FEATURE

Combat Prose: Cultural Adaptation of in , , and Italy

BY KATE WHITMORE

“ Occasionnellement pourtant mon bic se bat avec l’art subtil du .” Translation: “At times my Bic [pen] fights back, with the subtle art of combat prose.” —MC Solaar, artist

In many European countries, the fight She asserts that Germans to maintain national identity in the who resist so-called Ameri- face of perceived cultural imperialism canization also suffer from mis- has taken place on a rather unique conceptions. “Things aren’t as Ameri- battlefield⎯radio airwaves. Debate can-owned as they think, particularly about the Americanization of music music,” she says. For example, only one in Germany, France, and Italy can of the “big five” transnational record says von Dirke. As a result, many members of this “underclass” be heard in Pitt classrooms, where companies, Time Warner-WEA, is in U.S. later identified with the plight of America’s inner-city rappers. students learn about contemporary life hands; another, BMG-RCA, is headquar- in those countries through Europeans’ tered in Germany. “Kids without money identified with African American U.S. adaptation of American rap and hip hip hop, and they saw rap as something that saved delinquents hop. Learning about the evolution While some Germans insist on seeing [and was] their best bet at underclass success,” von Dirke adds. of pop culture in other countries also the influence of American music or provides insight into how America hip hop culture as a negative form of France: Fixation on Identity is perceived abroad. cultural imperialism, others, including Rap music in France truly emerged in the early 1980s, and von Dirke, believe it is a natural hybrid- it experienced a popularity growth pattern that was similar Germany: Voice of the ization largely influenced by German to the growth of rap in the . Underclass culture itself. “Undergrads really like to get a sense Like some in Germany, some French are equally resistant to the of what people their age are doing “Following the massive migration from Americanization of their arts and culture, notes Philip Watts, in Germany, and they find that they Southern Europe to Germany in the chair of Pitt’s Department of French and Italian Languages and have many misconceptions,” says 1950s, a number of immigrants found Literatures. “In theory, the French are all for free trade and Sabine von Dirke, associate professor themselves on the outskirts of the globalization, but they also have a ‘cultural exception,’ which of German who teaches the class socioeconomic norm and very low means those views do not apply to its cultural heritage,” he says. Germany Today. in Germany’s strict caste culture,”

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Int’l FALL 2004 While Watts notes that most of France’s AROUND THE WORLD backlash against Ameri- GAP 2004 caniza- itt’s Global Studies Program in UCIS tion is Pawarded three Global Academic focused Partnership (GAP) grants in 2004: on the The Financial Dimensions of movie Terrorism: The Raising, Movement, indus- and Disbursement of Terrorist try, the Funds—led by Phil Williams country (international, public, and urban has taken affairs) and Kenneth Sochats some ma- (information science and telecom- jor legal munications and director of Pitt’s steps to pro- Visual Information Systems Center) tect its music as well. “Radio Love of Country: Intimacy and stations have Nation in Italy’s Migrations— legal quotas where led by Donna Gabaccia (history), something like 40 Paula Kane (religious studies), percent of the songs Giuseppina Mecchia (French & on the radio must be Italian languages and literatures) sung in French,” he says. Comparative Postcolonialities: Printed with permission Aesthetics, History, Locality—led Yet the popularity of hip hop has of From Here To Fame GmbH by Shalini Puri (English), Marcus grown in spite of quotas and popular Rediker (history), and Joseph Alter opinion, and many similarities can be (anthropology) drawn between French rap and its American cousin⎯namely the genre’s fixation on identity. France is very territorial, for exam- ple, and people’s identities are highly influenced by the area of the country they come from. Rappers in France make sure they “represent,” say, Marseilles or Paris⎯very similar to the East versus West Coast rappers in the United States. This fixation on identity also makes rap one of the most powerful art forms for denouncing racism and anti-immigrant sentiment in France.

Italy: Hip Hop Light In Italy, Americanization of anything, including hip hop, is seen as much less of a threat than GAP grants initiated in 2001, support in France or Germany. international research conferences and workshops that result in publications “Italy has been able to retain its musical heritage to a greater degree, although that’s chang- and curricular enhancements. GAP ing,” says former Pitt Introductory Italian instructor Carl Schneider. Part of that change has offers administrative support and to do with timing. Because hip hop didn’t hit Italy’s music scene until 1989, it hasn’t had as funding up to $20,000 and is spon- much time to evolve as a cultural force. sored by the Office of the Provost, the International Business Center at the • “[Italian] rap is much more entertainment focused⎯friendly and funny,” says Schneider. Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business, and UCIS. Each semester, Schneider asked his students to explore an authentic Italian musician, but many rap and hip hop fans eager to identify Italian counterparts to 50 Cent, Jay-Z, and Missy Elliot

UNIVERSITY4 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH OF PITTSBURGH Int’l Int’l FALL 2004 AROUND THE WORLD

GLOBAL GENERATION Y PROGRAM SLAVIC AND University of Pittsburgh CIS, along with Pitt’s Office EAST EUROPEAN and Moi University in . Uof International Services, Islamic SUMMER LANGUAGE The 18-month project Management Studies Group, and Arab Cultural Organi- INSTITUTE’S GROWTH CONTINUES Capacity Development in Natural zation, as well as the Islamic Center he University of Pittsburgh’s annual Resources and Environmental Programs of Pittsburgh implemented the Global T Russian and East European Summer at Moi University in Kenya targets the Generation Y (GGY) Program. GGY Language Institute (SLI) broke another faculties of natural resources and en- brought together young professional enrollment record in 2004, almost vironmental studies at Moi and assists non-Muslims in Pittsburgh with Muslim tripling in size since 2000, thus with that university’s development of graduate students attending the underscoring Pitt’s status as a national an institution-wide strategic planning University of Pittsburgh for activities center for language study. This summer, office. The director of the project is in a variety of environments to foster students from colleges and universities John C. Weidman, professor of educa- friendship and encourage cross-cultural throughout the country were taking tion and sociology. Macrina C. Lelei, as- intensive courses in Bosnian/Croatian/ sistant director of UCIS’s African Studies Serbian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Polish, Program, is the project coordinator. Russian, Slovak, and Ukrainian. An advanced-level course in Bosnian/ NEW INSTALLATIONS, ARTISTS Croatian/Serbian was added to the SLI IN RESIDENCE: CUBA schedule for the first time in 2004, with support from the Southeast European Language Consortium of Title VI National Resource Centers. SLI was created in 1986 and is administered by understanding. The eight-month program the Department of Slavic Languages and was funded through the U.S.-Muslim Literatures and the Center for Russian Intercultural Awareness Grant, managed and East European Studies. The program by NAFSA: Association of International receives grant support from the U.S. Educators and was sponsored by the Department of Education, the Social n conjunction with the exhibit New U.S. Department of State. Science Research Council, and the IInstallations, Artists in Residence: American Council of Learned Societies. Cuba at the Mattress Factory OFFSHORING WORKSHOP For more information, visit (www.mattress.org), the Center for he Global Studies Program, in con- http://sli.slavic.pitt.edu. Latin American Studies (CLAS) will junction with the School of Engi- T sponsor several outreach programs neering, the Matthew B. Ridgway Center GRANT FUNDS PITT PARTNERSHIP on Cuba, including a lecture and film for International Security Studies of IN KENYA series, roundtable discussions, family the Graduate School of Public and Inter- he Association Liaison Office for and community workshops, and public national Affairs, and the International University Cooperation in Develop- discussion groups. Of particular Business Center of the Joseph M. Katz T ment (ALO), funded by the U.S. Agency interest to area teachers will be Experi- Graduate School of Business, cospon- for International Development (USAID), encing Cuba through the Eyes of Cuban sored a workshop on Offshoring of has awarded a grant of $124,000 Installation Artists, an innovative, Management and High-Technology Jobs to establish a linkage between the multidisciplinary workshop on Cuban in April. The workshop examined how Installation Art, as well as on the U.S. engineering and business schools social, historical, and cultural forces might reorient their curricula and inter- that shape the production of art national exchange programs in response in Cuba today. For more informa- to the global industrial restructuring tion, visit the CLAS Web site at implied by the offshoring phenomenon. www.ucis.pitt.edu/clas. In addition, participants worked on developing a multi-event agenda to be pursued by the University of Pittsburgh in the coming 12–18 months.

UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Int’l FALL 2004 AROUND THE WORLD

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE pants were teachers from Pennsylvania, study of regional languages. Five HUMANITIES GRANT FOR ASIAN Maryland, West Virginia, New York, scholarships, funded by Pitt alumnus STUDIES New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Harris Miller (CAS ’72), president of he Asian Studies Center has Maine. The group spent time in Beijing, the Information Technology Associa- T received a $180,000 grant from Luoyang, Xian, the Huangshan area of tion of America, are awarded each year the National Endowment for the Anhui Province, Hangzhou, and Shang- to students participating in an IFTA. Humanities (NEH) to create an inter- hai. For the year following the tour, active, Web-based interdisciplinary participating teachers are responsible MACHU PICCHU resource to introduce undergraduate for producing teaching plans as well students to . Drawing on the as holding workshops at their home expertise of Japanese studies faculty school about their experiences in China. within the University, the module will be a full semester’s course. Michele PRIVATE LAW, PRIVATE Ferrier Heryford, assistant director of INTERNATIONAL LAW, AND E.U.–U.S. external affairs for the Asian Studies JUDICIAL COOPERATION Center, serves as project director. n May 6–8, Pitt’s Center for West OEuropean Studies/European Union he exhibition Machu Picchu: RAP 2005 Center (CWES/EUC), Pitt’s Center for T Unveiling the Mystery of the Incas, he Research Abroad Program International Legal Education (CILE), was on display in the Special Exhibits T(RAP), now in its fourth year, and the Institute for European Stud- Gallery of the Carnegie Museum of is supporting three faculty/under- ies (IES) at Vrije Universiteit Brussel Natural History from October 2003 graduate student teams in 2004. cosponsored the conference Private Law, to January 2004. The Center for Latin Awardees and destinations include: Private International Law, and E.U.–U.S. American Studies (CLAS) worked in - G. Reid Andrews (history): Judicial Cooperation at the University conjunction with the museum to Montevideo, Uruguay Club on the Pitt campus. Participants organize a lecture series on Inca society - Michael F. Rosenmeier (geology included representatives of the U.S. and culture, educational outreach and planetary science): northwest- Department of Justice and Department programs, and a two-session teacher ern Greece and Greek Macedonia of State, the European Commission, the training workshop on the Inca Empire - Walter Carson (biological sciences): European Court of Justice, the Hague and Quechua—one of several indigenous La Selva, Costa Rica Conference on Private International languages of the Andean region. Law, the International Criminal Tribunal RAP, jointly sponsored by the Univer- for the former Yugoslavia, and E.U. and FIRST ANNUAL REES GRADUATE sity Honors College (UHC) and UCIS, U.S. academic institutions. STUDENT CONFERENCE aims to foster undergraduate partici- n March, the Center for Russian and pation in faculty field research abroad. INTEGRATED FIELD TRIP ABROAD IEast European Studies (REES) held For details, visit www.ucis.pitt.edu/rap. (IFTA) PROGRAM its first annual Graduate Student n recognition of the importance of Conference. The conference, Historical TEACHERS’ STUDY TOUR Ifield research, the Center for West and Contemporary Forces of Integration OF CHINA European Studies/European Union and Disintegration in the Post-Com- or the second year, the Center (CWES/EUC), in cooperation with munist Societies, was organized by a FAsian Studies Center spon- the School of Arts and Sciences and committee of REES graduate students sored a three-week study tour the Study Abroad Office, has provided with REES Associate Director Bob Don- for secondary teachers. China undergraduate students with four norummo as faculty advisor. REES re- was this summer’s destination, opportunities since 2003 to continue ceived 72 applications to participate in following last summer’s visit to course work abroad through Integrated the conference. A total of 24 students Japan. The program is part of Field Trip Abroad (IFTA) programs. from Pitt and 13 other universities, the operation of the Pittsburgh This past spring term, Urban Stud- including two in Europe, presented Regional Site of the National ies Professor Carolyn Carson brought their research. For more information, Consortium for Teaching about her students to Paris, and Linguistics visit www.pitt.edu/~creesgsc. Asia, funded by the Freeman Professor led an IFTA Foundation. This year’s partici- to Spain, France, and Belgium for the

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