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From The Veil to The Earbud:

Limits of Black Representation in Music

Double-Consciousness & The Veil

In framing The Souls of Black Folk, W. E. B. Du Bois introduces the notion of double-consciousness, what he describes to be “this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity” (Du Bois 8). This phenomenon, Du Bois argues, is majorly responsible for perpetuating internalized racism and the division of races he calls the “color-line,” the greatest issue we face today.

Free, but not Equal

When I was in elementary school, I used to spend my recesses sitting under the shade of an oak, tracing patterns in the bark mulch with a stick. I liked to watch the boys circle around a small rock and duel in Pokemon card games. I liked the divesity of the animals, I liked the special holographic cards, and I liked the strategizing of the game. I didn't have any Pokemon cards of my own, but neither did some of the boys who were playing. They would borrow someone's set for a round. I wanted to be a part of their game more than anything else on that playground, but I was never allowed to play, because I am a girl. The most I could do was watch. It was very clear to me from an early age that there were spaces in the world that girls were not welcome in.

Alexis de Toqueville introduces history as an intended and well-thought-out project in Democracy in America. Tocqueville claims that the European invasion and rule of Indian land was determined by Providence. Tocqueville asserts that though America has the most democratic characteristics of any nation, it is not a perfect democracy because of the racism towards “Negroes” and “Indians.” Tocqueville explains the two-fold result of the expansion of civilization, which both decreased Indian economic subsistence, while deepening their interest in the commodities offered by civilization.

Think of a point in time within your life thus far – any time at all.

What is the first thing that comes to mind?

A place – a place is inextricably glued to that time.

Within our minds, there exists a dependency between space and time. We mark our memories of time within the context of a particular space, a location. A significant place evokes a memory of a particular time, proving how we all mark time through space; as a place changes, we mark its change as movement in time. This is how we anchor ourselves in the universe, and give purpose to places. 

Life and Childhood

In their essay “Playing in industrial ruins: Interrogating teleological understandings of play in spaces of material alterity and low surveillance,” Tim Edensor et al. discuss the importance—and danger—of industrial ruins as places for children, adolescents, and sometimes adults to play. In urban areas, they say, children can explore a “wild space” with little to no adult supervision (Edensor et al. 74). The essay also highlights the importance of the materials in these ruins, which are used not only as “toys,” but also as means for rebelling against society’s expectations by breaking them, painting them, or turning them into sculptures (Edensor et al. 67, 69).

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Micro-Impacts of Play

              A common theory today for the existence and importance of childhood play in human is that play is necessary to full and healthy development, a theory exemplified by Robin Marantz Henig in her essay “Taking Play Seriously.” How we play as children shapes how we behave in our adult lives. In her short posting “Playing Alone,” Hsymonds reflects on her own experiences of play, exploring how the manner in which she played parallels the way she sees herself acting now. At the intersection of these two pieces lies the question of how the ways in which we play, not just the act of playing, affects actions in non-play spaces.

Alison
ESem Paper #4
September 25, 2015
Giving Children a Real Childhood