Postcolonialism on the make: the music of John Mellencamp, David Bowie and John Zorn

Abstract

When we acknowledge that an idea, history or tradition is not ours, we distance ourselves from it. When we then proceed to use, incorporate or represent it, we arrogate the right to employ what we acknowledge as not ours. It is not something we dodespitethe foreignness of our subject; it is something we do because of our perception of it as other. The implicit hierarchical nature of otherness invites seemingly innocuous practices of representation that amount to (often unknowing) strategies of domination through appropriation. (Dominguez 1987, p. 132)

Voz colonial: representación de la Otredad y exotización racializada en los contactos entre el campo musical chileno y el concepto de world music

“…Como tal, reproduce la oposición binaria entre la civilización, ejemplificada por el mundo musical occidental, y la barbarie, encarnada por los artistas del mundo y sus prácticas musicales. Esta oposición se extiende y articula con otros binarismos como aquellos entre cultura y naturaleza, modernidad y tradición, blanco y color, hombre y mujer, burguesía y proletariado, entre otros (Hisama 1993;Manzo 1997;Sloan 2009Sloan -2010. El concepto de world music entonces opera mediante la articulación de las relaciones de poder presentes en los antagonismos de clase, nación, raza y género, exotizando y subordinando a los sujetos no occidentales y construyendo una idea de superioridad de la cultura occidental.…”

Review of Philip Ewell, On Music Theory, and Making Music More Welcoming for Everyone (University of Michigan Press, 2023)

“…But one of Ewell's greatest strengths-using his sizable platform to bring people from outside of music theory and music studies into the conversation on antiracism in the field-leaves him with the added responsibility of making this intellectual lineage explicit, not only in introductory paragraphs but woven into the nuances of his arguments. Ewell's current intervention would not have been possible without the decades of work by boundary-pushing music scholars, particularly women of color (Southern 1971;Hisama 1993;Griffin 1995;André 2018), a fact readers should keep in mind throughout their engagement with On Music Theory.…”

Rekindling Ancient Values: The Influence of Chinese Music and Aesthetics on Harry Partch

“…Fortunately, scholars have begun recognizing the societal attitudes that create this type of compositional use and the dangerous racial stereotypes they represent and perpetuate. See, for example, Ellie M. Hisama, “Postcolonialism on the Make: The Music of John Mellencamp, David Bowie and John Zorn,” Popular Music 12/2 (May 1993): 91–104.…”