The Evolution of African American Discourse of Emancipation from Blues to Hip Hop

master's thesis

• Title (croatian): Evolucija afroameričkog diskursa emancipacije od bluesa do hip hopa
• Author: Vilim Mance
• Mentor: Krešimir Petković (mentor)
• Committee member: Krešimir Petković (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Anka Kekez Koštro (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Marko Grdešić (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; The Faculty of Political Science; Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2019-09-25, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: SOCIAL SCIENCES; Political Science; Public Policies/Public Management

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to explore political messages of African Americans’ emancipation from white oppression in blues and hip hop songs. Using discourse analysis and Mill’s method of induction combined with the most similar system design two hypotheses are formed. 1) songs in blues era (1910-1950) have an implicit and hidden discourse of emancipation, while songs from hip hop era (1979-1996) have explicit and direct discourse of emancipation and 2) variable responsible for such variation is political context, or in other words, existence of racist Jim Crow that denied African Americans their constitutional rights and which were subsequently eliminated via Civil Rights movement. Results, apart from strengthening the notion that music and politics can be intertwined, confirm two presupposed hypotheses but also signal further research directions of the topic, such as investigating emancipation in jazz or contemporary hip hop, and analyzing impact musicians can have on political attitudes or policy decisions.

Abstract (croatian)

Cilj rada jest istražiti političke poruke sa sadržajem emancipacije Afroamerikanaca od opresije bijelaca u bluesu i hip hopu. Koristeći diskurzivnu analizu i Millovu induktivnu metodu u kombinaciji sa dizajnom najsličnijih sustava oformljene su dvije hipoteze. 1) pjesme u blues eri (1910-1950) imaju implicitan diskurs emancipacije, dok pjesme iz hip hop ere (1979-1996) posjeduju eksplicitan diskurs emancipacije i 2) varijabla koja je odgovorna za tu varijaciju jest politički kontekst, odnosno postojanje rasističkih Jim Crow zakona temeljem kojih su Afroamerikancima uskraćena njihova ustavna prava te koji su postupno uništeni naporima Pokreta za građanska prava. Rezultati, osim što osnažuju ideju da glazba i politika mogu biti međusobno povezane, potvrđuju dvije pretpostavljene hipoteze te predlažu daljnje istraživačke smjerove u kojima tema može ići, poput istraživanja emancipacije u jazzu ili suvremenom hip hopu i analiziranja učinaka koji glazbenici mogu imati na političke stavove ili policy odluke.

• Keywords: blues; Hip Hop; Emancipation; the Civil Rights Movement; Discourse analysis; Jim Crow laws
• Keywords (croatian): blues; Hip hop; Pokret za građanska prava; analiza diskursa; Jim Crow zakoni
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:114:722626
• Study programme: Title: Political Science; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra politologije (magistar/magistra politologije)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2019-11-25 09:54:17