Consideration of cross-cultural attempt to represent ideas of "landscape" with emphasis on contem... more Consideration of cross-cultural attempt to represent ideas of "landscape" with emphasis on contemporary Chinese and U.S. art through specific curatorial and exhibition practices associated with private museums and collections.
An overview of the work of documentarian Wang Bing in conjunction with a survey of his work at Wa... more An overview of the work of documentarian Wang Bing in conjunction with a survey of his work at Wattis Institute and in relation to histories of experimental documentary praxis including cinema verité, observational and direct cinema.
This dissertation is about the mediation of cross-cultural difference among Moroccan and Spanish ... more This dissertation is about the mediation of cross-cultural difference among Moroccan and Spanish musical practitioners. It is based on the idea that negotiations across the gaps of such difference have been promoted through the increased circulation of people, products and ideas in the modern era. Based on fieldwork during the years 2003-2007, primarily in the urban sites of Granada, Spain and Fez, Morocco, the project focuses on popular music, how both the production and reception of music are critically bound up with notions of genre, how resulting associations of musical practice are affected by different uses of technology, and how musical practices of all types partake of and help form different ideas of belonging. The understanding of genres of musical expression by listeners and performers alike serves a similar function in demonstrating affiliation with certain in-groups or belief in certain ideologies: e.g., of ethnic or national belonging; or of modern, cosmopolitan access. Tracking not only performance of certain genres but discourse about those genres provides clues to how crucial cultural and political differences are understood and mediated. Key sites for research included official venues for public concerts and cultural tourism, but also more everyday spaces of musical production and reception such as bars and cafes, homes, taxis, streets, parks, and small retail shops. In the course of my research I attended dozens of performances and rehearsals by professional and amateur musicians, trailed selected Table of Contents
SAN FRANCISCO Sonja Gerdes CLOACA PROJECTS Cloaca Projects is situated in a small, garage-like sp... more SAN FRANCISCO Sonja Gerdes CLOACA PROJECTS Cloaca Projects is situated in a small, garage-like space on the old industrial edge of San Francisco, a rapidly changing city dedicated more and more to new technical systems of hyperefficiency. Sonja Gerdes's recent project for Cloaca portrayed uncertain states of relation with such technologies as human beings lurch into the future. Her suite of sculptures represented living creatures as they become augmented, undermined, or superseded by built extensions. Individually and as an ensemble, they functioned as signs of dystopian outcomes amid a scientistic culture of optimism.
This article looks at the production and reception of music by Moroccan expatriates in Granada, S... more This article looks at the production and reception of music by Moroccan expatriates in Granada, Spain in the first 30 years after Franco, concentrating on musical genres associated with al-mu ¯sı ¯qa ¯ al-andalussiyya (al-A ¯ la), flamenco and danza del vientre. These genres were performed by Moroccan musicians and heard by Spaniard audiences as part of the larger politically inflected, contextualizing meta-genres of 'Early Music', 'World Music' and 'fusiones'. The social utility of these genre choices was demonstrated as part of a set of practices yielding some degree of social integration for Moroccans who might 'cross over' to positions of possibility in contemporary Spain, and, at the same time, they provided social insulation on the part of Spaniard maintenance of a political status quo. The article also points to disparate but converging types of cosmopolitan attitudes and behaviors, where the more privileged cosmopol-itanism of many Spaniards contrasted with but also inflected a more pragmatic cosmo-politanism of immigrant Moroccans. Also informing the cultural and political negotiations across the divide between these two groups were conceptions of the historical backdrop of medieval-era, Muslim-dominated Andalusian Spain and the ideological legacies of 'convivencia' (peaceful coexistence) and 'Las Tres Culturas' (the three cultural complexes based on foundations of Christianity, Islam and Judaism), both of which still circulated in common discourse as reference points in modern, multiethnic Spain.
This article explores the mediation by Moroccans of cross-cultural difference through the product... more This article explores the mediation by Moroccans of cross-cultural difference through the production and reception of popular music in the modern eras of colonialism and post-colonialism, impelled by the increased circulation and contact of people, ideas, and cultural products and processes during those eras. The explication in this article of music and lyrical texts from three songs recorded over a 60-year period tracks the adoption, distortion, and re-purposing through irony and mimesis of novel cultural forms, techniques, and ideas arriving in Morocco from others’ distant practices. Different ideas of consumption are recurring themes in the texts of the songs, and the article considers these together as a key mode of self-conscious examination of social and cultural change in Morocco by songwriters, singers, and their audiences. The article also looks at spiritually oriented or supernatural motifs in popular song as one other mode for the Moroccan negotiation of newer cultural elements and notions arriving from outside previous Moroccan custom, following earlier scholarly proposals that this spiritual aspect has been an important means for many Moroccans towards addressing aspects of disjunction and unease more generally.
International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2012
The proliferation of technologies in use for popular music in Morocco points to cultural interact... more The proliferation of technologies in use for popular music in Morocco points to cultural interactions beyond the most local or national influences that inform musical practices there. Examining the integration of technologies from outside Morocco—including musical instruments, recording media, and distribution systems—sheds light on negotiations of novelty and difference in contemporary Moroccan social and political life and thus on multiple facets of how late modernity has played out there. Among other broad areas of significance that musical practices help illuminate are the social and economic effects of colonial and postcolonial interactions, including the development of cash economies, globalized exchange, and cultural tourism; nationalist initiatives to define culture; and large-scale migration to Europe and elsewhere in recent decades, following a longer population shift in 20th-century Morocco from primarily rural locales to burgeoning urban centers.
Across a Divide: Mediations of Contemporary Popular Music in Morocco and Spain Brian Karl This di... more Across a Divide: Mediations of Contemporary Popular Music in Morocco and Spain Brian Karl This dissertation is about the mediation of cross-cultural difference among Moroccan and Spanish musical practitioners. It is based on the idea that negotiations across the gaps of such difference have been promoted through the increased circulation of people, products and ideas in the modern era. Based on fieldwork during the years 2003-2007, primarily in the urban sites of Granada, Spain and Fez, Morocco, the project focuses on popular music, how both the production and reception of music are critically bound up with notions of genre, how resulting associations of musical practice are affected by different uses of technology, and how musical practices of all types partake of and help form different ideas of belonging. The understanding of genres of musical expression by listeners and performers alike serves a similar function in demonstrating affiliation with certain in-groups or belief in ce...
This dissertation is about the mediation of cross-cultural difference among Moroccan and Spanish ... more This dissertation is about the mediation of cross-cultural difference among Moroccan and Spanish musical practitioners. It is based on the idea that negotiations across the gaps of such difference have been promoted through the increased circulation of people, products and ideas in the modern era. Based on fieldwork during the years 2003-2007, primarily in the urban sites of Granada, Spain and Fez, Morocco, the project focuses on popular music, how both the production and reception of music are critically bound up with notions of genre, how resulting associations of musical practice are affected by different uses of technology, and how musical practices of all types partake of and help form different ideas of belonging.
This article looks at the production and reception of music by Moroccan expatriates in Granada, S... more This article looks at the production and reception of music by Moroccan expatriates in Granada, Spain in the first 30 years after Franco, concentrating on musical genres associated with al-mu ¯sı ¯qa ¯ al-andalussiyya (al-A ¯ la), flamenco and danza del vientre. These genres were performed by Moroccan musicians and heard by Spaniard audiences as part of the larger politically inflected, contextualizing meta-genres of 'Early Music', 'World Music' and 'fusiones'. The social utility of these genre choices was demonstrated as part of a set of practices yielding some degree of social integration for Moroccans who might 'cross over' to positions of possibility in contemporary Spain, and, at the same time, they provided social insulation on the part of Spaniard maintenance of a political status quo. The article also points to disparate but converging types of cosmopolitan attitudes and behaviors, where the more privileged cosmopol-itanism of many Spaniards contrasted with but also inflected a more pragmatic cosmo-politanism of immigrant Moroccans. Also informing the cultural and political negotiations across the divide between these two groups were conceptions of the historical backdrop of medieval-era, Muslim-dominated Andalusian Spain and the ideological legacies of 'convivencia' (peaceful coexistence) and 'Las Tres Culturas' (the three cultural complexes based on foundations of Christianity, Islam and Judaism), both of which still circulated in common discourse as reference points in modern, multiethnic Spain.
This article explores the mediation by Moroccans of cross-cultural difference through the product... more This article explores the mediation by Moroccans of cross-cultural difference through the production and reception of popular music in the modern eras of colonialism and post-colonialism, impelled by the increased circulation and contact of people, ideas and cultural products and processes during those eras. The explication in this article of music and lyrical texts from three songs recorded over a sixty year period tracks the adoption, distortion, and re-purposing through irony and mimesis of novel cultural forms, techniques, and ideas arriving in Morocco from others' distant practices. Different ideas of consumption are recurring themes in the texts of the songs, and the article considers that as a key mode of self-conscious examination of social and cultural change in Morocco by songwriters, singers and their audiences. The article also looks at spiritually-oriented or supernatural motifs in popular song as one other mode for the Moroccan negotiation of newer cultural elements and notions arriving from outside previous Moroccan custom, following earlier scholarly proposals that this spiritual aspect has been an important means for many Moroccans towards addressing aspects of disjunction and unease more generally.
Consideration of cross-cultural attempt to represent ideas of "landscape" with emphasis on contem... more Consideration of cross-cultural attempt to represent ideas of "landscape" with emphasis on contemporary Chinese and U.S. art through specific curatorial and exhibition practices associated with private museums and collections.
An overview of the work of documentarian Wang Bing in conjunction with a survey of his work at Wa... more An overview of the work of documentarian Wang Bing in conjunction with a survey of his work at Wattis Institute and in relation to histories of experimental documentary praxis including cinema verité, observational and direct cinema.
This dissertation is about the mediation of cross-cultural difference among Moroccan and Spanish ... more This dissertation is about the mediation of cross-cultural difference among Moroccan and Spanish musical practitioners. It is based on the idea that negotiations across the gaps of such difference have been promoted through the increased circulation of people, products and ideas in the modern era. Based on fieldwork during the years 2003-2007, primarily in the urban sites of Granada, Spain and Fez, Morocco, the project focuses on popular music, how both the production and reception of music are critically bound up with notions of genre, how resulting associations of musical practice are affected by different uses of technology, and how musical practices of all types partake of and help form different ideas of belonging. The understanding of genres of musical expression by listeners and performers alike serves a similar function in demonstrating affiliation with certain in-groups or belief in certain ideologies: e.g., of ethnic or national belonging; or of modern, cosmopolitan access. Tracking not only performance of certain genres but discourse about those genres provides clues to how crucial cultural and political differences are understood and mediated. Key sites for research included official venues for public concerts and cultural tourism, but also more everyday spaces of musical production and reception such as bars and cafes, homes, taxis, streets, parks, and small retail shops. In the course of my research I attended dozens of performances and rehearsals by professional and amateur musicians, trailed selected Table of Contents
SAN FRANCISCO Sonja Gerdes CLOACA PROJECTS Cloaca Projects is situated in a small, garage-like sp... more SAN FRANCISCO Sonja Gerdes CLOACA PROJECTS Cloaca Projects is situated in a small, garage-like space on the old industrial edge of San Francisco, a rapidly changing city dedicated more and more to new technical systems of hyperefficiency. Sonja Gerdes's recent project for Cloaca portrayed uncertain states of relation with such technologies as human beings lurch into the future. Her suite of sculptures represented living creatures as they become augmented, undermined, or superseded by built extensions. Individually and as an ensemble, they functioned as signs of dystopian outcomes amid a scientistic culture of optimism.
This article looks at the production and reception of music by Moroccan expatriates in Granada, S... more This article looks at the production and reception of music by Moroccan expatriates in Granada, Spain in the first 30 years after Franco, concentrating on musical genres associated with al-mu ¯sı ¯qa ¯ al-andalussiyya (al-A ¯ la), flamenco and danza del vientre. These genres were performed by Moroccan musicians and heard by Spaniard audiences as part of the larger politically inflected, contextualizing meta-genres of 'Early Music', 'World Music' and 'fusiones'. The social utility of these genre choices was demonstrated as part of a set of practices yielding some degree of social integration for Moroccans who might 'cross over' to positions of possibility in contemporary Spain, and, at the same time, they provided social insulation on the part of Spaniard maintenance of a political status quo. The article also points to disparate but converging types of cosmopolitan attitudes and behaviors, where the more privileged cosmopol-itanism of many Spaniards contrasted with but also inflected a more pragmatic cosmo-politanism of immigrant Moroccans. Also informing the cultural and political negotiations across the divide between these two groups were conceptions of the historical backdrop of medieval-era, Muslim-dominated Andalusian Spain and the ideological legacies of 'convivencia' (peaceful coexistence) and 'Las Tres Culturas' (the three cultural complexes based on foundations of Christianity, Islam and Judaism), both of which still circulated in common discourse as reference points in modern, multiethnic Spain.
This article explores the mediation by Moroccans of cross-cultural difference through the product... more This article explores the mediation by Moroccans of cross-cultural difference through the production and reception of popular music in the modern eras of colonialism and post-colonialism, impelled by the increased circulation and contact of people, ideas, and cultural products and processes during those eras. The explication in this article of music and lyrical texts from three songs recorded over a 60-year period tracks the adoption, distortion, and re-purposing through irony and mimesis of novel cultural forms, techniques, and ideas arriving in Morocco from others’ distant practices. Different ideas of consumption are recurring themes in the texts of the songs, and the article considers these together as a key mode of self-conscious examination of social and cultural change in Morocco by songwriters, singers, and their audiences. The article also looks at spiritually oriented or supernatural motifs in popular song as one other mode for the Moroccan negotiation of newer cultural elements and notions arriving from outside previous Moroccan custom, following earlier scholarly proposals that this spiritual aspect has been an important means for many Moroccans towards addressing aspects of disjunction and unease more generally.
International Journal of Middle East Studies, 2012
The proliferation of technologies in use for popular music in Morocco points to cultural interact... more The proliferation of technologies in use for popular music in Morocco points to cultural interactions beyond the most local or national influences that inform musical practices there. Examining the integration of technologies from outside Morocco—including musical instruments, recording media, and distribution systems—sheds light on negotiations of novelty and difference in contemporary Moroccan social and political life and thus on multiple facets of how late modernity has played out there. Among other broad areas of significance that musical practices help illuminate are the social and economic effects of colonial and postcolonial interactions, including the development of cash economies, globalized exchange, and cultural tourism; nationalist initiatives to define culture; and large-scale migration to Europe and elsewhere in recent decades, following a longer population shift in 20th-century Morocco from primarily rural locales to burgeoning urban centers.
Across a Divide: Mediations of Contemporary Popular Music in Morocco and Spain Brian Karl This di... more Across a Divide: Mediations of Contemporary Popular Music in Morocco and Spain Brian Karl This dissertation is about the mediation of cross-cultural difference among Moroccan and Spanish musical practitioners. It is based on the idea that negotiations across the gaps of such difference have been promoted through the increased circulation of people, products and ideas in the modern era. Based on fieldwork during the years 2003-2007, primarily in the urban sites of Granada, Spain and Fez, Morocco, the project focuses on popular music, how both the production and reception of music are critically bound up with notions of genre, how resulting associations of musical practice are affected by different uses of technology, and how musical practices of all types partake of and help form different ideas of belonging. The understanding of genres of musical expression by listeners and performers alike serves a similar function in demonstrating affiliation with certain in-groups or belief in ce...
This dissertation is about the mediation of cross-cultural difference among Moroccan and Spanish ... more This dissertation is about the mediation of cross-cultural difference among Moroccan and Spanish musical practitioners. It is based on the idea that negotiations across the gaps of such difference have been promoted through the increased circulation of people, products and ideas in the modern era. Based on fieldwork during the years 2003-2007, primarily in the urban sites of Granada, Spain and Fez, Morocco, the project focuses on popular music, how both the production and reception of music are critically bound up with notions of genre, how resulting associations of musical practice are affected by different uses of technology, and how musical practices of all types partake of and help form different ideas of belonging.
This article looks at the production and reception of music by Moroccan expatriates in Granada, S... more This article looks at the production and reception of music by Moroccan expatriates in Granada, Spain in the first 30 years after Franco, concentrating on musical genres associated with al-mu ¯sı ¯qa ¯ al-andalussiyya (al-A ¯ la), flamenco and danza del vientre. These genres were performed by Moroccan musicians and heard by Spaniard audiences as part of the larger politically inflected, contextualizing meta-genres of 'Early Music', 'World Music' and 'fusiones'. The social utility of these genre choices was demonstrated as part of a set of practices yielding some degree of social integration for Moroccans who might 'cross over' to positions of possibility in contemporary Spain, and, at the same time, they provided social insulation on the part of Spaniard maintenance of a political status quo. The article also points to disparate but converging types of cosmopolitan attitudes and behaviors, where the more privileged cosmopol-itanism of many Spaniards contrasted with but also inflected a more pragmatic cosmo-politanism of immigrant Moroccans. Also informing the cultural and political negotiations across the divide between these two groups were conceptions of the historical backdrop of medieval-era, Muslim-dominated Andalusian Spain and the ideological legacies of 'convivencia' (peaceful coexistence) and 'Las Tres Culturas' (the three cultural complexes based on foundations of Christianity, Islam and Judaism), both of which still circulated in common discourse as reference points in modern, multiethnic Spain.
This article explores the mediation by Moroccans of cross-cultural difference through the product... more This article explores the mediation by Moroccans of cross-cultural difference through the production and reception of popular music in the modern eras of colonialism and post-colonialism, impelled by the increased circulation and contact of people, ideas and cultural products and processes during those eras. The explication in this article of music and lyrical texts from three songs recorded over a sixty year period tracks the adoption, distortion, and re-purposing through irony and mimesis of novel cultural forms, techniques, and ideas arriving in Morocco from others' distant practices. Different ideas of consumption are recurring themes in the texts of the songs, and the article considers that as a key mode of self-conscious examination of social and cultural change in Morocco by songwriters, singers and their audiences. The article also looks at spiritually-oriented or supernatural motifs in popular song as one other mode for the Moroccan negotiation of newer cultural elements and notions arriving from outside previous Moroccan custom, following earlier scholarly proposals that this spiritual aspect has been an important means for many Moroccans towards addressing aspects of disjunction and unease more generally.
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