Midway Review

THE MIDWAY REVIEW THE MIDWAY autumn 2011 The Volume 7, Issue 1 Midway Review A Journal of Politics and Culture Melissa Scott compels us to watch Eurovision Jon Hartmann captures the geography of Lebanon David Showalter culminates the Jersey Shore experience Shruthi Venkatesh complicates black fashion Jorge Muñiz conjuncts Leo Strauss & the Enlightement Ardevan Yaghoubi converses with Axel Weber Rita Koganzon commemorates the life of Herman Sinaiko Find us, as always, at Harper Café Autumn 2011 midwayreview.uchicago.edu Volume 7, Issue 1 Autumn 2011 THE MIDWAY REVIEW A Journal of Politics and Culture = this editor-in-chief issue was com- Ardevan Yaghoubi posed in 6-, 10-, and 18-point Quadraat regular managing editor & Sans — a typeface designed Gabriel Valley in 1992 by Fred Smeijers — & printed on thrice-recycled, ac- business manager id-free paper.¶ Redeem your Hamsini Sridharan free cup of coffee from Harper Café at the launch day of promotions editor distributions editor this issue! Isaac Dalke Leland Bybee editorial board Anita Dutta Erin Dahlgren Johannah King- Justin Garbacz Slutzky art director Drew Synan design librarian image consultant Erin Dahlgren Evan Harold founding editor Rita Koganzon faculty advisor Theodore O’Neill The Midway Review is a forum for civil Letters to the editor may be addressed to debate across the political spectrum and [email protected]. We ask that let- among the humanities and social science ters for publication be limited to 350 words. disciplines, and for reflection on current events, culture, politics, religion, and phi- The Midway Review is printed by In-Print losophy. We are accepting submissions to Graphics. Publication is made possible by the be considered for our Winter 2012 issue. Student Government Finance Committee, the Please consult midwayreview.uchicago.edu for College of the University of Chicago, and the submission guidelines. Collegiate Network. the MIDWAY REVIEW Volume 7, Issue 1 — Autumn 2011 These entries are assertions of both uniqueness and conformity, laying claim to a connection with a special past all the while asserting — and demanding — relevancy. There is something of a fresh wound in southern Lebanon. The Guido must be located, must place himself within the proper environment, in order to attain a full expression of self. Creating a line of clothing to fit a specific racial paradigm is problematic because it codifies and promotes an explicit outward difference between races. The very idea of a Jewish citizen is a contradiction in terms. Once the Jewish individual speaks in terms of his rights as a citizen he has already denied Orthodox Judaism. For professional economists, the idea of a life untainted by markets is hogwash. Sinaiko’s death is a tremendous loss for Chicago, and particularly for the College, which has benefitted immeasurably from his erudition and dedication. Contents Melissa Scott New Europe, Center Stage: 5 Orientalism and Nationalism in the Eurovision Song Contest Jon Hartmann Sour 13 David Showalter Thinking Jersey Shore 19 Shruthi Venkatesh What Makes Fashion “Black”? 27 Jorge Muñiz Atheism and the Jewish Question: Leo Strauss in Weimar 31 Ardevan Yaghoubi Economic Life: A Conversation with Axel Weber 39 Rita Koganzon Herman Sinaiko: In Memoriam 48 Spring ’93 Review launch, Bucharest. New Europe, Center Stage Orientalism and Nationalism in the Eurovision Song Contest Melissa Scott You’ve seen it all before Yes sir we are legal we are, though Lyrics to InCulto’s We’ve got no taste, we’re all a bore we’re not as legal as you “Eastern But you should give us a chance No sir we’re not equal, though we’re European Funk,” which ’Cause we’re all victims of both from the eu. circumstance represented We build your homes, we wash your Lithuania in the We’ve had it pretty tough dishes, Eurovision Song But that’s okay, we like it rough Contest of 2010. We’ll settle the score Keep your hands all squeaky clean, Survived the reds and two world wars. Some day you’ll come to realize Eastern Europe is in your genes! chorus Get up and dance to our Eastern European kind of funk! The Eurovision Song Contest (esc) is not just a pop song Melissa Scott is a third-year in the competition: often, it is a musical manifestation of political College studying and social issues of great significance. The lyrics to InCulto’s Music. “Eastern European Funk,” as seen above, express a key issue in the recent history of the Contest by pointing to distinct percep- tions of “Western” and “Eastern,” legal and illegal, tasteful and tasteless. This song asserts that, despite Lithuania’s acceptance to the European Union in 2004 and the supposed institutional and ideological unity of Lithuania with the rest of Europe, there remain larger inequalities across an “Eastern” and “Western” divide. This challenges the concept of the “New Europe,” an ideal that relies on multicultural values and the overcoming of 5 new europe, center stage “Set off the metal detectors with the Swag” national borders, and instead asserts that old divisions are still too large to ignore. Suffice to say, Lithuania did not make it past the esc semi-finals. Although it is often derided in popular discourse — or as in the United States, completely ignored — Eurovision holds a special place in the history of musical nationalism. Political issues pervade the esc from song choice (“Eastern European Funk”) through the contest’s development and expansion. Originally conceived as a Cold War initiative to culturally unite Western Europe, the Eurovision Song Contest has developed into a mas- sive, popular song competition that, in many ways, challenges European definitions and identities. Nations either “internally” select a song submission or open the decision to popular vote, and all selected artists then gather to perform for a live and tele- vised audience. (An estimated 600 million people watched the 2010 competition held in Oslo, Norway.) Votes are then totaled and both popular and panel-based voting determines point 6 melissa scott distribution: each country votes for 10 other countries, giving the country with the most votes 12 points, the second 10 points, and the next eight 1 – 8 points. As an annual ritual, Eurovision allows members of the European Broadcasting Union (often including countries around the “official” borders of Europe) to submit supposedly representa- tive songs to be performed on an international stage. The first contest was held in 1956 in Lugano, Switzerland, with seven participating countries, and it has since expanded to include as many as 43 countries. The fall of the Soviet Union precipitated an influx of post-Soviet countries, like Lithuania, that sought to assert cultural sovereignty on an international stage, and the countries of the Caucasus region have made more recent entrances in the past few years. The upcoming contest in 2012 will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan — the farthest East the Contest has ever been. Contemporary audiences would barely recognize the Contest in 1956: artists in the early years were predominantly crooners with “light” big band swing and orchestral accompaniment. Audiences sat silently in tuxedos, clapped respectfully between songs, and generally treated the Contest as a kind of “high culture” event. There was a shift in musical style and aesthetic throughout the 1960s and 1970s, but audience energy and size did not drastically change until after the switch from panel-based to popular voting in 1997. Now, Eurovision is a fundamentally staged spectacle in a visual concert style more associated with rock and pop. The 2009 Contest, hosted in Moscow, is an excel- lent example of this focus on the visual: Russia’s opening sequence (including a presentation by Cirque du Soleil) featured the previous year’s Eurovision winner flying to the stage in order to proceed to strut down a reversely moving walkway, pushing past a horde of beautiful women, only to subsequently burst through a series of fake buildings. After all this, he performs his winning song. A language restriction that required countries to sing in an official national language was lifted in 1999, and this in combination with popular voting paralleled a shift in both musical content and point distribution. Smaller countries of Eastern Europe, the 7 new europe, center stage Balkans, and the Caucasus region suddenly overshadowed his- torically successful Western European countries. Estonia won first place in 2001 with the entry “Everybody,” and this was only the first in a series of “non-Western” victories (sung mostly in English) that left Western Europe uneasy. Terry Wogan’s com- mentary for the bbc highlights the anxious sentiments that have been a main theme in popular discourse: Oh there’s a bit of singing as well. You remember when this was a song contest, do you? Back in the days of Katie Boyle? Forget it! The Eastern bloc has taken over. It’s now, ‘Never mind the music, we’ve got the neighbors to think of!’ Who cares? This karaoke of a thing… All spectacle and show and stuff strutting… You remember Ruslana last year? Perhaps you knew her better as Xena, warrior princess. Wogan made these comments in 2005 during the opening sequence in Kiev, Ukraine. Ruslana Lyzhychiko won first place the prior year with “Wild Dances,” and, as is custom in the ESC, performed her winning song for the Contest’s opening sequence the next year in Kiev. (Interestingly, artists need not be nationals of the country they represent; the francophone Canadian Celine Dion, for example, won first place for Switzerland in 1988, an important moment in her career.) Wogan questions whether the Contest is musically or politically motivated and likens Ruslana to a “warrior princess,” but it is difficult to tell whether he is criticizing her essentialist presentation of Ukrainian culture or the fact that she represents Ukraine in the first place.

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