“For something to become popular entails a struggle; it is never a simple process, as Gramsci reminded us. It doesn’t just happen. And that means there must always be some distance between the immediate practical consciousness or common sense of ordinary people, I don’t think that history is finished, and the assertion that it is, which lies at the heart of postmodernism, betrays the inexcusable ethnocentrism—the Eurocentrism—of its high priests” ON POSTMODERNISM AND ARTICULATION p. 141
“Racism is also one of the dominant means of ideological representation through which the white fractions of the class come to 'live' their relations to other fractions, and through them to capital itself.” Race, articulation, and Societies Structured in Dominance p. 341
Between these two quotes, I am thinking a lot about how, in the West - the creation of race and the creation of whiteness is often used as a signifier to establish personhood and, more explicitly - an ascription deeming someone as a reference away from Blackness, the subhuman category. This resonates with the work of Charles Mills's The Racial Contract and David Rodiger/Du Bois's wages of whiteness and what it means to be “human” vs. subhuman” when racism is a larger global political system.
I also found these to be exceptionally helpful quotes in illustrating Hall’s attachment to modernism. Here, I think again about the first week and our discussion around the neoliberal representation of Barack Obama, the appeal to the post-modernist idea of “race being over,” and our imminent hopeful trajectory into a post-racial society. Obama’s presence speaks to Mayorga-Gallo’s White Centering of Diversity Ideology (2019).
With the rise of criticism towards Obama’s post-racial popularity masking his notable adherence to imperial values, what era are we now in? A post-postmodernism? How do we conceptualize the importance of representation in this new Post-Obama frame?
On a complete side note, I also think about the recent trends in popular culture, particularly, the “Billboard Top 100” - in digging into what signifies “art” or “culture” as popular, once again, look no further than hip hop- its commodification and popularization in the postmodern age. We can see an increase in the notoriety of hip-hop artists, but what’s fascinating is the inevitable response from record labels pushing for white pop and country artists, inevitably shadowing the success of black artists and their respective positions on these metric charts. How could this be considered a form of struggle? Or articulation?
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