Lena McKnight                                                                                     9/21/2016                                                       Racial Identity

Photo By: Sarah Leen

Race has been used for years to place people into different social constructs in society. Scientist studied the idea of race, to attempt to show how a particular group of people can achieve more than another set of people based on elements that are influenced by racial identity. Census has shown that people are identifying themselves beyond the four categories originally set in place by scientist. When one considers race from a sociological standpoint we can see evidence that shows that the original concept of race is wrong. It is impossible to classify all people into four simple categories because DNA shows us that its much more complex than what meets the eye. For example, people may identify themselves to be African American however they could possess the same mitochondrial DNA as people who identifies themselves as Asian. 

Ossorio shows how complex race is as he offers suggestions that scientist is wrong to use it to determine personal external and internal differences. The idea of race according to Ossoriso came from scientist who believed that you can define race into four classifications, but according to the relationship of what race means to a person can change on an individual base. The film “Race: The Power of Illusion, Episode 1”, Pillar Ossorio, students were asked to give a sample of their DNA, to test with other with other students to see which modern genetics match. Students believed the fallacies that they would have more similarity with the same person from the racial back ground based on physical features. The study showed that many of their mitochondrial DNA was similar to students who were different racial categories thus proving that physical features alone cannot determine a person’s racial identity.

            The idea of a person identifying themselves according to one of the four races classifications that scientist thought a person could identify with has changed. Grieco, showed how individuals labels themselves as more than one classification according to the census. Grieco gave an example from the census 2000 on how the categories were split giving more people options to choose their racial background. From the 1990 census they showed that standard outline in the OMB has changed for the 2000 census. The categories have changed by splitting Asian and Pacific Islander thus creating five categories and giving people the option of choosing more than one racial identification. This alone shows that a person identification may change over time.

When considering race, I think, how can I label myself to one particular group? Although when applying for a job I put African American, my parents’ ancestors are a collection of different origins and racial classifications. I like to consider myself as a person raised in New York with southern roots. Thus when asked about my race I tend to consider myself as southern. My mother’s parents are southern German, Blackfoot Indian, and Creole and my father’s parents are of African descent from the south. Once a year to stay connected we all come together for family gatherings. This helps to keep us stay connected to our roots and to understand our family background.

                                                            References                                         

Glasgow, M. J. (2003).  On The New Biology of Race. Journal of Philosophy, Inc., 456-474.

Grieco, M. E. (2002).  An Evaluation of Bridging Methods Using Race Data from Census 2000. Springer in cooperation with the Southern Demographic Association, 91-107.

Race: What it Means To You

Lena McKnight                                                                                                           9/21/2016                                                                                     Racial Identity

 

Photo By: Sarah Leen

Race has been used for years to place people into different social constructs in society. Scientist studied the idea of race, to attempt to show how a particular group of people can achieve more than another set of people based on elements that are influenced by racial identity. Census has shown that people are identifying themselves beyond the four categories originally set in place by scientist. When one considers race from a sociological standpoint we can see evidence that shows that the original concept of race is wrong. It is impossible to classify all people into four simple categories because DNA shows us that its much more complex than what meets the eye. For example, people may identify themselves to be African American however they could possess the same mitochondrial DNA as people who identifies themselves as Asian. 

Ossorio shows how complex race is as he offers suggestions that scientist is wrong to use it to determine personal external and internal differences. The idea of race according to Ossoriso came from scientist who believed that you can define race into four classifications, but according to the relationship of what race means to a person can change on an individual base. The film “Race: The Power of Illusion, Episode 1”, Pillar Ossorio, students were asked to give a sample of their DNA, to test with other with other students to see which modern genetics match. Students believed the fallacies that they would have more similarity with the same person from the racial back ground based on physical features. The study showed that many of their mitochondrial DNA was similar to students who were different racial categories thus proving that physical features alone cannot determine a person’s racial identity.

            The idea of a person identifying themselves according to one of the four races classifications that scientist thought a person could identify with has changed. Grieco, showed how individuals labels themselves as more than one classification according to the census. Grieco gave an example from the census 2000 on how the categories were split giving more people options to choose their racial background. From the 1990 census they showed that standard outline in the OMB has changed for the 2000 census. The categories have changed by splitting Asian and Pacific Islander thus creating five categories and giving people the option of choosing more than one racial identification. This alone shows that a person identification may change over time.

When considering race, I think, how can I label myself to one particular group? Although when applying for a job I put African American, my parents’ ancestors are a collection of different origins and racial classifications. I like to consider myself as a person raised in New York with southern roots. Thus when asked about my race I tend to consider myself as southern. My mother’s parents are southern German, Blackfoot Indian, and Creole and my father’s parents are of African descent from the south. Once a year to stay connected we all come together for family gatherings. This helps to keep us stay connected to our roots and to understand our family background.

 

 

 

Lena McKnight                                                                                    9/21/2016      

                                                References                                         

 

Glasgow, M. J. (2003).  On The New Biology of Race. Journal of Philosophy, Inc., 456-474.

Grieco, M. E. (2002).  An Evaluation of Bridging Methods Using Race Data from Census 2000. Springer in cooperation with the Southern Demographic Association, 91-107.

 

Veronica Sexton

                   Hip Hop & Race

"To take part in the African revolution it is not enough to write a revolutionary song: you must fashion the revolution with the people. And if you fashion it with the people, the songs will come by themselves." - Sékou Touré (1959)

     Hip Hop emerged when New York City, like many other urban cities are experiencing "white 

flight" which led to the deurbanization, deindustrialization, and constructed these spaces pf social 

stratification. "Ghettos" and "hood" became some of the appropriated epithets for these marginalized 

communities of color. These spaces, through apparatuses such as emceeing, djiing, and having 

knowledge of self, formulated the foundation for what we know as hip hop today. Our quasi-thesis is 

centered around the commodification of the Black race in hip hop. I would like to explore hip hop, 

and how it has transcended as another commodity in the capitalist structure of American society. 

essentially my argument will entail there history of Blacks in America vis a vis to music, and how hip 

hop, like African American Spirituals and jazz, manifested through the racial and social oppression of 

American society, continuing the cultural theft and appropriation - without forgetting the onset of our 

beginnings - the Transatlantic slave trade.

     

    The slave plantation was the first space that most Blacks occupied in the the Americas as a result 

of the slave trade. In Breckenridges's, African American Music for Everyone, he posits that much 

evidence supports the assertion that what evolved into what we now regard as the spiritual song was 

commonly sung during the Transatlantic slave trade; but the first true African American Spiritual 

containing musical notation as well as text, titled "Go Down Moses" was not published until 1861. 

Juxtaposed with the creation of hip hop, which formed out of dilapidated and impoverished living 

conditions, the slaves formed their religious music from their oppressed society settings. 

Breckenridge gives a few reasons why this manifested on the plantation, "(1) the slaves utilized 

religious words for developing communication strategies, (2) the slave master favored the singing of 

these words, as he felt less threatened by potential insurrections, (is this still occurring?) (3) and to 

many slaves these words provided faith and hope for a better life," Hip Hop has a unique form of 

communication, and as we have discussed this semester - the vernacular of the Islamic faith and the 

Five Precent Nation is found present in Hip Hop, (a unique manifestation, considering thirty percent 

of the African slaves brought into the United States were Muslims), and hip hop has 

provided faith and hope for a better life to many especially those living in abject poverty.

     

     In Hip Hop on Film, Kimberley Monteyne asserts, "minstrel shows frequently evoked the 

transgressive topography of black bodies - especially black female bodies - as porous, monstrous, and 

consuming, while emphasizing their "perverse" orality in song verses, skirts, and make-up" 

Monteyne's book discusses hip hop on film, but the history of the protrayal of Black as the underclass 

is a key topic, especially in regards to marketing. Citing Eric Lott's Love & Theft, "Their (Northern 

white workers) desire for class stability and economic autonomy alternately united them with the 

cause of abolitionism and drove them to burlesque and repudiate "blackness" as a protection against 

emasculation and downward class movement initiated by the forces of industrial capitalism."

     

     

Women’s Contributions to the Female Narrative in Hip Hop

Gregory Cortorreal

Women’s Contributions to the Female Narrative in Hip Hop

Source: Nelly ft. St Lunatics - Tip Drill Remix

            It goes without saying that Hip Hop music is laden with glaring patriarchy, machismo, misogyny and sexism. However, to be fair, this is only a partial description of the gender dynamics reflected in Hip Hop. In this male dominated genre there is some positivity towards women reflected in songs promoting messages of loyalty, respect and appreciation towards. Yet even when positively addressed women are only superficially recognized as equals. The ideals of virtue and being a ‘ride or die’ implied in songs like Outcast’s Jazzy Belle or Jay Z’s 03 Bonnie and Clyde celebrate women as upstanding equals while ironically subjecting them to unfair moral double standards around sexuality, or inherently subservient roles in which they magnanimously amplify men.  This is only the male representation of women. Although a minority in Hip Hop, women also play their own roles in perpetuating both positive and negative female narratives and stereotypes. The varying nature of women’s contributions to their narratives in Hip Hop have created contention over the characteristics of their role as either complicit in unfair portrayals or empowering via the art as a platform. Interestingly the arguments of either side are premised by differing attributions of agency onto women.

Take for instance Oneka La Bennet’s (2009) observation of Latina women using Hip Hop as tool of entitlement and self-determinism whereby the embracement of the culture is an overt simultaneous embracement of Black identity running opposite to hegemonic ideals of Eurocentric beauty. In this telling, women are empowered by Hip Hop to embrace themselves and their female perspectives by making space for themselves in the art. There is a need to recognize that women are limited to “self-destructive and spiritually under nourishing” roles while simultaneously conforming to “misogynistic masculinity” (Dyson & Hurst, 2012). The feminist rhetoric of a victimization binary often ignores complicity (Morgan, 2012). When Margaret Hunter (2011) implies women’s passivity in the reduction of their contemporary roles to sexualized video dancers she is taking agency away from women and surrendering it to men. Her work ultimately presents men as the sole perpetrators in the promotion of material and sexual consumption. Contrast this rhetoric on contemporary roles with Cheryl Keyes talk of empowerment through identity and space making in the listener perceived female rapper categories of the early 90’s (Keyes, 2012).

Is this difference in the way scholars address women’s roles in Hip Hop indicative of any objective changes in the industry over the last two decades of women’s access to representation in Hip Hop? Anecdotally speaking contemporary acts like Dej Loaf, Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azelia, Remy Ma and Lil Kim suggest women can still be content producers. The question becomes: what barriers exist and how do they compare to the 90s female golden age of rap? Furthermore, how do these real barriers justify scholarly attribution of agency towards women in Hip Hop?  As Robin Kelley would agree social scientists tend to distorts ideas of the subjects studied based on preconceptions (Kelley, 2012). It would be interesting to study how this holds true in the context of women’s roles in female narrative creation within Hip Hop as they relate to any real or imagined agency.

Works Cited

Dyson, M.E. & Hurt, B. (2012). Cover Your Eyes as I Describe a Scene so Violent’: Violence, Machismo, Sexism, and Homophobia. In M. Forman & M.A. Neal (Eds.), That’s The Joint! (pp. 358-369). New York, NY: Routledge.

Hunter, M. (2011). Shake It, Baby, Shake It: Consumption and the New Gender Relation in Hip-Hop. Sociological Perspectives, 54(1), 15–36. http://doi.org/10.1525/sop.2011.54.1.15

Keyes, C.L. (2012). Empowering Self, Making Choices, Creating Spaces: Black Female Identity via Rap Music Performance. In M. Forman & M.A. Neal (Eds.), That’s The Joint! (pp. 399-412). New York, NY: Routledge.

Kelley, R.D.G. (2012). Lookin’ for the ‘Real’ Nigga: Social Scientists Construct the Ghetto. In M. Forman & M.A. Neal (Eds.), That’s The Joint! (pp. 153-163). New York, NY: Routledge.

LaBennett, O. (2009). Histories and “her stories” from the Bronx: excavating hidden hip hop narratives. Afro-Americans in New York Life and History, 33(2), 109.

Morgan, J. (2012). Hip Hop Feminist. In M. Forman & M.A. Neal (Eds.), That’s The Joint! (pp. 413-418). New York, NY: Routledge.

Hip-Hop, racism, and sexualization

The exploitation of African American women in hip-hop by African American men is the result of a long history of degradation and abuse inflicted upon them by white Americans. Beginning with slavery, the struggle to find an identity and to feel accepted in the United States has been and continues to be the main conflict faced by African Americans. This identity crisis has led black men to search for a means of authority, which has resulted in their sexualization of black women.

Hip-hop as a music and culture emerged from the ghettos of the South Bronx, in response to the violence in the community. It glorifies the gun, deeming it a symbol of respect and honor. In attaining respect in hip-hop, men must dignify their egos; and one way which this is done is by degrading women. In order to feel powerful, men must make women feel powerless. Particularly true with black men, who have been emasculated by white men, the need to serve the patriarchy is ever-growing, and by subjecting women they satisfy this male dominance.

With respect to racism in hip-hop, desexualization plays a major role. Men enjoy feeling powerful and often prove their machismo, and by sexually assaulting women, they prove their masculinity. Black men and white men have one thing in common: they are both men. Thus their need to feel superior can be satisfied by the demeaning of women.

As stated by Chuck D in the movie Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes, “The dominant image of black men is the aspect of being confrontational.” Black men feel the need to prove their masculinity, so much so that they display hyper masculinity as the norm.

Bettina Love writes in her book Hip Hop’s Li’l Sistas Speak: Negotiating Hip Hop Identities and Politics in the New South (2012), “So long as scholars and cultural critics fail to critically interrogate urban youth and rap music, jointly, within the discourses of capitalism, hegemony, poverty, media and cultural studies, politics, and domination, urban youth of color will remain society's scapegoat.” This means that if people are not educated about hip-hop, then they will continue to see it in a negative light. Love (2012) continues, “Through hegemony, Hip Hop is created in a contrived space where the commodification of Blackness perpetuates the status quo and existing social structures of inequality.” This commodification, or racism, is rooted in slavery.

One aspect of slavery that has been passed down into hip-hop is the aspect of the “booty video.” The “booty video” is what everyone sees in hip-hop, what is thought to be hip-hop. The reason it has become the representation of hip-hop is because men sexualize women as a means to prove their masculinity. It is a form of combatting racism, in a way, making black men feel equal to white men.

            D. Mark Wilson writes in his article “Post-Pomo Hip-Hop Homos: Hip-Hop Art, Gay Rappers, and Social Change” (2007), “Social research on hip-hop, to the extent that it engages with gender and sexuality, usually highlights its exploitative character, misogyny, and violence against women. Even in research that finds within hip-hop culture a resistant strand among women who deconstruct sexism, challenge male patriarchy, and develop new generations of feminist activism.” This shows that men feel superior to women, and thus gain their masculinity by being violent. And this expression is clear in hip-hop.

Bibliography

LOVE, B. L.. (2012). Chapter Two: Hip Hop, Context, and Black Girlhood. Counterpoints, 399, 16–31. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/42981577

Hurt, Byron (Producer and Director). (2007). Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. [Motion Picture]. United States: Media Education Foundation

Wilson, D. M.. (2007). Post-Pomo Hip-Hop Homos: Hip-Hop Art, Gay Rappers, and Social Change. Social Justice, 34(1 (107)), 117–140. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/29768425

http://personal.psu.edu/users/c/m/cma5357/assignment6.html 

Diamond acevedo

Soc Hip Hop blog

                                    Hip Hop and sexuality

            Hip hop and sexuality is a very broad topic and can go many ways. I would hope to explore in this essay a little deeper in to women and how their sexuality and being in hip hop and them being female might have impacted them. Women aren’t able to be looked at normally when it comes to many things in society including hip hop due to them being females and thought of as soft and delicate. As stated in the article by Hobson “Women in varying cultures have been  portrayed either as decorative, fetishistic, manipulative, fragile, or in need of rescuing (or submission) in contemporary popular music lyrics, music videos, music concerts, and movie soundtracks” (2-3). This discussing how women are given a certain way of being looked at in which makes others feel as though they aren’t made to be involved in the hip hop artist world.

            The issue with women being in the hip hop world is always the perception that the world already has of women and how that hinders them. In the article by Oikelome he discusses the perception of women and the concern of women being in the hip hop world and why it is a constant struggle for women rather than men. As argued by Oikelome “there has been a growing concern on the negative impact of the music on the perception of women in the society” (83). Women are used in a negative manner as well when they show them in music videos dancing and where barely any clothes, making it as though that what they are made for to sell sex or their bodies. In this article Oikelome shows the significance of women in the hip hop world and why the perception of women is very hard to fight especially since women aren’t thought of as hip hop artist saying “Even though we have a few Hip-hop female artistes in the industry, men are in the majority while women often feature as dance troupes performing in the background to the music” (85). Throughout the topic of hip hop and sexuality I would like to explore more deep in to the trials and tribulations of women in the hip hop world and what being a women in general meant to them being a female hip hop artist. In this topic of sexuality and hip hop it is also important to discuss why women are treated in such a poor manner. But also how things have changed and if there has or hasn’t been a change with hip hop women artist, and people’s perceptions and how women are represented in the hip hop world. There has been changes through time with many factors in the hip hop world but whether they are positive or negative towards women is the big question to be answered. Because then it can show us the significant growth and changes women have went through to get their music acknowledged even though men are thought of as the majority of hip hop.

                                       Citation

Classic Films on Women in Hiphop. (2016). Retrieved March 23, 2016, from http://hiphoparchive.org/blog/3514-classic-films-on-women-in-hiphop

Oikelome, A. O. (2013). 'Are Real Women Just Bad Porn?': Women in Nigerian Hip-hop Culture. Journal Of Pan African Studies, 5(9), 83-98.

Hip Hop Has Become The Platform For Change We Need Today. (2015). Retrieved March 23, 2016, from http://theodysseyonline.com/lehigh/the-power-of-modern-hip-hop/207992

Hobson, J., & Bartlow, R. D. (2008). Introduction: Representin': Women, Hip-Hop, and Popular Music. Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism, 8(1), 1-14.