Gigging on the World Stage: Bossa Nova and Afrobeat after De-reification

Abstract

By focusing on the musical styles known as bossa nova and afrobeat, I ask: Given that globalisation/capitalism promotes exchange, borrowing, and imitation, can we make sense of 'authenticity'? Can we speak of an authentically Brazilian or Nigerian music? If today 'authenticity' makes little sense, why is talk about 'authenticity' so pervasive? If we expose 'authenticity' as reification, do we still need this term? What, then, may 'authenticity' mean? How can we restrict powerful musical cultures without limiting localities to replicating the past? How can cultures take up each others' vitality without losing their particularity? Can we imagine a world stage inviting all music? I explore the astonishing but mostly uncharted flows between and within musical traditions. At the same time, I seek to ground those flows in locales. Moving somewhat against the grain of contemporary social theory, I retrieve the need for 'reification' and 'authenticity'. If we value a diverse world, we may wish to balance capitalism's dominant flows with the desire to situate music-making in specific locales.

Beyond Silence, Obstacle and Stigma: Revisiting the ‘Problem’ of Difference in Peacebuilding

“…This is not to deny that difference can appear (and be presented) in essentialist terms by the actors themselves. Such a process can happen through 'strategic essentialism' (see for instance Krishna 1993;Inayatullah 2016) where actors naturalise their identities to serve specific purposes. Yet it remains for the scholar to adopt a sceptical perspective by showing how these differences remain politically constructed and reflecting on the worldview and social structures that made them salient in the first place.…”

Beyond Silence, Obstacle and Stigma: Revisiting the ‘Problem’ of Difference in Peacebuilding

“…This is not to deny that difference can appear (and be presented) in essentialist terms by the actors themselves. Such a process can happen through 'strategic essentialism' (see for instance Krishna 1993;Inayatullah 2016) where actors naturalize their identities to serve specific purposes. Yet it remains for the scholar to adopt a skeptical perspective by showing how these differences remain politically constructed and reflecting on the worldview and social structures that made them salient in the first place.…”