Ethnic Minorities’ Cultural and Artistic Practices as Forms of Political Expression: A Review of the Literature and a Theoretical Discussion on Music

Abstract

Looking at the current state of the literature, political scientists and sociologists have neglected the political relevance of ethnic and migrant minorities’ popular cultural and artistic productions to concentrate on more conventional forms of political participation. In the first section of this paper, we provide a theoretical framework to this special issue by examining the links between music and politics. We underline several elements related to music which potentially have political significance. We discuss how music can provide/ascribe identities and a sense of place. In the second part of the paper, we attempt to explain why ethnic minorities choose music as a means of political expression. To this end, we present and subsequently critique a typology of political action in popular music developed by the American political scientist Mark Mattern. The paper concludes by stressing the urgent need to develop research on the topic and how this special issue makes its own contribution to this agenda.

Keywords:

• Culture
• Music
• Political Participation
• Ethnic Minorities

Acknowledgements

This special issue of JEMS is a product of the European Network of Excellence on ‘IMISCOE’—International Migration, Integration and Social Cohesion in Europe—funded by the European Commission under FP6, and specifically the IMISCOE research cluster on ‘Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Diversity’. As guest-editors we want to thank the journal's referee, who reviewed the entire set of papers and made valuable suggestions for revision of some of the papers.

Notes

1. See also the special issue of JEMS guest-edited by John Baily and Michael Collyer (2006).

2. Southern trees bear a strange fruit,

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,

Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

Pastoral scene of the gallant South,

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth,

Scent of magnolia sweet and fresh,

And the sudden smell of burning flesh!

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck,

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck,

For the sun to rot, for a tree to drop,

Here is a strange and bitter crop.

(Margolick 2000: 15)

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Marco Martiniello

Marco Martiniello is Research Director at the National Fund for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS) and Director of the Centre for Ethnic and Migration Studies (CEDEM) at the University of Liège

Jean-Michel Lafleur

Jean-Michel Lafleur is FNRS Research Fellow at CEDEM