As you might guess, I am going to point out some
inconsistencies in Adam J. Banks’s chapter “Remix: Afrofuturistic Roadmaps—Rememory
Remixed for a Digital Age” (Digital
Griots). Banks claims that the Dj’s
remix, especially the “’old school/new school’ remix,” “offers a conceptual
metaphor for the kinds of technological synthesis that can bridge old school
and new school and print, oral, and digital literacies in an Afrofuturistic
approach to activism and rhetorical performance” (87).
First of all, one cannot title a chapter using a term synonymous
with Toni Morrison (“rememory”) and only mention her once, and not examine the
term as used in its original text—especially when one is claiming these
original texts are important. In Beloved,
a ghost from the past comes to the present day and tortures characters almost
to death. It plays mind games with them. It fucks them. It drains the lifeblood
from them. Now if Banks had written something about this and made the argument
that the ghost had to be dealt with in order for the characters to live in the
present/future, that would be fine; but he did not. He simply sampled one line
from a culturally vital novel without giving any of the backstory: the kind of
sampling he later claims is not good.
Secondly, The Black Arts Movement is thrown around as
something that is important to remember. Well then, tell us. No? Then I will:
Characteristics of form and content in the Black Arts Movement:
a.
Violent: they believed past black writing had
all failed because it was “protest” literature; and in protesting, one is
pleading—looking up still to the white master.
b.
Since there are then no literary predecessors,
B.A.M. poets relied heavily on mixing forms, high culture and low culture, and
jazz (particularly bebop).
c.
The music/oral/performance emphasis meant that
much of the creative energy was channeled into theatre (Baraka and Sanchez, et
al). Sometimes performances would go on in the street and lead to Black Power
meetings inside.
d.
Addressed to the second person “you” much of the
time. They were writing only for a black audience—a call to action.
We can see that the first characteristic (a) doesn’t fit with Banks’ s
vision.
Thirdly, either claim that digital technology is beneficial to Black
communities or not. On page 98, Banks writes because of “ravages” including “the
rise of computers and the digital information age” (alongside “ravages such as
HIV and crack use), black communities have fallen apart. A few pages later, he
gives a two-and-a-half-page quote touting the eBlack Studies movement as something
that will bring people together.
I actually really like many of the things Banks wrote about. Over half
of the time I was lost in references I did not get, but I do think that we must
understand our past and bring old school and new school together. I’m just not
sure that Banks makes a solid case for the DJ as being the one to be the griot.
Questions for the class:
1.
Where do you get your history? What does it do
for your sense of self, your sense of community?
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