Rock, crowds and power : race, space and ideology at American rock festivals, 1965-present
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- This dissertation examines the interplay between rock crowds and power at American rock festivals from 1965 to the present. It focuses primarily on rock festivals that are held on repurposed land, that draw over 40,000, and that are literally or nominally free of charge. This project questions the utopian rhetoric that underpins these festivals and unpacks the disjunctive logic that causes audiences to take part in celebrations. Building on the assumption that these types of rock festivals are a postwar phenomenon born of advances in amplification technology and shaped by countercultural aims, it argues that the enormous longevity of this form of entertainment rests on three powerful appeals: sex, drugs, and nature, all three of which touch on American notions of liberty and freedom. But while these three ideas -- sexual liberty ("free love"), liberal drug use ("legalize pot!") and participating in nature as a regenerative idyll -- appeal to white male audiences, they serve to alienate audiences of color. This is doubly unfortunate, because the artistic content of most rock festivals rests on black pop idioms and the display of black bodies. Far from being the utopian and communal spaces of spiritual regeneration that they claim for themselves, I find that they serve mostly to display the free market to consumers in its very best light. At the same time, they may have helped link computer technology to rock music by, among other things, physically illustrating what I call "the digital diaspora, " that is, the new global routes for culture being carved out by the digitization of music.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2011 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Arnold, Regina Anne |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Program of Modern Thought and Literature. |
| Primary advisor | Lunsford, Andrea A, 1942- |
| Thesis advisor | Lunsford, Andrea A, 1942- |
| Thesis advisor | Heise, Ursula K |
| Thesis advisor | Turner, Frederick, 1943- |
| Advisor | Heise, Ursula K |
| Advisor | Turner, Frederick, 1943- |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Regina Arnold. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Program of Modern Thought and Literature. |
| Thesis | Ph.D. Stanford University 2011 |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2011 by Regina Anne Arnold
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
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