What Is This "Black" in Black Popular Culture?
Background and Context
Discusses the historical context in which to question black popular culture.
Emphasizes the conjunctural nature of cultural moments and their historical specificity.
Notes similarities and differences between past and present moments, highlighting the need for different cultural politics strategies.
Conjunctural Coordinates from Cornel West
First Coordinate:
Displacement of European high culture.
Challenges Arnoldian views of culture as a refuge for elite.
Second Coordinate:
Emergence of the United States as a cultural powerhouse.
Shift in cultural definition from high culture to American popular culture.
Third Coordinate:
Decolonization of the Third World influencing cultural sensibilities.
Civil rights and black struggles within this broader context.
Ambiguities of Cultural Shift
Discusses the complexities of shifting from a European to an American cultural context.
America’s internal ethnic hierarchies create dichotomies in its cultural politics.
Black cultural vernacular's influence on American popular culture often overlooked.
Cultural Globalization Period
Critique of the term "global postmodernism" as vague; highlights its uneven development.
Discussion on cultural dominance, the shift toward everyday practices, and local narratives.
Examines the critical opportunity presented for cultural intervention.
Cultural Politics and Postmodernism
Postmodernism focuses on difference (ethnic, sexual) but risks reducing it to the 'exotic.' Developing effective cultural strategies is difficult due to critics' cynicism and few regulated, funded spaces. Strategies must prioritize the cultural politics of difference and reject zero-sum approaches.
Black Popular Culture (BPC) and Authenticity
BPC is a contradictory space, resisting simplistic binaries (resistant vs. incorporative) and acting as an arena for struggles over ownership. It serves as a repository for community history, although 'authenticity' is often defined by its acceptance within mainstream culture, linking to Bakhtin's ideas on counterculture.
Identity, Diaspora, and Representation
Diasporic experiences drive cultural hybridization and distinctive styles, sustained in performative spaces. Identity must not be essentialized or viewed as fixed, requiring recognition of varied expressions. Representation actively shapes identity and cultural understanding, as identity is constructed dialogically through negotiations of power and desire.