T U E S D A Y FEBRUARY 17, 2004
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD Volume CXXXIX, No. 15
An independent newspaper serving the Brown community since 1891
Students express concerns about blasting
Hip-hop succumbing to commercialism, Dyson says BY KRISTA HACHEY
Hip-hop is a way of life, said Michael Eric Dyson, professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, at a lecture Monday night in Salomon 101. With the demands of commercialism ever-encroaching, hip-hop artists are increasingly sacrificing their skill, intellectualism and potential to the allure of capital, he said. “We’re not challenging the status quo by trying to accumulate money,” Dyson said. “It’s through intellectual values and lyrical dexterity that hip-hop can further its credibility.” Artists like P. Diddy send the message that they “don’t write rhymes, but I like to write checks” by catering to mass appeal and preoccupation with pimp culture, misogyny, homophobia and negative images of the ghetto, Dyson said. The “dumbing down of lyrics” is spreading throughout hip-hop, spurred on by widespread anti-intellectualism in American culture, he said. “This phenomenon started in the White House,” Dyson added. “We have an ‘everyman’ bragging about how inarticulate he is.” Dyson said the commodification of hip-hop has created two sects of artists — those who “keep it real,” and those who “keep it pure.” Critiquing those “who keep it real,” he said their one-dimensional portrayals of ghetto life overshadow real social problems. “Life in the ghetto goes deeper than pimping,” he said. “There are women trying to protect their children, teachers trying to build better schools. The ghetto has more heterogeneity than what you’re repsee DYSON, page 4
BY SHEELA RAMAN
Nick Neely / Herald
Capitalism and consumerism have become the driving forces in hip-hop music, according to Michael Eric Dyson, professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, in a speech Monday night in Salomon 101.
Americans consume foreign cultures instead of appreciating them, speaker says BY ELISE BARAN
White Americans are taught to value other cultures through consumption rather than through exploration, said Henry Yu, professor at the University of California-Los Angeles and the University of British Columbia, in the first of a series of lectures on orientalism Monday afternoon. In his lecture, titled “Rethinking Orientalism,” Yu spoke about the history of orientalism, modern orientalism and cosmopolitanism. He also spoke at length about Edward Said’s book “Orientalism” and the questions it left unanswered. Yu praised the controversial Palestinian writer, who earned himself many enemies as a supporter of the Palestinian cause, for his book, “Orientalism.” With the book’s 1978 publication, Said changed the way society thinks about the relationship between knowledge and power, Yu said. Said was “a man trying to save the Enlightenment from orientalism,” Yu said. He believed in exploring the unknown but
not by objectifying the populations that defined it. But Said did not adequately explore the role of economics in orientalism, Yu said, failing to take into account that in modern society, foreign cultures are consumed. Yu said an American cosmopolitan is a white person who was taught to consume other cultures under the guise of appreciation. Universities are one of a number of places where the consumption of other cultures has been institutionalized, he said. Yu warned the audience that racism and oppression need not be violent to be powerful. The first Orientalists simply intended to observe their subjects, but by observing them, objectified them, he said. Young, white Americans eating sushi with chopsticks and listening to hip-hop might believe they have achieved the cosmopolitan ideal of appreciating other cultures, he said. But this ideal, which Said considered attainable, can only be reached if one thinks about the world in terms of ideas, not as a marketplace, Yu said.
Audience response to Yu’s lecture was mixed. During the question-and-answer session, Evelyn Hu-DeHart, director of the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, expressed her agreement with Yu’s theory of the marketing of differences. Others disagreed with Yu’s mockery of the cosmopolitan. One audience member suggested it is possible to take part in the “consumption” of other cultures without objectifying them, and said he felt implicated by Yu’s blanket judgments. Kerri Holt GS, who helped organize the event, said reactions varied because “people are thinking about Orientalism from different contexts and perspectives.” The “Other Orientalisms” lecture series is sponsored by the Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women, the Malcolm S. Forbes Center for Research in Culture and Media Studies, the Department of English, the Center for the Study of Race and Ethnicity in America, the Department of Comparative Literature and the Graduate Student Council.
I N S I D E T U E S D AY, F E B RUA RY 1 7 , 2 0 0 4 Providence resident Ronald Dwight ’66 relocates to Iraq to assist in reconstruction metro, page 3
www.browndailyherald.com
Professor Barrett Hazeltine explains why he went on strike last week column, page 7
John Kerry is not the best thing for the United States, says Barron Youngsmith ’06 column, page 7
Underground blasting will begin soon at the site of the Life Sciences Building, adding to noise that students say already disrupts their daily routine. On Feb. 23, Atlantic Blasting Co. will begin six to eight weeks of underground blasts to clear space for the building’s foundation, wrote Thomas Forsberg, associate director of Residential Life, in an e-mail to the Brown community. Although the blasts will occur about 24 feet underground and won’t generate much noise, they will be announced by a series of loud air horns before and after each blast is completed. The horns, which are required by Rhode Island law as warnings, will be the most distracting sound for surrounding residents, Forsberg said. Facilities Management refused to comment on the issue, but Mark Nickel, director of the Brown News Service, said that in order for the Life Sciences Building to be completed by Spring 2006, the blasts must take place immediately and cannot be postponed until the semester ends. “With a project of this size, the administrators believe it is very important to keep on schedule,” Nickel said. But many students living in EmeryWoolley said they have been frustrated by the construction all year. At about 6:30 a.m. almost every weekday morning, students and residents living near the building site say they have been awakened by the sound of heavy machinery. “We are all really upset about the latest news. This kind of noise — jackhammers and drills pounding away early in the morning, and now air horns — is not something that you can really get used to or study with,” said Lily Pike ’07, whose room directly faces the construction. “At the very least, they could have planned this project better so the most offensive noise occurs at a later hour of the morning or, better yet, when students are completely gone,” she said. Despite students’ voiced discontent, few complaints have been filed with the administration about construction noise, according to Nickel. He said most student calls to Facilities Management have been about safety to computer equipment and animals during the construction. “I think students just think it’s a hopeless fight to try to do anything about this, and that’s why more people haven’t called about it,” said Julia Nickles ’07. Christopher Marashlian GS, community director for EmWool is compiling a list of student complaints that he plans to submit to the University, Marashlian wrote in an e-mail to EmWool residents Monday. see BLASTING, page 4
TO D AY ’ S F O R E C A S T W. basketball loses to Harvard, defeats Dartmouth over weekend sports, page 8
W. skiing sees regular season end successfully, looks ahead to post-season sports, page 8
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