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Story, History, and Performance: Interpreting Oral History through Black Performance Traditions

Story, History, and Performance: Interpreting Oral History through Black Performance Traditions Story, History, and Performance: Interpreting Oral History through Black Performance Traditions D . Soyini Madison James Baldwin once said, "People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them." Baldwin reminds us that we are both products and producers of history and culture, that we are cultural receivers and cultural givers, and that we are repositories of the values, sym­ bols, and imaginings that constitute social change, as well as the ini­ tiators of such change. Nonetheless, this give-and-take dynamic, in which we are both products and producers of culture, is not an easy­ flowing exchange. There are many moments within this never-end­ ing trade-off where ruptures, confusion, and struggles occur amid the negotiations between self, world, and others. For example, as one who grew up female, black, and middle-class in the 1950s and early 1960s, my ways of knowing myself and most everything around and outside of me appeared to come from two dis­ cursive worlds that seemed at odds with each other. Their messages and meanings contrasted and were often in competition with one another: the distant and sometimes alienating worlds of schools, media, and politicians were cast against the intimate and "home place" world of http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Black Sacred Music Duke University Press

Story, History, and Performance: Interpreting Oral History through Black Performance Traditions

Madison, D. Soyini
Black Sacred Music , Volume 8 (2) – Sep 1, 1994
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Copyright
Copyright © 1994 by Duke University Press
ISSN
1043-9455
eISSN
2640-9879
DOI
10.1215/10439455-8.2.43
Publisher site
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Abstract

Story, History, and Performance: Interpreting Oral History through Black Performance Traditions D . Soyini Madison James Baldwin once said, "People are trapped in history and history is trapped in them." Baldwin reminds us that we are both products and producers of history and culture, that we are cultural receivers and cultural givers, and that we are repositories of the values, sym­ bols, and imaginings that constitute social change, as well as the ini­ tiators of such change. Nonetheless, this give-and-take dynamic, in which we are both products and producers of culture, is not an easy­ flowing exchange. There are many moments within this never-end­ ing trade-off where ruptures, confusion, and struggles occur amid the negotiations between self, world, and others. For example, as one who grew up female, black, and middle-class in the 1950s and early 1960s, my ways of knowing myself and most everything around and outside of me appeared to come from two dis­ cursive worlds that seemed at odds with each other. Their messages and meanings contrasted and were often in competition with one another: the distant and sometimes alienating worlds of schools, media, and politicians were cast against the intimate and "home place" world of

Journal

Black Sacred Music – Duke University Press

Published: Sep 1, 1994

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