The English Occupational Song
UNIVERSITY OF UMEÅ DISSERTATION ISSN 0345-0155-ISBN 91-7174-649-8 From the Department of English, Faculty of Humanities, University of Umeå, Sweden. THE ENGLISH OCCUPATIONAL SONG AN ACADEMIC DISSERTATION which will, on the proper authority of the Chancellor's Office of Umeå University for passing the doctoral examination, be publicly defended in Hörsal E, Humanisthuset, on Saturday, May 23, at 10 a.m. Gerald Porter University of Umeå Umeå 1992 ABSTRACT THE ENGLISH OCCUPATIONAL SONG. Gerald Porter, FL, Department of English, University of Umeå, S 901 87, Sweden. This is the first full-length study in English of occupational songs. They occupy the space between rhythmic work songs and labour songs in that the occupation signifies. Occupation is a key territorial site. If the métier of the protagonist is mentioned in a ballad, it cannot be regarded as merely a piece of illustrative detail. On the contrary, it initiates a powerful series of connotations that control the narrative, while the song's specific features are drawn directly from the milieu of the performer. At the same time, occupational songs have to exist in a dialectical relationship with their milieu. On the one hand, they aspire to express the developing concerns of working people in a way that is simultaneously representational and metaphoric, and in this respect they display relative autonomy. On the other, they are subject to the mediation of the dominant or hegemonic culture for their dissemination. The discussion is song-based, concentrating on the occupation group rather than, as in several studies of recent years, the repertoire of a singer or the dynamics of a particular performance.
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