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Contending
with
Censorship
The
Underground Music Scene in Urban Iran
By Heather Rastovac
University
of Washington, Seattle
As
modernity and
traditionalism collide in contemporary Iran, an underground music scene
is emerging in Iran’s urban centers. Rap, rock, alternative and fusion
musical styles are developing a position in Iranian musical culture.
They have provided a means for many musicians to articulate a modern
cultural identity that is rooted at home yet simultaneously in dialogue
with a global community. Because of the Iranian government’s religious
scrutiny and state implemented censorship, many of these musicians are
prohibited from producing albums or holding concerts. However, they
continue to engage in their art and find creative ways around these
restrictions through such means as distributing their music and videos
over the Internet and playing secret concerts. Underground musicians
are challenging the dominant discourse on questions of national
identity and the meaning of being Iranian. While authorities continue
with attempts to maintain an isolationist stance in regards to its
national identity, the regime is facing an extremely young, educated
nation, one with approximately seventy percent of its population under
the age of thirty. An emerging youth culture is developing in Iran
which identifies itself as cosmopolitan and internationalist, who are
seeking to be a part of a global culture, or to become ‘global’ and
whose voices of dissent are becoming increasingly more difficult to
silence. pdf
Remembering Laughter and Tears in
a Drawer
Music as a Response to
Soviet
Repression
By Sarah Cunningham
University
of Washington, Seattle
In
the wake of World
War II, Joseph Stalin began a period of increased political and
cultural repression in the Soviet Union, and as a result, an
unprecedented number of musical compositions were banned because they
did not comply with the Soviet vision for music. The censorship
affected many, including Dmitri Shostakovich, arguably the most famous
Soviet composer. While he was never a blatant dissident, Shostakovich
was able to create a reflective, enduring history of both his own
artistic difficulties and a moral commentary on the broader oppression
of Stalin’s rule. He accomplished this by reusing musical themes from
his banned works and by embracing Jewish folk themes. Through
self-quotation, Shostakovich created a lasting history of his work that
defied the censor’s pen and affirmed the lasting power of artistic
expression. Shostakovich also responded to the authoritarian cultural
program by incorporating Jewish idioms into several new works,
including his song cycle, “From Jewish Folk Poetry.” Since Jews
experienced intense official pressure throughout the Soviet era, his
sympathy for their culture was courageous and exceptional.
pdf
Praise, Blame and Advocacy
An
Examination of President George. W. Bush's Post-9/11 Discourse and the
Rhetorical Genres that Define it
By Joshua Hubanks
University
of Washington, Seattle
Numerous
scholars of the social sciences and humanities have analyzed President
George W. Bush’s rhetorical response to the September 11th terror
attacks on the United States. Whereas some have viewed his discourse as
participating in the epideictic genre, designed as a non-argumentative
attempt to unite Americans and identify enemies, others have noted its
overt tendency toward implicit policy advocacy and viewed it as
belonging to the deliber-ative genre. At present, no research has
attempted to bridge the gap between these apparently disparate
viewpoints. Should the rhetoric be viewed as an epideictic reaction to
tragedy, extolling the values of America while condemning those of its
enemies? Or should it instead be viewed as a deliberative attempt at
advocacy, anticipatorily positing fear-based arguments for
soon-to-be-made shifts in American foreign and domestic policy? Indeed,
do simplified generic distinctions remain the useful tools of
rhetorical classification that they once were, or has their
inconsistent application since antiquity rendered them unimportant?
Drawing from a number of studies in the humanities and social sciences,
as well as from classical rhetorical theory, this study asks: On what
rhetorical basis should George W. Bush’s post-9/11 discourse be
assessed, and to what extent can such an assessment be definitive and
useful? The study ultimately concludes that recognition of the
potential for multiple generic tendencies to participate within in a
single discourse can contribute to more sophisticated and helpful
understandings of modern rhetorical hybrids like Bush’s speeches. pdf
Redemptive Narratives in Marx and
Nietzsche
By Ada
Albuquerque da
Silva
University
of Washington, Seattle
Though
their methods differ, Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche are allied on
one major point: the refutation of religion. Marx describes religion as
a drug used to soothe the misery of the masses, while Nietzsche
considers it a tool employed by the weak to manipulate the nobility.
Despite their shared disbelief in transcendent beings, both
philosophers came to express themselves through a secular redemption;
reflections of the religious doctrines they were taught as children. In
analyzing man's state, Marx sees an opportunity for man to transform
from a stratified society to an egalitarian one, whereas Nietzsche sees
an opportunity for a reversal of the master-slave relationship into a
more distinct separation, between the common man and the Overman. On
the path to redemption, Nietzsche proclaims the death of God, where
Marx predicts the death of capitalism. Both preach for a redemptive end
result. pdf
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