Borrowed Power juxtaposes sixteen essays on the appropriation of cultural practices and their products. The essayists write from positions representing diverse academic and artistic backgrounds, social locations, topical concerns, theoretical orientations, and analytical methods. This heterogeneity serves well the book's focus on contested issues of authenticity, representation, heritage, and intellectual property. It conjures up a vivid sense of just how malleable a notion the "traditional" is, and of the myriad things it can mean to practice, to study, or to sell tradition. This kaleidoscopic vision renders Borrowed Power a useful counterpart to books presenting sustained arguments by individual authors (e.g., Said 1978; Clifford 1988; Torgovnick 1997), as well as to compilations of essays contributed only by academic writers (e.g. Howes 1996). Even the contributors who propose overarching models for thinking about appropriation are well aware that conditions specific to each case inevitably complicate any general statement on the subject. Because of this, their essays are most convincing when they return ineluctably to cases. As editors Bruce Ziff and Pratima V. Rao write, "Context counts" (p. 13). Ziff and Rao begin by summarizing the various grounds and means for resistance to appropriation (pp. 8-16; cf. Warren 1989 on tangible cultural property). They then give pride of place to two essays on music. In "African-American Music: Dynamics ofAppropriation and Innovation," Perry A. Hall grapples with the inequity of the U'S, music industry's commercialization of subcultural forms. Hall emphasizes the impact of this process on African Americans. Along the way, he reappropriates ideas of "primordially African rhythms" (p. 42) and "essential Black rhythmic sense" (p. 46). Although at first glance this language may seem to reinscribe dominant stereotypes of a biologically racialized musicality, Hall locates these phrases in a historicized cultural domain characterized by social oppression, assimilationist pressures, and the oppositional marking of ethnicity by musical practice. The next essay is Anthony Seeger's "Ethnomusicology and Music Law," probably familiar to many from its previous appearance under a slightly different title in Ethnomusicology (1992). Seeger presents a nuanced consideration of ideas about the ownership of traditional. music, illustrating from several diverse vantage points the limitations of copyright law in an intercultural setting. He takes as his chief example the intricate tale of certain recordings he produced of Suya music. The editors give these two cultural analyses of music a prominent position in Borrowed Power. This acknowledges the centrality of musical appropriation to late twentieth-century mediated intercultural flows. It also situates the book in an interdisciplinary space between edited volumes focused chiefly on issues related to music (e.g., Baumann 1991) and those limited to nonmusical modes of cultural appropriation (e.g., Messenger 1989). This move towards a more visible...
The rules governing the ownership of wild animals are of ancient origin. In essence, title is based on first occupancy. However, the rights acquired by occupancy are qualified: where the animal escapes, title is lost. As a corollary, the killing of the animal renders title absolute. These principles have been applied in a variety of contexts. However, the law governing capture within the Newfoundland seal fishery seems to have veered off on a different course. This article explores the Newfoundland jurisprudence on the ‘law of capture’ as manifested in a cluster of decisions rendered by the Supreme Court of Newfoundland in the latter part of the nineteenth century. The principles articulated in these cases are inconsistent inter se. The guiding doctrines were seemingly in transition and contested. This article seeks to discern why these disputes emerged – and the governing principles called into question – long after the commencement of the seal hunt itself. Moreover, the differing judicial approaches reflect the penchant of the Newfoundland judiciary to adopt unique legal doctrines in response to the special needs of the colony. The malleability of the legal concept of ‘possession’ aided that judicial activism. These themes will be explored.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.