Customer Reviews

Black Cultural Traffic: Crossroads in Global Performance and Popular Culture

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This is not a collection of essays celebrating the tremendous influence of black culture around the world.

Instead, as Tricia Rose states in the Foreword, "The traffic in black culture to which this volume is dedicated is tethered to the trafficking in black bodies on which these cultural exchanges are based. They share several disheartening characteristics: similar trade routes, unequal forms of exchange, and often, a soulless focus on capital gain." But she adds, "Despite the troubled ground on which these traffic patterns are set, a good deal of black culture emphasizes sacrifice for the larger good and a steadfast commitment to affirmation and confirmation against relentlessly long odds."

I suspect that if the 26 contributors - an international and interdisciplinary mix of scholars, critics, and practicing artists - met together in a room, they would not reach consensus on exactly what constitutes "black culture" or "appropriation" or "authenticity." But therein lies the book's strength; there is no company line here, but rather a dynamic, thought-provoking discussion.

Racial "hybridization" and public perceptions are a common thread, as in Caroline Streeter's "Faking the Funk? Mariah Carey, Alicia Keys and (Hybrid) Black Celebrity."

Others explore the commodification - or "trafficking" - of black culture. It is not addressed as a simple matter of whites exploiting blacks. As Kennell Jackson notes in "The Shadows of Texts: Will Black Music and Singers Sell Everything on Television?" the sort of collaboration taking place between black artists and television ad creators "reminds us that in late capitalism black cultural material often travels in commercial contexts with collusion of the makers of cultural products."

It's impossible to sum up this diverse collection in a few paragraphs. Suffice to say I think it provides much food for thought to anyone interested in cultural studies, African American Studies, vernacular culture or the arts in general.

The book came out too early to address Dave Chapelle's rationale for terminating his show, which he summed up to Oprah as discomfort over "the white guy laughing." Here's hoping the second edition includes something by or about him, since it would be a perfect fit.

This book contains twenty six essays on black culture and how it has moved from Africa to the United States and from there to the world. It is specifically oriented to the performing arts, loosely defined to include everything from gospel music to sports to television series. The contributors are an eclectic mix of scholars (mostly), critics and practicing artists who express their own views about black culture.

The writers, like people everywhere offer a diverse set of views from their own perspectives. In these times the influence of Black culture in areas like popular music and sports that even these writers have a hard time defining things like Black Music. Music for instance that started as black has found homes in other cultures as diverse as Gospel groups in Australia and Broadway.

This book could be used for readings in Black studies, or by anyone interested in the differentiation in Black performing arts.