A Rhetorical Analysis of Music As a Mode of Resistance in the 21St Century
THE REVOLUTION WILL BE SPOTIFIED: A RHETORICAL ANALYSIS OF MUSIC AS A MODE OF RESISTANCE IN THE 21ST CENTURY Triauna Carey A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2020 Committee: Daniel Bommarito, Committee Co-Chair Radhika Gajjala, Committee Co-Chair Julia Halo Graduate Faculty Representative Neil Baird © 2020 Triauna Carey All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Daniel Bommarito, Committee Co-Chair Radhika Gajjala, Committee Co-Chair This research project analyzes how musicians and genres of music are used as rhetorically effective modes of resistance in political and social climates in the West to break down barriers culturally and reveal systems of power. An interdisciplinary approach is implemented that combines cultural rhetorics, popular culture studies, communication studies, and ethnomusicology to investigate the way musicians send messages of resistance to different audiences and listeners. In order to do so, Huckin, Andrus, and Clary-Lemon’s concept of critical discourse analysis is used to analyze the way music lyrics convey meaning and cue the audience to certain resistant messages in different ways. In addition, Royster and Kirsch’s concept of social circulation is utilized to tap into the ways technology and online social spaces are interrogated as complex rhetorical spaces that are multidimensional and add new levels of activism for musicians. The study focuses on four mainstream genres, pop, rap and hip-hop, rock and alternative, and country, to reveal how artists in these genres use the rhetorical strategies available in the genre to reach their audience, while also navigating the power systems and structures at play.
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