Ethnicity, race and postcolonial readings in music video

Overview

Postcolonial melancholia in Gilroy's writing, cultural appropriation and concept of the Black Atlantic.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Summarise Paul Gilroy's argument about colonial discourse.

   Model answer

   Paul Gilroy argues that colonial ways of thinking still shape attitudes to race today. The end of empire did not end the discourse that justified it.

2. 2

   What does Gilroy mean by civilisationism?

   Model answer

   Gilroy uses civilisationism for the belief that cultures can be ranked by civilisation. The idea builds racial hierarchies and sets one group against an inferior other.

3. 3

   How does Gilroy connect otherness to binary opposition?

   Model answer

   Gilroy argues that civilisationism opposes a civilised self to an uncivilised other. Racial hierarchy is produced by that opposition.

4. 4

   What is postcolonial melancholia in Gilroy's writing?

   Model answer

   Postcolonial melancholia is an unresolved national attachment to imperial greatness. Gilroy argues that Britain has never fully confronted the loss of empire.

5. 5

   How can a music video challenge colonial discourse?

   Model answer

   A video can place Black history, language and ritual at the centre rather than the margin. Control of the image passes to the group usually represented by others.

6. 6

   Define cultural appropriation.

   Model answer

   Cultural appropriation is the use of elements of a minority culture by a dominant one. Objections arise where the source culture gains nothing and meaning is stripped.

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