scholarly journals Music to Some Consequence: Reaction, Reform, Race

2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-388
Author(s):  
Oskar Cox Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Racial Prejudice ◽  
The Political ◽  
White Males ◽  
Music And Politics ◽  
Blackface Minstrelsy ◽  
Public Disorder ◽  
British People

AbstractA naval chaplain in the 1790s, a radical arrested after Peterloo, and a smash hit of blackface minstrelsy: these three disparate historical actors all provide exemplary cases of music in action, playing upon the political passions of the British people. Thinking across the three examples, this article reflects upon the aims of the forum Music and Politics in Britain, c.1780–1850, as well as advancing its own autonomous argument. Alexander Duncan was drummed out of the navy for publishing a pamphlet advocating the use of martial music in action; inspired by the French, Duncan was effectively arguing for a democratization of Britain's servicemen by playing upon their passions. The potential for subversion inherent in this approach was borne out by the career of Samuel Bamford, a Lancashire weaver; music was central to Bamford's activism, and I chart the functional ends to which he deployed music around 1819. In a third instance, with the 1840s hit “Buffalo Gals,” music led to public disorder. The song, due in large part to its musical qualities, enabled forms of licentious behavior among white males that mobilized latent forms of gendered as well as racial prejudice, so that its performance came to excuse forms of sexual harassment.

Imperial Presidency and the Neo-patrimonialization of Disorder in post-Authoritarian Nigeria

1970 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-77
Author(s):  
Adeniyi S. Basiru
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
The Political ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Imperial Presidency ◽  
Political Struggles ◽  
Presidential Democracies ◽  
Data Source ◽  
Public Disorder

The president and the network of offices that are linked to him, in modern presidential democracies, symbolize a neutral state that does not meddle in order-threatening political struggles. It however seems that this liberal ideal is hardly the case in many illiberal democracies. Against this background, this article examines the presidential roots of public disorder in post-military Nigeria. Drawing on documentary data source and deploying neo-patrimonial theory as theoretical framework, it argues that the presidency in Nigeria, given the historical context under which it has emerged as well as the political economy of neo-patrimonialism and prebendalism that has nurtured it, is a central participant in the whole architecture of public disorder. The paper recommends, among others, the fundamental restructuring of the Nigerian neo-colonial state and the political economy that undergird it.Keywords: Imperial Presidency; Neo-patrimonialism; Disorder; Authoritarianism; Nigeria.

The politics of musical activism: Western YouTube reception of Pussy Riot’s punk performances

2017 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 287-306
Author(s):  
Frank Weij ◽  
Pauwke Berkers
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Semantic Network ◽  
The Political ◽  
Semantic Network Analysis ◽  
Political Music ◽  
Music And Politics ◽  
Pussy Riot ◽  
The One ◽  
The Relationship

Various scholars have studied the relationship between music and politics. Most, however, focus on how governments and political parties on the one hand and movements and activists on the other use music for political outcomes and in doing so they often ignore the more latent forms of political participation music can lead to. This article, therefore, focuses on how people give meaning to political music in informal conversational settings by exploring the reception of Pussy Riot on YouTube. New media platforms like YouTube are ubiquitous in the West and as ‘third spaces’ they allow audiences to publicly reflect on everyday newsworthy events and activism. We combine the computerized methods of topic modelling and semantic network analysis to study both quantitatively and qualitatively how Pussy Riot’s punk protests afford political participation by (Western) YouTube users. Results show that the comments mostly address (1) the geopolitical boundaries of activism, (2) the legitimacy and commitment of the activists, (3) the political content of the protests and (4) the relationship between the protests and religion. For the YouTube users in our study, the political music of Pussy Riot thereby serves as a vehicle to discuss politics beyond the protests themselves.

scholarly journals Inappropriate Laughter: Affective Homophily and the Unlikely Comedy of #MeToo

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 205630511988342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Sundén ◽  
Susanna Paasonen
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Negative Affect ◽  
The Political ◽  
Musical Comedy ◽  
Feminist Humor ◽  
Prestigious Institution

This article investigates the affective and ambiguous dynamics of feminist humor as an unexpected strategy of resistance in connection with #MeToo, asking what laughter may do to the sharpness of negative affect of shame and anger driving the movement. Our inquiry comes in three vignettes. First, we deploy Nanette—Hannah Gadsby’s 2018 Netflix success heralded as the comedy of the #MeToo era—arguing that the uniform viral warmth surrounding the show drives the emergence of networked feminisms through “affective homophily,” or a love of feeling the same. With Nanette, the contagious qualities of laughter are tamed by a networked logic of homophily, allowing for intensity while resisting dissent. Our second vignette zooms in on a less known feminist comedian, Lauren Maul, and her online #MeToo musical comedy riffing off on apologies made by male celebrities accused of sexual harassment, rendering the apologies and the men performing them objects of ridicule. Our third example opens up the door to the ambivalence of irony. In considering the unexpected pockets of humor within the #MeToo scandal that ripped apart the prestigious institution of the Swedish Academy, we explore the emergence of carnivalesque comedy and feminist uses of irony in the appropriation of the pussy-bow blouse as an ambiguous feminist symbol. Our examples allow us to argue for the political importance of affective ambiguity, difference, and dissent in contemporary social media feminisms, and to highlight the risk when a movement like #MeToo closes ranks around homogeneous feelings of not only shame and rage, but also love.

Reflections on Russophobia in Britain in the First Half of the XIX Century

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-385
Author(s):  
Lubomir Krustev ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
19Th Century ◽  
Early Development ◽  
The Political ◽  
Crimean War ◽  
Political View ◽  
Xix Century ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
British People

This article explores some of the most important aspects of the beginnings and early development of Russophobia in Britain. In the first half of the 19th century public opinion started to shift from Francophobia to Anti-Russian sentiment. The reasons for this were political and cultural. Britons were afraid of the Russian expansionism and felt contempt for the Russians as being less civilized than other European nations. A great impact on the British perception of Russia made Emperor Nicholas I and his conservative and despotic policies. Thus, the period between the Vienna Congress of 1815 and the outbreak of the Crimean War was marked by increasing Russophobia, that shaped the political view of the British people.

Britain: Labour’s Long Apprenticeship

2019 ◽  
pp. 3-40
Author(s):  
Isser Woloch
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
Labour Party ◽  
Civil Defense ◽  
The Political ◽  
House Of Commons ◽  
British People

This chapter discusses the Labour Party's contribution to the British people at war and the promise they offered for a postwar future. The roots of the Labour Party go back to 1900, when Britain's labor federation, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), sought to increase the political influence of the working class in Parliament. A conference convened by the TUC launched the Labour Representation Committee, which changed its name to the Labour Party in 1906 after it had established a toehold in the House of Commons. In Winston Churchill's coalition, the Prime Minister himself ran the war and personally made important military and diplomatic decisions. The chapter then looks at Labour's wartime presence, focusing on the development of the civil defense and the mobilization of workers. It also considers the Beveridge Report.

A Trend Analysis of Sexual Harassment Claims: 1992–2006

2008 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
pp. 779-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
George B. Cunningham ◽  
Claudia Benavides-Espinoza
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Trend Analysis ◽  
Sharp Increase ◽  
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ◽  
Equal Employment Opportunity ◽  
Employment Opportunity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Political Climate

A trend analysis of sexual harassment claims made by women to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 1992 to 2006 was conducted. Results show a sharp increase during the 1990s, followed by a decline in the 2000s. Regression analysis indicated that these differences were significant, explaining 84% of the variance. The observed trend followed the political climate, with more progressive social policies in the 1990s and a more conservative agenda in the 2000s.

Unmasking Color Racism

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-67
Author(s):  
Robert Elliott Allinson ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Racial Discrimination ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Racial Prejudice ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Social ◽  
Prejudice And Discrimination ◽  
Psychological Foundation ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Hostile Attitude

One reason Aristotle is distinguished as a philosopher is that he thought the philosopher investigated the causes of things. This paper raises the question: What are the causes of racial prejudice and racial discrimination. All ethical beings know that racial prejudice and racial discrimination are morally wrong, deplorable and should be completely eradicated. Deanna Jacobsen Koepke refers to Holt’s definitions in distinguishing racism from prejudice: “Racism is defined as hostility toward a group of people based on alleged inferiorities. Racism is a system of power and privilege that is at the foundation of society’s structures rather than prejudice, which is a hostile attitude toward a person based on trait he or she is assumed to have due to group membership.” This concept squarely places racism as the culprit to be extinguished. In this article, it is to be argued that to define racism as the target is only to observe the manifest phenomenon. The argument of the article is that racial prejudice and discrimination rest upon four pillars: political, economic, social and cultural. For simplicity of explanation, the social and cultural pillars shall be considered under the category of the political pillar, although the distinction between these pillars shall be noted. This article argues that these four pillars themselves, rest upon a foundation. The foundation is the deep psychological fear of the current, existing dominant economic group that the current existing dominated minority group will eventually usurp the power of the dominant economic group. The manifest form that this type of fear assumes is racial prejudice and discrimination. In its most extreme forms it then manifests as hate speech, hate action, hate brutality and hate murder.2 These manifestations provide the fuel that maintains the power imbalance and provides a camouflage for the four pillars that lie beneath the racist exterior. In this article, the political and economic pillars that underlie color racism will be examined first. The underlying deep psychological foundation shall be treated separately. In the end, the argument of this article is that color racism cannot be fully extinguished until its role as providing a mask for the underlying four pillars that consistently support inequality between different groups or classes are uprooted and the deep psychological fear that underlies them is eliminated.3 The masked function of color racism is its enormous power in perpetuating inequality; hence, the title of this paper, Unmasking Color Racism.

Gendering Everyday Violence and Seguridad across Spaces

2018 ◽  
pp. 91-117
Author(s):  
M. Cristina Alcalde
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Harassment ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Insecurity ◽  
Return Migrants ◽  
The Family ◽  
Verbal Violence

In this chapter is not the political violence and economic insecurity in the 1980s and 1990s in Peru that motivated many to leave that receives sustained attention but the more mundane forms of verbal violence, street sexual harassment, and everyday anxieties that shape interactions with partners and children among return migrants that is central. The chapter explores relationships within the family as well as migrants’ behaviors and experiences in public spaces as these are informed by concerns about violence and security. We read about the ways in which safety is gendered, and a major concern for return migrants.

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