{"id":4141,"date":"2010-09-02T16:18:56","date_gmt":"2010-09-02T20:18:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/?p=4141"},"modified":"2015-01-07T13:48:51","modified_gmt":"2015-01-07T17:48:51","slug":"global-reggae","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/?p=4141","title":{"rendered":"Global Reggae"},"content":{"rendered":"

Next week I begin teaching my second course at MIT. It’s a new syllabus, though it draws on certain materials<\/a> I’ve used before. In contrast to previous offerings, however, this will be the first time I teach a class with a primary focus on reggae outside<\/em> of Jamaica — on what I’m calling here “global reggae” or “reggae as transnational culture.” <\/p>\n

No doubt we’ll encounter a good number of themes resonant with the inextricably related subject of global hip-hop<\/a>. But I’m also keen to identify particular dimensions of reggae’s transmission and transformation abroad that might, for significant reasons, diverge from the reception and refiguring of hip-hop around the world. We’ll let you know ;)<\/p>\n

Meantime, if you happen to know any MIT students to whom this sort of course would appeal, by all means point them this-a-way. And if you spot any conspicuous absences in the syllabus below — a work-in-progress, as always — please do point them out, make recommendations, & feel free to offer critiques, supplements, and blessings. <\/p>\n

\"global<\/a><\/p>\n

21F.035 \/ 21M.539 Topics in Culture and Globalization
\nGlobal Reggae: Reggae as Transnational Culture
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fall 2010
\nMIT<\/p>\n

Wayne Marshall
\nMellon Fellow in the Humanities
\nForeign Languages and Literatures
\nMusic and Theater Arts<\/p>\n

Tuesday\/Thursday 12:30-2:00 pm
\nRoom 14N-217<\/p>\n

COURSE DESCRIPTION<\/strong><\/p>\n

Reggae is incontestably one of the most popular musics in the world. Despite its origins in the working-class urban culture of the relatively small country of Jamaica, reggae artists have powerfully projected their voices outward (in part via the imperial networks of the UK and USA) and one can hear reggae today in almost any corner of the globe\u2014not just Jamaican reggae, but local versions and fusions with nearly every other conceivable genre. Reggae precedes the global reach of its progeny, hip-hop, but, in its dancehall guise, it has also in turn piggybacked on hip-hop\u2019s own impressive international spread. As remix approaches and massive sound systems have become increasingly common worldwide, reggae stands as a remarkably influential template for world music, electronic dance music, and popular music more generally. Itself constituted by international flows of music and musicians but increasingly produced outside of Jamaica, reggae thus offers a rich resource for the examination of today\u2019s global circulations of music and media. <\/p>\n

This course considers reggae, or Jamaican popular music more generally\u2014in its various forms (ska, rocksteady, roots, dancehall)\u2014as constituted by international movements and exchanges and<\/em> as a product that circulates globally in complex ways, cast variously as Jamaican, Caribbean, Afrodiasporic, and\/or black, and recast through the cultural logics of the new spaces it enters, the new soundscapes it permeates. By reading across the reggae literature, as well as considering reggae texts themselves (songs, films, videos, and images), we will scrutinize the different interpretations of reggae\u2019s significance and the implications of different interpretations of the story of Jamaica and its music. We will attend in particular to how reggae informs notions of selfhood and nationhood, race and ethnicity, gender and sexuality, religion and politics\u2014in particular places and at particular times.<\/p>\n

Although Bob Marley still serves as the most ubiquitous symbol of reggae (and, indeed, of Jamaica), the reggae tradition and repertory go far deeper and represent a great deal to listeners and practitioners. In its shifting shapes and forms the genre has served for four decades as a potent symbol of independence and social critique, communitarian commitment as well as rugged individualism. While certain core values appear regularly in reggae, the genre also offers a rather flexible palette for a wide range of ideological positions, from Pan-Africanism and other forms of transnationalism to utterly provincial nationalism, from peaceful and respectful postures to aggressive machismo and militancy, from tolerance to its own forms of oppression. Perhaps most notably, reggae has made such scripts of personhood and nationhood available not only to Jamaicans but to people around the world who have adopted the genre\u2019s gestures as their own. <\/p>\n

Beginning with a consideration of how Jamaica\u2019s popular music industry emerged out of transnational exchanges, the course will proceed to focus on reggae\u2019s circulation outside of Jamaica via diasporic networks and commercial mediascapes. Attending to how the genre\u2019s pliable but distinct forms have been, in turn, transformed in particular localities, the course will help to illuminate ongoing dynamics between the global and local. Among other sites, we will consider reggae\u2019s resonance and impact elsewhere in the Anglo Caribbean (e.g., Trinidad, Barbados), the United Kingdom (including British reggae styles but also such progeny as jungle, grime, and dubstep), the United States (both as reggae per se and in hip-hop), France and Germany, Panama and Puerto Rico and other Latin American locales (e.g., Brazil), Japan and Australia, as well as West, South, and East Africa (C\u00f4te d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Uganda).<\/p>\n

COURSE SCHEDULE
\n<\/strong>
\nJAMAICA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bilby, Kenneth. \u201cJamaica.\u201d In Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae<\/em>, ed. Peter Manuel, 143-182. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1995.<\/p>\n

Veal, Michael. Dub: Soundscapes & Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae<\/em>. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2007. [Intro & ch. 1, p. 1-44]<\/p>\n

Thomas, Deborah. \u201cModern Blackness; or, Theoretical \u2018Tripping\u2019 on Black Vernacular Culture.\u201d In Modern Blackness: Nationalism, Globalization, and the Politics of Culture in Jamaica<\/em>, 230-62. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2004.<\/p>\n

Chude-Sokei, Louis. \u201cPost-Nationalist Geographies: Rasta, Ragga, and Reinventing Africa.\u201d African Arts<\/em>, Vol. 27, No. 4 (Autumn 1994): 80-84, 96.<\/p>\n

Patterson, Orlando. \u201cEcumenical America: Global Culture and the American Cosmos.\u201d World Policy Journal<\/em> Vol. 11, No. 2 (1994): 103-17.<\/p>\n

Watch: excerpts from Roots, Rock, Reggae<\/em>, Harder They Come<\/em>, Dancehall Queen<\/em>, Third World Cop<\/em>, Shottas<\/em>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

UNITED KINGDOM<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bennett, Louise. “Colonization in Reverse<\/a>.” (1966)<\/p>\n

Jones, Simon. Black Culture, White Youth: The Reggae Tradition from JA to UK<\/em>. London: Macmillan, 1988. [ch. 2, 4, Conclusion, p. 33-56, 87-118, 231-40.]<\/p>\n

Gilroy, Paul. \u201cBetween the Blues and the Blues Dance: Some Soundscapes of the Black Atlantic.\u201d In The Auditory Culture Reader<\/em>, ed. Michael Bull and Les Back, 381-95. Oxford and New York: Berg Publishers, 2003.<\/p>\n

Hebdige, Dick. Cut\u2019n\u2019Mix: Culture, Identity, and Caribbean Music<\/em>. London: Routledge, 1987. [ch. 11-12, p. 90-117]<\/p>\n

Sharma, Sanjay. \u201cNoisy Asians or \u2018Asian\u2019 Noise?\u201d [p. 32-60] & Shirin Housee & Mukhtar Dar, \u201cRe-Mixing Identities: \u2018Off\u2019 the Turn-Table\u201d [p. 81-104]. In Dis-Orienting Rhythms: The Politics of the New Asian Dance Music<\/em>. London: Zed Books, 1996. <\/p>\n

Quinn, Steven. \u201cRumble In The Jungle: The Invisible History of Drum\u2019n\u2019Bass.\u201d Transformations<\/em>, No. 3 (May 2002): 1-12.<\/p>\n

Watch: excerpts from Reggae In a Babylon<\/em>, Babylon<\/a><\/em>, Mutiny: Asians Storm British Music<\/em>
\nListen: \u201cAn England Story<\/a>\u201d\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

UNITED STATES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chang, Jeff. \u201cMaking a Name: How DJ Kool Herc Lost His Accent and Started Hip-Hop.\u201d In Can\u2019t Stop Won\u2019t Stop: A History of the Hip-hop Generation<\/em>. New York: St. Martins Press, 2005. [ch. 4, p. 67-88]<\/p>\n

Kenner, Rob. \u201cDancehall,\u201d In The Vibe History of Hip-hop<\/em>, ed. Alan Light, 350-7. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1999. <\/p>\n

Marshall, Wayne. “Follow Me Now: The Zigzagging Zunguzung Meme”
\n<http:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/?p=137<\/a>>. <\/p>\n

Marshall, Wayne. “Hearing Hip-hop’s Jamaican Accent.” Institute for Studies in American Music Newsletter<\/em> 34, no. 2 (2005): 8-9, 14-15.
\n<http:\/\/depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu\/isam\/NewsletS05\/Marshall.htm<\/a>><\/p>\n

Koppel, Niko. \u201cNew Roots in the Bronx for a Lion of Reggae.\u201d New York Times<\/em>, April 12, 2009.
\n<http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2009\/04\/13\/nyregion\/13reggae.html<\/a>><\/p>\n

Faraone, Chris. \u201cReggae Revival.\u201d [on reggae in Boston] Boston Phoenix<\/em>, May 21, 2009.
\n<http:\/\/thephoenix.com\/boston\/music\/83777-reggae-revival<\/a>><\/p>\n

Stephens, Michelle A. \u201cBabylon\u2019s \u2018Natural Mystic\u2019: The North American Music Industry, the Legend of Bob Marley, and the Incorporation of Transnationalism.\u201d Cultural Studies<\/em> Vol. 12, No. 2 (1998): 139\u2013167.<\/p>\n

Watch: excerpts from Sound Class<\/em>, Marked for Death<\/em>, Belly<\/em>, Predator 2<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

COSTA RICA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Putnam, Lara. \u201cThe Weekly Reggee: The Greater Caribbean Jazz Age and Youth Dances in Limon, Costa Rica, 1930-1932.\u201d Unpublished\/forthcoming. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

PANAMA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bishop, Marlon. \u201cSpanish Oil.\u201d Wax Poetics<\/em> 43 (September 2010).<\/p>\n

Worfalk, Clayton. The Roots. Big Up Magazine<\/em>, 2008.
\n<http:\/\/thebigupmagazine.com\/blog\/about\/music\/the-roots\/<\/a>><\/p>\n

Twickel, Christoph. \u201cReggae in Panama: Bien Tough.\u201d & \u201cMu\u00e9velo (Move It!): From Panama to New York and Back Again, the Story of El General.\u201d In Reggaeton<\/em>, ed. Rivera, Marshall, and Pacini-Hernandez, 81-88 & 99-108. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009.<\/p>\n

Nwankwo, Ifeoma C. K. \u201cThe Panamanian Origins of Reggae en Espa\u00f1ol: Seeing History through \u2018Los Ojos Caf\u00e9\u2019 of Renato.\u201d In Reggaeton<\/em>, ed. Rivera, Marshall, and Pacini-Hernandez, 89-98. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

PUERTO RICO <\/strong><\/p>\n

Giovannetti, Jorge L. \u201cPopular Music and Culture in Puerto Rico: Jamaican and Rap Music as Cross-Cultural Symbols.\u201d In Musical Migrations: Transnationalism and Cultural Hybridity in the Americas<\/em>, ed. Frances R. Aparicio and C\u00e1ndida F. J\u00e1quez, 81-98. New York: Palgrave, 2003.<\/p>\n

Flores, Juan. 2004. “Creolit\u00e9 in the ‘Hood: Diaspora as Source and Challenge.” Centro<\/em> 16, no. 2 (Fall): 283-289.<\/p>\n

Marshall, Wayne. \u201cFrom M\u00fasica Negra to Reggaeton Latino.\u201d In Reggaeton<\/em>, ed. Rivera, Marshall, and Pacini-Hernandez, 19-76. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CUBA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Davis, Samuel Fur\u00e9. \u201cReggae in Cuba and the Hispanic Caribbean: fluctuations and representations of identities.\u201d Black Music Research Journal<\/em> Vol. 29, No. 1 (Spring 2009): 25-50.<\/p>\n

Hansing, Katrin. \u201cRasta, Race and Revolution: Transnational Connections in Socialist Cuba.\u201d Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies<\/em>, Vol. 27, No. 4 (2001): 733 \u2013 747.<\/p>\n

Baker, Geoffrey. 2009. “The Politics of Dancing.” In Reggaeton<\/em>, eds. Rivera, Marshall, and Pacini-Hernandez, 165-99. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009.<\/p>\n

Fairley, Jan. 2008. “How To Make Love With Your Clothes On: Dancing Regeton, Gender and Sexuality in Cuba.” In Reggaeton<\/em>, eds. Rivera, Marshall, and Pacini-Hernandez, 280-96. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009.\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

BRAZIL<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nBehague, Gerard. “Rap, Reggae, Rock, or Samba: The Local and the Global in Brazilian Popular Music (1985-95).” Latin American Music Review<\/em> 27, no. 1 (Spring\/Summer 2006): 79-90.<\/p>\n

de Ara\u00fajo Pinho, Osmundo. \u201c\u2018Fogo na Babil\u00f4nia\u2019: Reggae, Black Counterculture, and Globalization in Brazil.\u201d In Brazilian Popular Music & Globalization<\/em>, ed. Charles A. Perrone and Christopher Dunn (New York: Routledge, 2001), 192-206.<\/p>\n

dos Santos Godi, Antonio J. V. “Reggae and Samba-Reggae in Bahia: A Case of Long-Distance Belonging.” In Brazilian Popular Music & Globalization<\/em>, ed. Charles A. Perrone and Christopher Dunn (New York: Routledge, 2001), 207-219.<\/p>\n

Neate, Patrick and Damian Platt. Culture Is Our Weapon: Afroreggae in the Favelas of Rio<\/em> [ch 3, 4, 7, 8].<\/p>\n

Goodman, Steve. Sonic Warfare: Sound, Affect, and the Ecology of Fear<\/em>. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009. [ch. 31, p. 171-5]<\/p>\n

Watch: excerpts from Favela Rising<\/em>, Favela on Blast<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

WEST, EAST, AND SOUTHERN AFRICA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Akindes, Simon. \u201cPlaying It \u2018Loud and Straight\u2019: Reggae, Zouglou, Mapouka and Youth Insubordination in C\u00f4te d’Ivoire.\u201d In Playing with Identities in Contemporary Music in Africa<\/em>, ed. Mai Palmberg & Annemette Kirkegaard, 86-103. Nordic Africa Institute, 2002. <\/p>\n

McNee, Lisa. \u201cBack From Babylon: Popular Musical Cultures of the Diaspora, Youth Culture and Identity in Francophone West Africa.\u201d In Music, Popular Culture, Identities<\/em>, ed. Richard Young, 213-228. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2002.<\/p>\n

Savishinsky, Neil J. \u201cRastafari in the Promised Land: The Spread of a Jamaican Socioreligious Movement among the Youth of West Africa.\u201d African Studies Review<\/em> Vol. 37, No. 3 (Dec 1994): 19-50.<\/p>\n

Remes, Pieter. \u201cGlobal Popular Musics and Changing Awareness of Urban Tanzanian Youth.\u201d Yearbook for Traditional Music<\/em>, Vol. 31 (1999): 1-26.<\/p>\n

Gilman, Lisa and John Fenn. \u201cDance, Gender, and Popular Music in Malawi: The Case of Rap and Ragga.\u201d Popular Music<\/em> Vol. 25, No. 3 (2006): 369-81.<\/p>\n

Watch: excerpts from Living the Hiplife<\/em>, Buchaman<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

JAPAN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sterling, Marvin D. Babylon East: Performing Dancehall, Roots Reggae and Rastafari in Japan<\/em>. Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2010. [Intro, ch. 1, 3, 5, 6]<\/p>\n

Dresinger, Baz. \u201cTokyo After Dark.\u201d Vibe<\/em>, 2002.
\n<\/p>\n

Wood, Joe. \u201cThe Yellow Negro.\u201d Transition<\/em> 73 (1997): 40-67.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

AUSTRALIA & BALI<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maxwell, Ian. “Sydney Stylee: Hip-Hop Down Under Comin’ Up.” In Global Noise: Rap and Hip-Hop Outside the USA<\/em>, ed. Tony Mitchell, 259-79. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2001.<\/p>\n

White, Cameron. \u201cRapper on a Rampage: Theorising the Political Significance of Aboriginal Australian Hip Hop and Reggae.\u201d Transforming Cultures eJournal<\/em>, Vol. 4 No 1 (April 2009): 108-130.<\/p>\n

Baulch, Emma. Making Scenes: Reggae, Punk, and Death Metal in 1990s Bali<\/em>. Durham: Duke University Press, 200 [ch. 3, p. 73-90]\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

…<\/p>\n

That’s it, for now. There are plenty of holes that I’m aware of (anything on roots reggae in Cuba, say [update<\/strong>: after one day of comments, that’s been ameliorated; new readings now above!<\/em>]), and surely plenty more that I’m not. Then again, I’m finding the extant literature on local reggae scenes outside of Jamaica fairly impoverished at the moment. (Nothing on Italian sound systems? Really?) The course can’t exactly be comprehensive — we only have so much time — but I would love for this post to serve as a spot for collecting some good materials. So, as they say inna di dancehall, send on!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Next week I begin teaching my second course at MIT. It’s a new syllabus, though it draws on certain materials I’ve used before. In contrast to previous offerings, however, this will be the first time I teach a class with a primary focus on reggae outside of Jamaica — on what I’m calling here “global […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[400,413,190,256,414,330,76,406,191,85,227,404,402,129,8,424,156,417,57,408,405,301,75,173,331],"class_list":["post-4141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-academic","tag-africa","tag-australia","tag-bali","tag-brazil","tag-costarica","tag-cuba","tag-dance","tag-ethno","tag-funkcarioca","tag-global","tag-hip-hop","tag-jamaica","tag-japan","tag-media","tag-nation","tag-panama","tag-puertorico","tag-race","tag-reggae","tag-reggaeton","tag-syllabus","tag-uk","tag-us","tag-zouglou"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4141"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8266,"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4141\/revisions\/8266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wayneandwax.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}