Amcult 208 1st EditionLecture 1 Outline of Last Lecture I. Definition and History of HipOutline of Current Lecture II. History of SlaveryIII. Interaction of Slaves and White OwnersIV. The Genesis of HipV. Contact Current LectureSlavery, Minstrelsy, and the Blues and the Creation of HipThe importation of slaves in American began roughly in 1619- It lasted “officially” until 1808, when new importation of slaves was banned.- End of slave importation from AfricaBy that time, almost 3/4 million Africans had been brought to America as slavesBUT… most of these early slaves were not directly from Africa, but rather were “Atlantic Creoles”: slaves from the sugar plantations in the Caribbean and BrazilThey were, therefore, of mixed culture and mixed race. They were far hipper than we gave them credit for. - The famous stereotype of white slavers of chasing Africans in Africa and then throwing them on boats and separating them from their culture… however there was a great slave trade in Africa and often times the American slaves were already slaves in AfricaIn Brazil they are exposed to different religions and cultures and music, by the time they get to North America, they are quite hip and are far more knowledgeable than we give them credit for.- They have been exposed to many new things and bring culturally to North America a tremendously diverse cultureFor the first 180 years of slavery the relationship between slaves and their owners was different than what we normally understand: big plantations didn’t exist in the beginning, cotton gin wasn’t invented yet, couldn’t have hundreds of slaves, were at first 10-30 acres, with 5 or 6 slaves- Cotton gin was invented in 1973 allowing for much larger productionSmaller farms meant slave and slave owner lived in closer proximity to each other, since These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.owners had to pay for slaves they were a valued commodity, took as good of care of slaves as animalsLeland argues that is precisely the presence of Africans that separates the development of American bohemian culture from those of Europe.But Leland also will argue that is not “just” the presence of Africans that made American “hip”He contends that were was another necessary component; EuropeansIt was the interaction of these two groupsBecause we have long-believed myths in our culture as to who can do certain thingsI.e. the idea that “Blacks have more rhythm"- Need to be careful to not make generalizations, but we can some times talk about some kinds of applicable generalizationso “In general, African tradition has a much more holistic approach to culture than Western European cultures have”- Western European cultures love to compartmentalize things, have times to do things so nothing overlapso African people sing and dance while they work, rhythm is a more natural element to be incorporated in all of life o In general, black culture seems to embrace the holism of rhythm and other thingsWhite men cannot jump- Black men can, black athletes have more natural talent, don’t have to work hardWhite people can’t danceWhite boys can’t play the blues- “White boys haven’t suffered enough”“That person is so good that they sound black”- That person sounds soulfulThe Genesis of Hip:Hip comes not from a single cultural reference, but as a result of at least two cultures trying to negotiate life with one another,• no single race or group owns, or can lay claim to, any cultural product• Buddhist ideas hat everything is made up of everything, to say any cultural manifestation of anything coms form one person or race or culture, completely misses out on the beauty of what culture really is.The blues, jazz, swing, bebop, r &b, pop, soul, rock, rap, hip hop ALL borrow from multiple sources.If this is true then why does popular belief tend to downplay this idea?America Invents Itself• All cultures tell stories about themselvesstories are one of the main things that separates humans from other sanctionedthingsit is through stories that we transcend reality, in the end we all become stories• In folklore studies we find that all cultures and societies share similar storiesstories about how the world beganstories about how things got their namelandpeopleanimals and their characteristicsthemselvesPoints of Contact• the expressive channels of hip: language, religion, song, dance, sexEuropean Americans and Africans have CONTACT, they IDENTIFY that there is something that holds them apart, their FEELING is that they must find a way to “work the system”, their INTENTION is to pick and choose the elements of each other’s cultures that works for them, their ACTION is the borrowing… take certain elements from each other and shape them according to their needs.Coming Together Yet Staying Apart• this contact had its roots in the very philosophical underpinnings of slaveryslave owners espoused a paternalistic attitude toward their slaves that allowed them to:rationalize the system, used to argue why slavery should not be abolished, “we are taking care of these savages”encouraged slaves to bond with their mastersdilutes ties to other slaveslessened rebellionscloser cultural exchangeBlacks and whites shared the same food, this person eats in a way that is very similar to the way I used to eat, I have something in common with themsame habits, same folkways, same values- Porches come from African cultureLanguage: one of the first developments that would eventually have an impact on the creation of Hip was Black English• circumlocution rather than exact definition• language in this sense, became a code of description for slaves• Hip talk is Bohemian implied, “a strategy for multiplying meaning”• the African Wolof verb hep means “to see” and their verb hip means “to open one’s eyes”◦ means to know, to have inner knowledge, to have understanding of universe with having it explained to you, to be enlightened◦ as the word worked its way into common colloquial usage to mean “someone in the know”The term “dig” comes form similar root: Wolof verb deg means “to understand”As does the word “jive”” Wolof verb jet means “to talk falsely or disparagingly”Religion: In West African culture there is no separation between the spiritual and secular as we tend