Memory/Postmemory, Music and Identity

The Construction of a Diasporic Black Caribbean Experience

Saturday 25April 2009

University of Warwick

Social Studies Building, Room 0.21

Welcome

Good afternoon everyone, I’m Georgina Collins, a PhD researcher here at the University of Warwick. I am very honoured to be chairing this session on Identity.

Brief intro re identity

Identity is the way we see ourselves but also the way in which others see us. It is consciously and subconsciously constructed, as well as beingmultidimensional and formed around a sort of tension between the self, our personal beliefs, values, ancestry and experiences... and the society in which we live – the way we fit into the bigger picture (ref here identity). Each one of us is a product of our own specific social, cultural and economic environments (Hitchcott Women 6).

Juliana Nfah Abbenyi, a scholar at North Carolina State University said that “identity must be constantly constructed in the context of other identities, always shifting depending on whom one encounters” (Nfar-Abbenyi, Gender 33).

As we move through life in the context of both time and geographical space, our identity isdynamic, constantly changing and developing as we make new connections,have new experiences and store related thoughts, feelings and emotions in our minds as memories. But most importantly, identity is about community, often solidarity and also hope.

Finding a common element in our individual identities fulfils a basic human need – to belong, to be part of something – and in the context of today’s conference on the diasporic Black Caribbean community, or communities around the word, I think that is the element that brings together all of this afternoon’s papers.

My particular research lies in the area of identity and language, specifically – the translation of Francophone Senegalese women’s literature into English and how the analysis of identities, cultures and local languages can influence the way in which the translator may approach her work.

It’s the notion of cultural hybridity which influences every chapter of my thesis, whether this is:

  • hybridity in time – tradition and modernity
  • or in space - France and Senegal
  • in language – French and Wolof working together to produce a non-standard French text
  • or in its representation of modern realities – time-honouredAfrican beliefs and Islamic or Christian values living alongside each other.

I have been very interested today to see how my research into West African cultures relates to the Caribbean and African diaspora in general. For example:

  • the relationship between traditional African orature as a highly respected form of storytelling, and modern-day rap or hip hop as a way of expressing one’s identity, but also as a way of confronting marginalisation in society
  • or, for example, the Front Room as I perceived it in the family I lived with in Dakar – as an untouchable emblem of family pride... and the West Indian Front Room as represented by the Reality, Research and Art of Michael McMillan...

I am sure you will all find parallels with your own research and realities, and that’s what should make this session unique and dynamic.

Run through papers

In this session we have four very diverse papers, each focusing on different aspects of identity.

La Tasha Brown will be looking at the Jamaican Black identity, memory and re-memory, and how this has been translated into the urban environmentsof Britain and the US.

This will be followed by a paper from Michael McMillan, who will be speaking on Black British identity and its relation to contemporary British musical subcultures.

Then Dr Scooter Pegram is analysing the connections between French-language hip-hop and the social realities of Haitian youths in Quebec.

And finally we’ll turn to Dr William (Lez) Henry. He will be talking about identity in relation to education. Helping Black children to positively navigate their way through a society that favours whiteness over blackness.

Run through timings etc

Each paper will last approximately 20 minutes and we’ll do them one after the other, so we have more time for an in-depth question and answer session at the end. So if you have any questions or points to make as you are listening to the papers, it would be great if you could jot them down and save them for the discussion.

Individual introductions

So first we turn to:

La TashaBrown

  • La Tasha is in her final year of her PhD in the Centre for Translation and Comparative Cultural Studies here at Warwick University
  • Her thesis is entitled: The Universal as The Local Without Walls: Yaad/Yard-Hip Hop – Reggae and Hip-Hop Music in the African Diaspora
  • She also studied at Florida International University in Miami and St Lawrence University in New York
  • La Tasha is the organiser of today’s conference – which I’m sure you’ll agree has been a huge success so far.

Paper - The Socio-Psychological Effects of Memory and (Re)-Memory in the Construction of the Transnational Jamaican Black Identity

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Secondly:

Michael McMillan

  • Michael is doing a PhD at Middlesex University on Black British Theatre and Live Arts
  • He’s a visiting Professor of Creative writing at the London College of Communication
  • He’s also a writer, playwright, a curator and artist
  • His recent plays include Babel Junction and Master Juba
  • His celebrated exhibition, The West Indian Front Room was featured on a BBC documentary and can be seen online at thefrontroom.org

Paper - The West Indian Front Room: From the Radiogram to Raving

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Thirdly:

Dr Scooter Pégram

  • He is Assistant Professor of Modern Languages and Minority Studies at Indiana University Northwest in the US
  • He is widely published on his research into immigrant and ethnocultural communities in North America
  • He analyses areas such as identity, acceptance, racism and integration
  • He is currently researching language and identity in French-language hip hop

Paper - Bass, Race and Real Life: How Hip-Hop Reflects Acculturation and Alienation among Young Haitian Males in Québec

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Finally:

Dr William (Lez) Henry, Nu-Beyond Ltd

  • He’s a former Reggae Dancehall Deejay, and now a researcher, consultant and staff trainer for Nu-Beyond, a learning organisation which tackles issues of discrimination in British communities
  • He is a Visiting Research Fellow at Goldsmiths College in the Department of Sociology
  • He has won awards for excellence in education and his work in the community
  • He is a well-known public speaker, he’s published widely, and has appeared in several documentaries in the UK including Whitey Blighty for Channel 4, and Bleach my Skin White on ITV

Paper - Overstanding Head-Decay-Shun: Too BLAK for your own good!!

Questions

La Tasha Brown

  • You have spoken about the Jamaican Black identity being transplanted into urban Britain and the US through memory as a socio-political tool, but how do these two different cultural spaces differ with regards identity and why?
  • You spoke of Caribbean identity, and also of Jamaican identity – to what extent can we speak of a Jamaica-specific identity – in what ways does this differ to the Caribbean identity?

Michael McMillan

  • Could you tell us a little more the way in which the second or third generation has assimilated the values and memories of their parents with regards the Front Room?
  • What first inspired you to research the Front Room and its relation to identity formation?
  • Have you found there are very different perceptions of self-identity between West Indian migrants and second generation Black British young people? And how is this manifested through the Front Room?

Dr Scooter Pégram

  • Is there a gender bias with regards the use of hip hop or rap as a form of confronting social marginalisation? And if so, how do young females express themselves and their identities?
  • Is Francophone-Haitian hip-hop in Quebec something that has become mainstream or is it still underground? Is it something that is accepted beyond the community is directly represents?

Dr William Henry

  • Could you tell us a bit more about Nubeyond and the work the organisation does?
  • You talk about education, finding a more positive self and navigating your way through society, but will this work if society in general is not educated, and does not change?