Readers Conference on the Moscow Automobile Plant

The article's research is centered on the transcripts of industrial conferences, meetings and reunions of the Moscow Automobile Plant named after I.A. Likhachev (AMO ZIL). The aim of this study is to determine the information potential of the transcripts taken during factory meetings concerning production issues and to use them as a source for studying the socio-psychological aspects of the history of industrial enterprises. The author examines in detail many aspects of the topic, including the transcripts' reflection of the views of enterprise managers, unit leaders, engineering and technical workers and workers in the production process, the features of the business culture, and the motivation of production participants. In working with transcripts, the author applied the socio-psychological and illustrative methods to a comprehensive analysis of sources. The research revealed a high saturation of information contained in the transcripts of production meetings, showing the possibilities of their use for studying the socio-psychological aspects of the history of industrial enterprises, in particular, the economic culture, the mentality of organizers and production participants, the atmosphere within the team, the views of managers and employees on the production process, their work motivation, as well as other issues. The author introduces into scientific circulation previously unexamined archival materials.

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“You're Only Ever A Block From The ‘Hood”

Journal of Popular Music Studies ◽

10.1525/jpms.2021.33.4.152 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 33 (4) ◽

pp. 152-170

Author(s):

Alex Blue V

Keyword(s):

Identity Formation ◽

Hip Hop ◽

Participant Observation ◽

Automobile Plant ◽

Original Intent ◽

Spatial Reorientation ◽

Field Notes ◽

And Performance ◽

Forms Of Violence ◽

The City

This article explores the use of sound, lyrics, and performance as tools for spatial reorientation and reimagining, identity formation and affirmation, and counternarrative or counterarchive in a rapidly gentrifying contemporary Detroit, Michigan. Two discrete, yet discursively linked case studies are presented—performances by the same artist in two different spaces—that exhibit various modes of “flipping,” slang that can refer to multiple transformative practices in contemporary Detroit. These practices include the use of overdetermined spaces, or spaces that have been declared abandoned or vacant, for something other than their original intent—i.e. using a decommissioned automobile plant as a music video set; sampling, which can be understood as using sonic components from previously recorded songs in the creation of new hip-hop beats; buying homes in a state of disrepair, fixing and reselling them at large profits; and inverting meaning itself, via slang or coded language. Additionally Black techniques of sounding and performance are illuminated, with a focus on echo as a mode of co-creation. These various practices are all responses to the growing wave of gentrification that gains momentum in the city daily. The analysis draws primarily from ethnographic research conducted from 2016 to 2018, culling data from participant observation, recorded interviews, informal conversations, field notes, lyrical and video analysis, and the analysis of mediated accounts, both print and online. As the analysis shows, the strategies utilized by artists in Detroit ensure that no matter how much the spaces in Detroit continue to change, and no matter how much an attempt is made to provide racially curated space through various forms of violence, you’re only ever a block from the ‘hood.

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