Stuff I Play Before Section: Contemporary Engagements with Race in the US

Hello sections,

Last week I had a fair amount of interest in the videos I was playing before class. I chose them when thinking about the role of TV in portraying race relations and tensions in American society for our discussion of Crisis etc., and how they evoke the ways that things (haven't) changed since then. Also, they're great music.

Kanye West, "Love Lockdown." I am not a huge Kanye fan, but this video, apparently his response to the book/film American Psycho, is extremely complicated in how it deals with black subjectivity/identity, the sexualization and fetishization of black (female) sexuality, and stereotypes of savagery in conflict with class aspirations and negative racial stereotypes. This video defies straightforward interpretation and analysis, and for that alone is worth watching with a critical eye.

Janelle Monae, "Cold War."

Janelle Monae, "Tightrope."

Janelle Monae feat. Erykah Badu, "Q.U.E.E.N."

Janelle Monae, "Dance Apocalyptic."

This suite of videos by Janelle Monae (who everyone should know) represent an overview of the story she has been telling across her three albums about race in our increasingly cybernetic society. Monae's videos explore contemporary cultures of attrition and resilience, and how racial resistance is tied to madness and social stereotyping, while also promoting the continued expression of minority cultures in art and an artistic form of (perhaps) nonviolent resistance that resonates with what we've been learning about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement.

Persia "Google Google Apps Apps" This song explores the relationship between race, gentrification, and queerness in contemporary San Francisco. Blatantly political, it make an unapologetic critique of the ways that queer of colour neighbourhoods are being systematically destroyed in modern urban centres.