Workshop Day on Deveare Smith

Good job to all the groups that presented last Thursday! I thought they were all interesting and informative, but my favorite was definitely Nate and Erica’s presentation on music. Before last Thursday I had only heard a little bit about “jerkin’” but never about “dougie-ing” or “hyphy.” Of course, when you think of California you think of it as a center for hip hop and rap and dance, but this presentation helped me realize that it really is its own culture and has something to say to society. The artists want to express their desire to have fun, their individuality, and stress the fact that they don’t care what the rest of society labels them as.

I also thought that this presentation fabulously illustrated the point in Loewen with which they connected it. They mentioned Loewen’s discussion of the concept of civilized versus uncivilized. In America’s past, this applied to the Pilgrims and early settlers and the fact that they considered themselves as more advanced and plainout better than the Native Americans, partially because they didn’t try to understand or get to know the natives and their culture. In the context of music in California, Erica explained that mainstream society might view these types of music as uncivilized, because they are different than most types of music we are used to. However, the fact that society does label it as “uncivilized” is what has helped unify the people who share in creating and enjoying these genres of music. The artists thrive under the thrill of going against what mainstream society expects.