Salmons PJ D 2021.Pdf (1.465Mb)
Hip Hop, Bluegrass, Banjos, and Solidarity: Race and Class Histories in Appalachia U.S.A Patrick J. Salmons Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philsophy in A.S.P.E.C.T Sylvester Johnson, Chair Francois Debrix Bikrum Gill Zhange Ni 05/05/2021 Blacksburg, Virginia Keywords: Race, class, hip hop, bluegrass, Appalachia, solidarity, banjo, segregation, institutional racism, social movements Copyright 2021, Patrick J. Salmons HIP HOP, BLUEGRASS, BANJOS, AND SOLIDARITY: RACE AND CLASS HISTORIES IN APPALACHIA U.S.A Patrick Salmons ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the historical race and class tensions across the United States, and particularly focuses on Appalachia as a potential place of resistance against racial and class injustice. Arguing for a thick cross-racial solidarity movement, I examine the history of Black oppression from slavery to current modes of oppression such as mass incarceration and colorblind constitutionalism. The presence of anti-Black racism and under acknowledgement of whiteness hinders any form of cross-racial solidarity. To combat this, I ask, are the genres of hip hop, bluegrass, and country able to provide a reckoning of the continual racial oppression of Black people and an acknowledgement of whiteness, in Appalachia and the U.S.? I examine the historical progression of bluegrass and country, and hip hop, through the history of the banjo and music industry. The banjo, an African instrument, links Appalachia with histories of both Black expression and racial oppression. From here, I argue that the history of the music industry provides a further understanding of racial injustice that is parallel to the instances of institutional racial injustice in the U.S.
[Show full text]