Wannabes
Racial crossover is not something that is new, and to outsider's to this behavior seems perplexing (Wilkins, 2008). For the Puerto Rican wannabe defines and effaces racial boundaries, through dress, attitude and interracial dating according to Wilkins (2008). Unlike the Goths and Unity Christians, Wannabes do not share a formal space with other Wannabes (Wilkins, 2008). That wannabe identity is at a disadvantage compared to the goths or Christians, as Wannabes do not have the same community resources to rely on according to the author. Racial transgressions are communicated through the consumption and incorporation of the hip-hop culture into the Wannabes life (Wilkins, 2008). When looking at their relationships sexual and romantic relations are
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For example, the girls are still looking for men's approval (no matter the race), also another complication is that the relationships are undermined with other white women and women of color which can increase their dependence on men, and lastly it adds to the gendered hierarchical constraints and isolate gendered relations (Wilkins, 2008). Although wannabes resist the limitations of being white, they take part in the racial crossover that gives them a sense of coolness, toughness, and excitement and allows them to avoid societal expectations they may actually be a nice person (Wilkins,2008). According to Wilkins (2008), wannabes use of sexuality is to achieve racial crossover, it can also mount a more significant obstacle to the racial boundary lines as it reworks the inequality of race, class, and gender in their lives. Their sexual strategy meshes them disempowering gender relations, puts limitations on their class resources, and by not directly confronting the issues of gender inequality, stunts the racial problems as well as stated by Wilkins (2008). Additionally, racial crossover for wannabes limits their ability to enact white power and privilege through material investments according to
In The Venus Hip Hop and the Pink Ghetto, Perry begins the essay with the shocking realization of the way women are presented in hip hop videos. Although she seems to set up a strong opening argument that positive body images for women in black society are in danger, Perry’s lack of evidence to support her main points and weak arguments about why young girls self-esteem could be on the decline take away from her credibility and causes the reader to challenge her opinions. Perry’s slippery slope mentality that the way women are presented in hip hop will lead to an overall decline in self-esteem in young girls has no supporting evidence that can prove a direct relationship between the two issues.
People of different ethnic backgrounds are influenced by both cultural and societal normalities to want to naturally return to their own ethnic groups. In Beverly Daniel Tatum’s book “Why Are All Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” Tatum tries to explain why in even racially diverse schools, people of the same race tend to gravitate toward one another causing racial separation. Tatum claims that people of the same race, particularly black kids, are likely to turn toward people who understand their shared perspective. Although Tatum effectively uses a conversational tone and emotionally charged words, her overuse of biased interviews and experiences forces the reader to question the validity of her portrayal of race relations.
The movie ‘From Mambo to Hip-Hop’ is a great documentary about a revolution in the entertainment industry. It talks of evolution on Salsa music and Hip-Hop culture in suburbs of New York. South Bronx is a ghetto neighbourhood. The people living in the area are challenged economically. There is a record of high cases of violence that exist in the streets due to high crime rate and drugs being traded as a means of survival (Gordon, 2005). Most of the people living in the area are descendants of African immigrants who could trace their origin in the Caribbean islands with a large number Latin American population too.
“Blacking Up” is an inspirational and eye opening film that looks at racial identity through hip hop and its culture. The film explores the tensions that surround white identification with the hip hop culture. Typical white people identify hip hop with responses that are uncharacteristic. They are termed as a “wigger” or “wannabe” who think they can become part of a strong culture. The film clearly identifies these people as those trying to connect with others who usually won’t accept them. I have watched this film before for my Hip Hop class in high class and was happy to watch it and learn more about the hip hop community.
In the words of rapper Busta Rhymes, “hip-hop reflects the truth, and the problem is that hip-hop exposes a lot of the negative truth that society tries to conceal. It’s a platform where we could offer information, but it’s also an escape” Hip-hop is a culture that emerged from the Bronx, New York, during the early 1970s. Hip-Hop was a result of African American and Latino youth redirecting their hardships brought by marginalization from society to creativity in the forms of MCing, DJing, aerosol art, and breakdancing. Hip-hop serves as a vehicle for empowerment while transcending borders, skin color, and age. However, the paper will focus on hip-hop from the Chican@-Latin@ population in the United States. In the face of oppression, the Chican@-Latin@ population utilized hip hop music as a means to voice the community’s various issues, desires, and in the process empower its people.
Latinos have struggled to discover their place inside of a white America for too many years. Past stereotypes and across racism they have fought to belong. Still America is unwilling to open her arms to them. Instead she demands assimilation. With her pot full of stew she asks, "What flavor will you add to this brew?" Some question, some rebel, and others climb in. I argue that it is not the Latino who willingly agreed to partake in this stew. It is America who forced her ideals upon them through mass media and stale history. However her effort has failed, for they have refused to melt.
This model examines the relationship between the dominant culture and one with minority status, such as Latinos. Attitudes towards self, same minority group, different minority groups, and the dominant group are examined through five stages within the model. These include conformity, dissonance, resistance and immersion, introspection, and integrative awareness. The stage most pertinent to Antonio at this time is the Dissonance stage. During this stage, one starts to acknowledge the existence of racism, that he cannot escape his own heritage, and experiences conflict between shame and pride felt for his culture. This same shame versus pride conflict is also extended to members of his own minority group. Held stereotypes about other minority groups are now questioned as well. One in the Dissonance stage is also starting to realize that not all beliefs held by the dominant group are valuable or even accurate (Sue & Sue, 2003). Because of the two incidents Antonio endured during his freshman year and their emotional impact on him, he is becoming aware that even though he has “assimilated,” others of the majority group will still identify him as different. Antonio is also experiencing conflict between what members of the minority group (his parents) and the majority group feel are important; his parents believe he
In order to understand the current situation of Puerto Ricans one must look at their history and retrace the sequence of events that led to the current formation of the Puerto Rican people. An important component of this history is the time Puerto Rico spent under Spanish rule. Studying this portion of Puerto Rican history forces us to acknowledge the contribution the Spaniards, European immigrants, and African slaves had on Puerto Rican identity as we consider it today. This also addresses contemporary debates on Puerto Rican identity. An example of this is evident in an essay written by Jose Luis Gonzales entitled "Puerto Rico : Th Four Storied Country". In the article Gonzales points out what he feels is a disregard toward the African contribution to the Puerto Rican identity. He argues that the first Puerto Ricans were black , based on his interpretation that Africans were the first group to come to Puerto Rico and reproduce who did not have ties to a "motherland" because they were slaves. This is unlike the Spaniard elites and Criolles that demonstrated their commitment and loyalty to Spain. Since they had no other place to go, Puerto Rico was their motherland. Gonzalez also points out that the culture of a region is always the culture of the elite, not the popular culture.
In Stuart Hall’s “What is This “Black” in Black Popular Culture?” the historical implication of popular culture in the U.S is examined and the influence that blackness has in it is deconstructed. According to the text, the departure of European concepts of culture after WWII sparked a hegemonic shift as the United States emerged as a world power. Due to this, the U.S. became the epicenter of global culture production. However, since America has always had a large ethnic population due to slavery, the true face of American popular culture was black American vernacular traditions. Even today, slang that emerge from black ghettos and communities become highly popular with people of other races. In fact, much of black culture is not just our culture,
When the United States invaded and took over Puerto Rico in 1898, race relations acquired yet another facet. "At the beginning of the century, President McKinley carried out military interventions in Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines with U.S. corporate interests in mind (Schirmer)" Like Spain, the United States also intended to use Puerto Rico to its own advantage. In his project, David Bernstein states, "The United States used its power to restrict Puerto Rican trade, from which Whites in America and Puerto Rico prosperred heavily. Black and other non-White Puerto Ricans were exploited under both colonial regimes." However, the overt racism in the United States widened the gap between races even further than Spanish colonization had. Unlike in Puerto Rico, there was a strong sense of discrimination in the United States. This discrimination separated those with different colored skin, regardless of background and social status. Ferré often speaks of the prestige of class during US colonization, saying at one point:
For many, music is a cultural history that brings families together, allowing them to share a common interest. The birth of hip hop ignited a whole new world of music, which lead to vast amount of controversy in the music industry. Hip hop has always been recognized as the platform for the black American culture. Hip hop become a moment that changed the entire music industry, and as the culture progressed it become more mainstream. In today’s music society, it is evident that the white race has become greatly involved with hip hop and the lifestyle that entails this culture. Notorious artists such as the Beastie Boys and Vanilla Ice enabled artists such as Eminem, Miley Cyrus and Iggy Azalea to follow their dreams in the hip hop world. If one acknowledges all the aspect of the hip hop culture such as the type of dance or the graffiti art, does the color of his or her skin really matter? It is clear that these artists have tested this theory, and have results that are shocking. White artists are becoming more accepted and appreciated for their music and are being mentors for the hip hop community. As a result of the outbreak of hip hop out of the Bronx, all races were able to enjoy and love the culture of hip
Thankfully, sociologists study what cultural elements dictate society’s influence on racial inequality and Brekhus (2015) enumerates identity authenticity as one. Density, “whether one performs the identity adequately” and duration, “whether one performs the identity enough of the time” (Brekhus 2015:120), comprise how authentic an identity is. Although some individuals fail to find their identity until later in life, they observe the duration component by establishing their identity as innate. Erin Johnston (2013) exemplifies Paganism as a supposedly innate trait, where her participants “described [it] as an essential and permanent element of their being” (Brekhus 2015:121). Subcultures, such as music genres, also have identities, where the hip-hop industry desires a racially black, old school, from the hood artist. Conversely, what is not desired signifies identity authenticity and a white, suburban, mainstream artist is not authentic hip-hop. In American society, race is an identity everyone holds, whether white, black, latino, asian, mixed, etc. There are auxiliary characteristics inclined for and against each race, mostly chalked up as
The movie ‘From Mambo to Hip-Hop’ is a great documentary about a revolution in the entertainment industry. It talks of evolution on Salsa music and Hip-Hop culture in suburbs of New York. South Bronx is a ghetto neighbourhood. The people living in the area are challenged economically. There is a record of high cases of violence that exist in the streets due to high crime rate and drugs being traded as a means of survival (Gordon, 2005). Most of the people living in the area are descendants of African immigrants who could trace their origin in the Caribbean islands with a large number Latin American population too.
The short story “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, and Halfie” by Junot Diaz is the main character, Yunior’s, guide to dating girls of different races and the ways to act in order to get what you want from them. The only thing Yunior seems to want for these girls is sexual acts. This short story argues that a person’s heritage, economic class, and race affect how a person identifies themselves, and how their identity affects how they act towards other people. The pressures a person may feel from society also has an effect on how a person treats themselves and others. The pressure and expectations from society are also what makes Yunior think he needs to have sex with these girls. There are many different occasions of the main character talking and acting differently to other people within the story, such as: to himself, his friends, and the different girls he tries to date.
This fieldwork aims to sociologically analyze gender roles and expectations within the movie White Chicks. In this film brothers, Marcus and Kevin Copeland, play the role of two black FBI agents looking to get back into good graces with their superior after they accidentally ruined a drug bust. They are assigned to escort two rich white females, Brittney and Tiffany Wilson, to the Hamptons for Labor Day festivities. While traveling they experience a minor car accident, leaving the girls with a single scratch each on their face. Because of their socialite status, the sisters no longer wish to continue their trip in fear of humiliation. The agents fear losing their chance of redemption, so they decide to disguise