Join us on February 7th, 1pm-2:15pm

at Shindell Choral Hall

Classifying Intertextuality in Protest Music: Case studies from Japan and Elsewhere

Writers have bemoaned the end of protest music as it existed in the 1960s and 70s. I beg to differ: protest music is alive and well, but in forms that are much different from fifty years ago. Rather than on commercial recordings or broadsheets, protest music today primarily exists on the internet, where it is constantly recontextualized in reposts and remixes. This protest music is often highly intertextual. 

This talk considers the ways in which intertextuality in protest music serves social movements—diagnosing the problem and communicating its urgency, resonating with the past, reporting on events, mobilizing, and building solidarity. Extending classifications by Gérard Genette and Serge Lacasse, I posit a typology of intertextuality used in protest music—including covers, contrafacta, hip hop remakes, remixes, mash-ups, allegories, genre adaptation, and paratext. The type of intertextuality that artists use can depend upon the status of the artist, the space of performance, and circumstances regarding the movement, among other factors. Using the protest music in Japan after the Fukushima nuclear accident as a constant example, I suggest the circumstances under which the types of intertextuality tend to be used and the kind of responses they evoke. I draw contrasts with the uses of intertextuality in other countries, especially the U.S., to illustrate how intertextuality can be a powerful means to call attention to protest movements—or misfire.