Go-Go Live: Washington, D.C.'s Cultural Information Network, Drumming the News, Knitting Communities, and Guarding a Black Public Sphere

Through the frame of Habermas's theory of the public sphere, this study argues that go-go, Washington, D.C.'s funk-based live music genre, functions as a unique public sphere in the majority-black United States capital city also known as the "Chocolate City." Go-go is a powerful counter-discourse to hip-hop, another urban culture with origins in the 1970s post-industrial American landscape. Both hip-hop and go-go originally functioned as a news and cultural medium for geographically-specific African American communities, or what rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy described as a "black CNN." While hip-hop moved into the global mainstream of popular culture, the go-go community guarded the borders of its sphere from encroachment, commercialization, and cooptation from political, cultural, and economic forces. Live concerts employ centuries-old rituals, scripts, and codes in dance, music and clothing to deliver the news in a call-and-response with African-derived traditions. The study of go-go provides insights useful to both the music and news media industries under assault by the decentralization and democratization of production and fragmentation of audiences. This study demonstrates how through a network of roving independent entrepreneurs and storefront businesses, go-go has protected the sanctity of this sphere and continues to build community across several decades and a variety of media platforms. This study combines ethnography, life history research, ethnomusicology, and cultural geography to "read" the news go-go tells, stories, communities and people overlooked or misunderstood by corporate news media

Ancient volcanism on the Moon: Insights from Pb isotopes in the MIL 13317 and Kalahari 009 lunar meteorites

Lunar meteorites provide a potential opportunity to expand the study of ancient (>4000 Ma) basaltic volcanism on the Moon, of which there are only a few examples in the Apollo sample collection. Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) was used to determine the Pb isotopic compositions of multiple mineral phases (Ca-phosphates, baddeleyite K-feldspar, K-rich glass and plagioclase) in two lunar meteorites, Miller Range (MIL) 13317 and Kalahari (Kal) 009. These data were used to calculate crystallisation ages of 4332 ±2Ma (95% confidence level) for basaltic clasts in MIL 13317, and 4369 ±7Ma (95% confidence level) for the monomict basaltic breccia Kal 009. From the analyses of the MIL 13317 basaltic clasts, it was possible to determine an initial Pb isotopic composition of the protolith from which the clasts originated, and infer a 238U/204Pb ratio (μ-value) of 850 ±130(2σ uncertainty) for the magmatic source of this basalt. This is lower than μ-values determined previously for KREEP-rich (an acronym for K, Rare Earth Elements and P) basalts, although analyses of other lithological components in the meteorite suggest the presence of a KREEP component in the regolith from which the breccia was formed and, therefore, a more probable origin for the meteorite on the lunar nearside. It was not possible to determine a similar initial Pb isotopic composition from the Kal 009 data, but previous studies of the meteorite have highlighted the very low concentrations of incompatible trace elements and proposed an origin on the farside of the Moon. Taken together, the data from these two meteorites provide more compelling evidence for widespread ancient volcanism on the Moon. Furthermore, the compositional differences between the basaltic materials in the meteorites provide evidence that this volcanism was not an isolated or localised occurrence, but happened in multiple locations on the Moon and at distinct times. In light of previous studies into early lunar magmatic evolution, these data also imply that basaltic volcanism commenced almost immediately after Lunar Magma Ocean (LMO) crystallisation, as defined by Nd, Hf and Pb model ages at about 4370Ma

3. Electric Dreams

Figure 3.1 Serena Hopkinson on a class trip to Trinidad in 1966 while she was a student at St. Joseph’s High School in Georgetown, Guyana. © Hopkinson Family Collection. Courtesy of Serena Hopkinson and Natalie Hopkinson. CC BY 4.0. On the Move Mom, these days when I see all the xenophobia and nastiness in the United States, I am overwhelmed by an urge to pick up and move. Growing up, you and dad were constantly on the go. I think I counted eighteen addresses in two countries..

Beyond ‘Cats & Dogs’ A Geopolitical and Cultural Analysis of Guyana’s ‘Mashramani’ Independence Celebration

Donald Ramotar, President of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, wore a red polo shirt, jeans and a massive Amerindian-style cacique headdress. The Indo-Guyanese leader of the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) faced reelection amid scandal and accusations of corruption. The president stood along the Mashramani parade route with a coterie of plain-clothes security guards on Georgetown’s Church Street when a middle-aged Afro-Guyanese woman wearing a large straw hat with pastel colors app..

Showing and growing community resilience in Theodore community based participatory research project into community resilience in the wake of the 2010/11 floods project /

In recent years, a number of small and large communities around Australia and internationally, have had to learn to deal with the trauma associated with natural disasters. This Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) project explores community resilience after flooding in the township of Theodore, a small rural town in Queensland that was evacuated twice during the 2010-2011 summer. Community resilience is now emerging as a key factor in determining how people deal with stressful situations both in the short and long term. While much of the research to date has considered community resilience from the perspective of a collective of individuals’ resilience, it is becoming evident that collective community resilience is more than a sum of the resilience of individuals (Hegney et al 2007; Mukota & Muhajarine 2005; Bava et al 2010). Colten, Kates and Laska (2008, p. 38) define community resilience as the ability of communities to ‘rebound from disaster and reduce long-term vulnerability, thus moving toward more sustainable footing’. Community resilience can only be developed as a whole of community learning activity through active citizenry and solid social networks of community groups (Bourgon 2010). The ‘Showing and Growing Community Resilience in Theodore’ project uses photovoice to gather the first stage of data which focuses on the meaning the floods had for residents in regards to community resilience, associated aspects of vulnerability and risk perception. Residents provide photographs as a means of telling their stories. Consistent with CBPR, researchers work with participants to analyse these photographs to draw out a collective meaning for the community, as well as to collaboratively identify ways forward for the residents of Theodore to build a stronger community. As a CBPR project, the researchers and community work together at all stages of the data collection and analysis in a process whereby each learns from one another (Minkler & Wallerstein 2008). Using an adaptation of Mukota and Muhajarine’s (2005) conceptual framework, the researchers and community members can systematically work through the contextual, structural, social and interpersonal factors that promote and inhibit community resilience. The aim is to better understand how to grow community resilience to natural disasters and to enable a stronger community into the future

Liminal Spaces

Liminal Spaces is an intimate exploration into the migration narratives of fifteen women of Guyanese heritage. It spans diverse inter-generational perspectives – from those who leave Guyana, and those who are left – and seven seminal decades of Guyana’s history – from the 1950s to the present day – bringing the voices of women to the fore. The volume is conceived of as a visual exhibition on the page; a four-part journey navigating the contributors’ essays and artworks, allowing the reader to trace the migration path of Guyanese women from their moment of departure, to their arrival on diasporic soils, to their reunion with Guyana. Eloquent and visually stunning, Liminal Spaces unpacks the global realities of migration, challenging and disrupting dominant narratives associated with Guyana, its colonial past, and its post-colonial present as a ‘disappearing nation’. Multimodal in approach, the volume combines memoir, creative non-fiction, poetry, photography, art and curatorial essays to collectively examine the mutable no on of ‘homeland’, and grapple with ideas of place and accountability. This volume is a welcome contribution to the scholarly fi eld of international migration, transnationalism, and diaspora, both in its creative methodological approach, and in its subject area – as one of the only studies published on Guyanese diaspora. It is essential reading to those studying women and migration, and scholars and students of diaspora studies. As with all Open Book publications, this entire book is available to read for free on the publisher’s website. Printed and digital editions, together with supplementary digital material, can also be found at www.openbookpublishers.co