1986 nd Pot Star, “Moving way pe: levis "new look” at Back ‘este ener Terie Sty Confrence: Loh, [Bo THSC eneencsspunsorey the Hest i stead thesia thon Vane ay vay tenn So ‘31 The cone Tr Cinema” oigilly roponed by Femando Solas tnd Gately Get ss kr “Tovare a Tie Clem Bal Nba), ses and Method London ané Hele: Unley of Callen 1976 Is eneqcty bec epunde, wie paral eee to Ast ie, Uy Teo tcl Thed Chait the Td Wold: The hese of erin ae ht Rear Ps a OE 32 lean Conny nthe atc of ence deat te Cat! Heit feninn om ‘Sexan iene qunons fife’ a Under 1, 188 GIN, nga eof hin ens ie ot "Sk estnnmytotogy nth Wilson tiga TWO oe that tings me Know tout oeve' in Consimig Pasion, Lowen: (Ger Boyan, 1986 134, Prune Donon Jr was volved In Gdns ‘One Pls Onno scosqeiy dete hx owe Ri, Death May Be Your So at, Sc a mtn oy en as Te cat “emf e tnt of eer spp nV. N.Volno, Marsom and he ‘loopy ange New or Sr 1: rom nt pt Fan's Wresched of he Earth Penguin, 197) tbe ee, Toe comeniest teins in New Fors 1 20-2. 1M Richard Dye, Pol Robern: casing ven Hereny Boies: Fn Stars fd Soi, London Beacon 198, 7. 35 See Ronand Coward, “Clae stare” td th soci formation’, Sen, Spine 197, 150) 15-105 ad the Tegan, tom lle Chane a ‘Xfi alee’, Screen, Winter (97-4, Be) 109-9, On sae ship. emocaon and ts says ee Pao Walemen, Nts joe {elon eng dwar Demigan's "Sbjecyamdr spe Screen, Song WTR 11, 41-9. And om eilgus ef Screen thay’ fom fhe ‘Eins fr Comempory Calta Ste se Davi Morey, "Text = ‘Syste and Stat Hl “Reon developments thes of asage hd logy: x rea! nat bth n Sta ae a (0), Cure, Ned, guage Lane: Hahn, 180. Chapter 23 What is this ‘black’ in black popular culture? Stuart Hall 1 begin with a question: What sort of momeat is this i which to pose the |quetion of black popolrclture? These moment ae always conjunctrl ‘They have thc historical specifiy; and although they always exhibit similarities and cootnutes with the other moment in whieh we pore ‘etn lik this, they are nver hese aoment. And the combination of ‘hati similar and what is diferent dees not oaly the seit ofthe ‘moment, ut the specificity ofthe question, and therefore the strategies of {altura polite with which we alempe to itervene i poplar entire nd the form and syle of cltarl theory and criezig that ha 1 go slong with such an ntermatch In his important esa, “The new cultural plies of etfrence’, Corel West offer genealogy of what his moment i a irnealogy ofthe presen that I find billy concise and insight His ‘evenly follows, to some extent, posions I ed to outline an aicle that bas become somewhat sotodous. but it also ueflly maps the ‘moment into an American context and ia relation tothe cognitive and Ineletal philosophical wads with which i engages. ‘According to West, the moment, this moment, bas three general co cowdases. The Ast isthe displacement of European models of high ltr, of Europe a the univeral subject of cate, aod of culture elt {ns old Aroldian seading asthe lat refage s I carly sald of Scoundrels, but T woa't say who i sof AT lent we know who it was ‘galas ~cultue agaist the bararans, aginst the pooplerling the gates 1 the deatles prose of anarchy flowed sway fom Aold's pen. The Second co-ordinate is the emergence ofthe Unite Sats ar world power nd, consequent, asthe conte of global cultral production and ciel ion. This emergence is both a dispcement anda hegemonic shin dafnion of caltuse ~ 2 movereat from high etre to Amica ts Steam popular cllue and its mas+-altral image mediated, echaslogi= Cal forms. Ths thied co-ordinate is the decoonization ofthe Third World, ee eRecaltrally marked bythe emergence ofthe decoloized sensibilities. And 1 ‘ea the decolonization ofthe Thitd World in Frantz Fanon’ sease: ‘nee in i the impact of civil rghs and Back struggles on the decal: ‘zation af the minds ofthe peoples ofthe Black diaspora. Tet me add some quaifentions to that general picture, qoalifeations tha ia my view, make this preseat momenta very disineie one in which to ak the question about black popular eultue Fs, Temiad you ofthe !mbisities ofthat shih from Europe lo Americ, since it includes Ame. fex'sambivalent relationship o Euopess hgh clr snd the ambiguity of ‘America's relationship to its own fternal thal Birches, Westen Earope i pot have, uni recent, any ethnicity at all. Or didn't recog. rie it had any. Americ is always had’ a series of etnies, and onequeny, the conrstion of ethnic hierarchies has avays dened fis caltwal poiies. And of couse, silenced and unacknowledged, the {act of Ametcan popular cltre sll which bas aways consid within ‘wheter silenced or mot, back American popula veroacua adios. I. ‘may be hard fo remember ta, when viewed from outside of the United State, American mainstream poplar cate bas alvays involved cea teaditon that ould only be buted to lack ealtralvernacalar ad The second qualification concerns the nate of the period of cul _lobalietion in progress now I hate the tren the global postmodern’ 50 Empty and sliding signer tht tan be taken o mean vitwlly anything yor ike And, certainly, blacks ae as ambiguous placed inflation Tosimoderniem as they were in relation to high modernism: even when ‘enaded ofits wide ropean, disenchanted mars, Peach ftellectual ‘provenance and scaled down to % more modest descriptive slats, pst- Inodernsm remnne extremely unevenly developed as phenomeacn ia ‘whic the old eenre peripheries of high moderaty coaistemly reappest “The oly places where one con genuinely experince the postmodern ethnic ‘cuisine are Manbttan and London, nt Caleuts. And yet its impossible to refse the global postmodern” emily, isola af it reyes certain ‘Syie shit im what want to call the ealtwal dominant. Even if ‘oslmoderniem is nots new etal epoch, but only modernism in the Sect, that, in isl, represents an importa shifting of the teria of ‘altue toward! the popular~ foward popular paces, loward everyésy ‘ratces,oward local mares, toward the dcenting of ol hearhies nd the grand narratives. This docenring or displacement opens up new ‘spaces of contestation and affects» momentous shift inthe high clare of Popa cltre relations, tus preening as wil 2 suatepie and important ‘portnity for intervention inthe popsar cata eld "Third, we mist beatin mind posnoderaism's deep and ambivalent fascination wit difference ~senoa ference, eultualdifeence, racial, fitference, and above all, ethnic ifferene- Ouie ia opposition To the at eth ac in bck pul cuture? 467 ‘indoess and hostility thet European high cltre evidenced oa the whole toward etn difference it ibility even o speak ethnicity when was Somnnfesty registering is effets there's nothing tht global postmod- truism loves bette than cerain Kind of ference a tou of ety, fase of the exote as we say in England abit of theater (which inthe United Kingdom bas asexual as well 3b an ethnic eonotaton). Michele ‘Wallace was quit ight, n ber seminal essay °Mderaom, postmodernism fd the problem of the visual ip Afro-American clare’ to sk whether this eappearance of proliferation of ditferencs, ofa cetia Kind of ascent ‘ofthe elbalpostoder, ft a repest ofthat “sow you se, now You Son game tht modernism once played wih primis, to ask whether itis not one again achieved at the expense ofthe vast lean about he ‘Wests fasinaio with the bodies of Back men and women of other limites, And we must ask about that continuing silence Witin post tnoderisn’ssifig tein, aboot whether the forms of Leasing of the fz tht this poolderation of ference inies aod allows, at the seme fime it isvows i ot ely, along with Benetton and the mixed male novel of The Fact kind of iference that dosn't makes difference of ny Kind al Foster writes Wallace quotes hm n he essay ~ "the primitive fs 2 modern problem, etsis in clr Aen ~ beaes, the moderast onsrcton of primvism, the fesishiierecogaitan and disavowal of the primitive diference. Dut this resoation Is ony 2 repression: delyed inv our polical unconscious, the primive rtuas uncannily at the Inoment of it apparent poiical ecips. This rupee of primitvsm, Imanaged by modernism, fecomes smother postmodern eveat. That mana Eng cerialy evident nth dflerene that may at make a dfleence, ‘shih marks the ambighovs appearance of ethuicty atthe Rear of lob Dsimodernita, But it cannot be only tht. For we cannot forge how falta le, above all in the West, but elsewhere as wel, hs been ‘asformed in eur ifetimes hy the viking ofthe marlas. "Within culture, marginal, hough lt remains peripheral to the brooder| imainstea, has never been such a prdectve space asi now. And that {Snot simply the opening within te dominant of spaces thal tose ouside jean occupy Italo the rest of the calla poles of difference, of the sugges around diference, of the production of new identities, ofthe fppesrane af ae subjects onthe pola and calural sage. This is rue only in rgard force, bat ls fr other marginalized ethics, as ‘fellas ound feminism an sroued Sexual pol inthe gay and lesbian Tnovemett, as areal of ew Kind of elufl pais. OF course, Tdon't tran fo suggest that we can couserpose some easy sense of victories won {ovhe tera sory of our own maignaliation ~ Ym dred of those two ‘oninuous grand counter naraves. To remain within them isto become ‘rapped in tha endless eter, eter total viciy or tol incorporation,ch alios never happen in etl pots, twit which eral ‘ites akeys put hemlet bed. ‘What weaetalking abouts the supa overcltral egsmony, which is hese ds wage as much a popular clr as mywtse Tat ghoul dninction ie restsly wha th hal posto dla ing. Cultural hegemony iv aver abou pure victory ov put dominion (G's no what he com mana is never a soso clad pues ays about shiing the Blane of power nthe reatns ocala iit aways about ehaging the disposition and the confgratons of ca ower, nt sling oof Theis Kind of nothing every change, he System always wine ate, which Ind he eye pete hl that sry to sy, American clr es quently weasel at sometimes event tem from developing ctrl states hat can mae 2 ferences an in onto poet hemscve ops th oecsonl feat thy tae to ren they see ih trough veg ans joa the same aways was ‘ow cll saps tht an make a ference, that's what rm ined in tose that an me diterence and ca it he dps ton of power. acknowidae thatthe spaces won’ for itn te and far etwoea, hat thy ate very cael policed and reused, T Sete te are lied. know, tomy es ta thy ae gros de funded, that thee i ways pie of fcorporaton to be ald Wee coting eof diferecs snd tanegreton uted into spectacular tion, now that what replaces ivi kid of curl Segregated visit. Bott docs nt help ingly fo name ‘hat ame cling merely eet the pr tol of ela ples tovwhich we zeman toc, preity, the zs game ~ our model felacing tet mode, ur Mente {place oftheir hetes~ what AAnonio Grams clled ltr st a once ad forall war of am ‘cove’, hen, in ft, te only ge ia town wort playing the gue ‘teat ‘ws poston aa Uist you thik, 1 pariphre Grams ny optimism ofthe wl has ow completely utstpped my pessimism oh nelle et me add fourth Slement that comments the most. Foy if the global posinoera ‘epesen an amblguoas opening fo ifrnce and 4 te atin ad tmakes a cern Kind of decent of the western mative tly fossil, is mathe, om the very Mend of cla pole, by Ihe backas he aggresive resins f differen, he atop To eine the canon of weer vito the ast dit and indie, on mult callin rer to rand maratives of is, langage ander tie (be thee gest suporting pila of ean ety od maton cata the defence of elimi absautm, of ela acm at as ‘arid the Thatcher andthe Reagan era aad De now nope hat ‘Me about overwhelm forse Earpe. The las thing Yo Jo ead ab 7 Wate hie oie n bok popu cure? £60 ‘saying the cultural dates shed. Part af he problem shat we have orgotes what sort of space the space of popular eatre is. And black Popular ealture i not exempt rom tat leat, whichis historical, at Fler of ba faith, Is therefore cesar fo deconstuct the popolar once Gnd forall Tore is no gong back wo an inoceat view of what it consis ot Popular culture carries that affimative tng because ofthe prominence of the word “poplar And, in one sense, poplar clue always as is bas in he experiences, the pleatares, the memories, the traditions of the people. bas connections wi lcal hopes and Tocl aspirations, eal fagedies and local scenarios that are the everyday practices and everyday “xperiences of onary fos. Hence, i ks with what Misha! Bain ‘lls "the vulgar’ the popular, he informal, the upderside, the grotesque “That is why it has always been counerpsed to elt or high alte, nd is thus ast of erative adions. Ad thats why the dominant ation bas aways Been deepy suspicious of i, quite igh. They suspect that they are about tobe overtaken by what Bakbln calls the earivalesqe This fundameata) mapping of cltre between the high apd the low bas teen carted into fowrsymbolie domains by Peter Sallybrass and Allon ‘Whit in their important book The Poles and Poois of Transgression “They tale about the mapping of high and Toe in psychic forms, in the ‘numa body in space, and inthe Socal order.” And they discus the igh! low distinction asa fndmentl bai othe mechanism of ordering and of ‘Stosemking in European and other cultures despite the fact that the ‘onteats of wbat is high and what Is low change ftom one historical omeat to another, “The importa pot i he ordering of diferent aesthetic moras, socal aesthetics the onerngs of cute that open up cute 1 the play of power, not an inventory of what is high verss what is low at any Patcuar moments Tha why Grasic, who has sie f common seas fn which above ail cultural begemony i made Tos and rugged over, fave the question of whale called the national-popular such sualesic Importance, The role ofthe “popular” in popular cultre is to fx the “ulbentcty of popular frm, ooting them nthe experienss of popular Communit fromt which they daw thei strength lowing ose hem fs expressive of piricaar subordinate soi ie tha rest is being Coastentiy made over a6 1 abd case However, a poplar clare his historically become the dominaat frm global cults, so i isa the same time the teens, par excellence, of Commodification of the ladasries where este ener dvely tno the Cteuits ofa dominant tchaology~ the cris of power snd eapital I is the space of homogenization whee stereotyping andthe formulae mec Tesly proces the material and expeienes I draws flo is wb, Where contol over aratives and epreseastions pases ino the hands of the