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Is the post- in post-identity the post- in post-genre?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2016

Robin James
Robin James*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, UNC Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd. Charlottte, NC 28223 E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The ‘post-’ in both post-identity politics and post-genre musical practice refers to the same thing. Through readings of Taylor Swift's ‘Shake It Off’, Diplo's description of his practice as a DJ, producer and impresario, Sasha Frere-Jones's infamous New Yorker piece on indie rock miscegenation, and critical race theorists Cristina Beltran and Jared Sexton's critiques of post-racial politics, I demonstrate that progress past traditional commitments to white racial purity is both the defining characteristic of post-racial whiteness, and what makes multigenre pop practice count as post-genre. The ‘post-’ in post-identity is what distinguishes post-genre practice from supposedly more primitive forms of genre transgression, such as the love & theft-style cultural appropriation Eric Lott identifies in 19th century blackface minstrelsy or Pitbull's Latin American style racial/musical mestizaje.

Type
Articles
Information
Popular Music , Volume 36 , Special Issue 1: The Critical Imperative , January 2017 , pp. 21 - 32
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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Discography

Swift, Taylor. 2014. ‘Shake It Off’. 1989. Big Machine Records.Google Scholar