Postcolonial Theory

Read this W Magazine deep dive on the Yeehaw agenda and answer the following questions:

1) What are the visual cues the article lists as linked to the Western genre? 

Cowboy hats, cow prints, rhinestones, and fringed suede jackets.

2) How did the Yeehaw agenda come about? 

In September 2018, the trend of black pop-culture figures wearing cowboy garb was dubbed the “Yeehaw Agenda” by Bri Malandro, a Texas-based pop-culture archivist.

3) Why has it been suggested that the black cowboy has been 'erased from American culture'? 

The imagery associated with Americana has been overwhelmingly white, so much so that the Studio Museum in Harlem even held a “Black Cowboy” exhibition two years ago, featuring photographic works from Kahlil Joseph, Deanna Lawson, and Chandra McCormick that aimed to bring the black cowboy to the forefront of western history.

The impact that African American men and women have had on cowboy culture is not well known. During the Civil War, Texas slaveowners left cattle wrangling up to the black slaves they purchased while the slaveowners fought in battle. After the war ended, many slaves had become expert cowhands, and roughly 25% of cowboys were black.

4) How has the black cowboy aesthetic been reflected by the fashion industry?

Over the past few years, their popularity has surged to the point that Pyer Moss—a label that prominently presented western-inspired looks in its fall/winter 2018 runway show—featured the Compton Cowboys in the lookbook for their fall 2018 collaboration with Reebok.

Telfar, another label determined to shake up the homogenous couture landscape, has emphasized the importance of the black cowboy figure by employing this aesthetic on the runway. For Telfar, the “runway” at the fall 2019 New York Fashion Week happened to be a stage, where Ho99o9 and other musicians donned their finest western accoutrements—including cowboy hats and chaps—and performed while models stage dove into the crowd turned moshpit. The show was appropriately titled “Country.”

5) Read the section on Lil Nas X and Old Town Road. What does it suggest about race and the country music community?

When Billboard decided to remove the song, insisting that it “does not embrace enough elements of today’s country music” for it to be considered part of the genre, the Internet revolted, with many contending that the erasure of the song from the country charts reveals a problem with race in the country music community.

6) What elements of the song and music video are suggested to be authentically country and Western?

Its singer’s Southern twang is, after all, reminiscent of the twang in the voices of popular country musicians, the track incorporates a banjo, and the video backdrop appropriately matched the aesthetics associated with country music.

7) What genres of music does the article suggest have been shaped by black influences? 

Rock and roll, punk, riot grrrl, electronic music and country music.

8) What do you think has been the driving force behind the Yeehaw movement? 

Lil Nas X's Old Town Road

Revise the postcolonial theories we have studied and apply them to the Old Town Road music video:

1) How does the Old Town Road music video both reinforce and challenge black stereotypes in the media?

Reinforce - Black person shot at by white person - "othering" in the media

Subvert - Black cowboy - does not reflect traditional representations of cowboys in the media

2) How could you argue that the Old Town Road video challenges Gilroy's theory of double consciousness?

Lil Nas X is welcomed by everyone in the bingo hall once he and BRC start singing

3) How do Lil Nas X and Old Town Road provide an example of Hall's theory of race representations? Alternatively, you could argue against this.

Lil Nas X's Old Town Road Music Video subverts stereotypes of Black people. Firstly, he is a cowboy which is unconventional in terms of traditional American representations of cowboys. Secondly, his song entering the country charts is also unconventional as he is Black. The country charts are mostly dominated by White men despite the contribution that Black people have made to country music

4) Are there any examples of Alvarado's theory of black stereotypes in the Old Town Road video? Why/why not?

Lil Nas X is a criminal as he stole money - Dangerous

Lil Nas X is perceived as a threat by the white daughter - Dangerous

Chris Rock's lines - Humorous

5) How does Lil Nas X provide a compelling case study for bell hooks' theory of intersectionality?

Lil Nas X being both gay and Black may cause him to be heavily discriminated against