we understand
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For the first 180 years of slavery the relationship between slaves and their owners was different than what we normally understand:
They wouldn’t come about until the invention of the cotton gin in 1793, allowing for much larger production Smaller farms meant slave and owner lived in closer proximity to one another Since owners had to pay for slaves they were a valued commodity From 1619-1810 or 1820 (slavery was different from what we think of it)…nothing like the big white mansions at first because they couldn’t exist Started after 1793 when cotton gin was invented (could not process cotton without this)…it would be a white family with 10-20 acres with 3-4 slaves…in this circumstance, the slave and slave owner live in close proximity and they share a lot of stuff…racism in the south became far worse after slavery Why more racism in south after slavery…slave owners bought their slaves and if anything happened to that slave they would have to buy another one…actually in the best interest of the slave owner it was in their interest to take reasonably decent care (fed enough, in general, in good health…wouldn’t treat it worse than treat cow)…when slavery is abolished and we have share cropping, you don’t buy them..you let them come and work on their land and you rip them off…if a share cropper dies, so what?...would have festival lynchings |
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the other components to hip besides africans were the
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europeans
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Hip comes not from a single cultural reference, but
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as a result of at least two cultures trying to negotiate life with one another.
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5 different points of contact
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1. language
2. religion 3. song 4. dance 5. sex |
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Slave owners espoused a paternalistic attitude toward their slaves that allowed them to: (2)
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1. Rationalize the system
2. Encouraged slaves to bond with their masters (dilutes ties to other slaves, lessoned rebellions, closer cultural exchanges) Contact was at the root of the underpinnings of slavery Paternalistic: up to me to help civilize these people..like a paternal thing…turn them into responsible human beings as conceiving possible Paternalism has by-products If go along, might get some extra food or won’t get beaten as bad…encouraged slaves to bond with their masters..and what is the result of that? Dilutes ties to other slaves (the idea of the house ******)…the favorites of the slave owners were the ones who worked in the house |
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“In language, the African tradition aims at circumlocution rather than exact definition. The direct statement is considered crude and unimaginative; the veiling of all contents in ever-changing paraphrases is considered the criterion of intelligence and personality.”
-Ernest Borneman...what does this mean? |
What does this mean? Do you have an interesting way of saying something..different than white anglo traditions (just getting to the point)
Our language builds upon things and is goal oriented..also linear Archetectonic, goal oriented and linear |
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But like we said, control of language as a conservative force is very important to the status quo, so slave-owners made sure to try to learn every new term slaves spoke…
But then |
slaves created new terms
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Religion with West Africa and such
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In West African culture there is no separation between the spiritual and secular as we tend to do in the Christian world.
Slaves who were converted to Christianity would bring the familiar tales to other slaves who would combine their own traditions into a new, syncretic world. Religion is conservative..how contribute to hipness? Did so early on Everything had a spirit in it…Western religion is not like that..more dogmatic and concept laden Every culture has stories of how created Slaves already understood a lot of the symbolism of Christianity…not a big movement early on to convert slaves of christianity…at first they couldn’t care less Religion is conservative..how contribute to hipness? Did so early on Everything had a spirit in it…Western religion is not like that..more dogmatic and concept laden Every culture has stories of how created Slaves already understood a lot of the symbolism of Christianity…not a big movement early on to convert slaves of christianity…at first they couldn’t care less |
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sex and slavery
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There was a wide range of sexual encounters between slaves and slave owners
Female slave owners were also known to take slave lovers This, in part, accounted for the myths about Black male sexual prowess Which resulted in: Harsher repression and violence Fodder for stories and songs among the slaves And probably contributed to Black ideas about the value of light skinned Black women So the lore of both European whites and African Blacks found yet another vehicle for transmssion. |
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The Trickster
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The trickster is the pinnacle of “hip” and usually uses language as his tool.
In Africa the trickster appears often as Esu-Elegbara A forklore figure called the trickster…Leland talks about him as the pinnacle of hip..uses language as a tool Uncle Remus tales? BrairRabbit is always outsmarting the fox through his wits..the patch Slaves used his wits all the time…bugs bunny In African culture the trickster is Esu-Elegbara Shows up in African American culture as Legba Leland also makes a supposition that the individualism of the Trickster is at least partially responsible for the kind of soloing we see in the blues and jazz: |
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The Minstrel Show
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Minstrelsy combined white curiosity and co-optation of Black forms with the promise of reinvention – one of the core elements of “hip”
Thomas Dartmouth Rice The man who “invented” minstrelsy by creating the character “Jim Crow” after an old folk song, did so only after traveling to the South and seeing a slave perform this song. Something that came out of culture…main form of theatrical entertainment from 1840-1880? Musical theater did not exist until Minstrel Show created..white guys think they are impersonating AA in a parody type way The Minstrel show, or Blackface tradition would last from the 1840s up through the 20th century. |
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Leland even claims that gangsta rap, and other forms that could be referred to as _the commodification of nigga culture” continue selling these stereotypes to a largely white audience.
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he says, it is precisely the close affinity that white rappers such as Eminem and Kid Rock have with repackaging their whiteness in an urban black context that gives them their “cred.”
This “strategic employment of Black stereotyping” for profit would seem, as described by Frederick Douglas in 1848 as: “white society (making) money (and) pandering to the corrupt taste of their… fellow citizens.” |
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More about the Minstrel show
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But after Douglas saw a show in 1849 he wrote that: “when the colored man in any form can appear before a white audience (something) may yet be instrumental in removing the prejudice against our race.”
Minstral show was a racist idea but the very fact that black performers were getting paid and out in front of white people, it still moved the race ahead a little bit Hip is not black or not white, but it has to be a combination of the two…whites wanting to accept and appreciate black culture but not being able to without being called a nig lover or something like that so how do you get close to black culture without beig threatened to culture itself or without being threatened by culture as a blank…you emmulate it as best you can |
