Postcolonial Globalized Communication and Rapping theKufiyya

Abstract

This article is a response to the current reduction of postcolonial work in communication studies and the broader rejection of postcolonial theory in the humanities in favor of globalization studies. We detail the current relationships between postcolonial and globalization scholars to advance the claim that neither field is sufficient without a critical engagement of the other. To trace the important ways in which a joint postcolonial-globalized reading attends to the complexities of contemporary global culture, we focus on the adoption of the historical Palestinian kufiyya by war activists, fashion icons, and antiterrorism constituencies in the United States.

Personal Choice or Political Provocation: Examining the Visual Framing and Stereotyping of theBurkiniDebate

“…From a semiotic perspective, Barthes (2013) argued, "it is the signifying function of dress which makes it a total social object" (p 13). That is to say, clothing is not merely a functional body covering, but also a signifying text in itself, capable of complex (and occasionally oppositional) meanings (Schwartz-DuPre, & Scott, 2015).…”

Stitched together, torn apart: The keffiyeh as cultural guide

“…Following the dictates of neoliberalism, and as other scholars have noted, the keffiyeh has largely, though by no means entirely, been commodified by western fashionistas and hipsters (Salem, 2008; Schwartz-DuPre and Scott, 2015). In so doing, its political power analyzed above has in many cases been leached from its fabric.…”

“…This is a cultural artifact of serious political importance. Others (Salem, 2008; Schwartz-DuPre and Scott 2015; Swedenburg, 1990, 1992, 2009) have shown the cultural and political importance of the keffiyeh, that is, what the keffiyeh is about, as well as its commodification in the West. For example, the keffiyeh has been situated within the framework of: politics, fashion, and terrorism, in order to highlight the various ways in which the global mobility of an object may concurrently repress history and provide space for cultural resistance.…”

“…In this vein, the kufiyya-wearing Westerner can simultaneously signify a consumerist form of global chic and a progressive opposition to imperialism. (Schwartz-DuPre and Scott, 2015: 337)…”