Bruce Jackson is a professor of culture at U. Buffalo. As a
doctoral student, I became familiar with his work as a prison folklore
anthropologist. Jackson not only perfected a sampling technique called
"snowball sampling" (where one respondent provides you access to the
next), he was (and is) one of the great chroniclers of what he calls
"convict work songs" which, he notes, "seemed to me to be part
of an unbroken musical tradition going back to West Africa." Ironically, I
just discovered yesterday (on the day of Pete's death) that it was Pete Seeger
who encouraged Jackson to record the work songs and even funded a film Jackson
made about them. Here's a link to a recording:
Together, they conspired to preserve a uniquely situated
American text--with deep roots to West Africa, slavery, resistance and
identity. A tapestry of the finest cloth. Thank you Bruce. Rest in Peace, Pete!
B.
Bill - probably because of his passing, but I saw this tribute to PS on facebook today: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/pictures/pete-seeger-20-essential-tracks-20140128. Did we explore music as a literacy genre last year? What a powerful way to express voice and capture social and historical context. This makes me think about the ways music could be used in literacy instruction...music as text. Thx. Susan
ReplyDeleteHelloooo Susan!! We did not spend much time at all on music--just a little bit on remix...Great idea to pursue this. We may need to make this a 2 semester course!
ReplyDeleteSO funny because I just brought up Phil Ochs (PS contemporary) in my other blog while I was talking about Capstone. I think music, and the stories contained within, are very important to literacy and social change (or personal revolution, which is what I said).
ReplyDeleteThanks for teaching me about Bruce Jackson, I am looking forward to exploring his work!