The main research question reads:  

_To what extent and how do non-whites and whites navigate (construct, maintain and/or deconstruct) ethno-racial boundaries in the reception of rock music in the United States and the Netherlands?

Schaap, J.C.F. (Julian)

Schaap, Julian

EUR Research Repository

English

Elvis Has Finally Left the Building? : Boundary work, whiteness and the reception of rock music in comparative perspective

Erasmus University Digital Repository

Propositions to accompany the PhD thesis of  Julian SchaapElvis has finally left the building?  Boundary work, whiteness and the reception of  rock music in comparative perspective1. The emergence of  rock music and its enduring association with whiteness can only be understood by grounding the idiosyncratic stories of  key individuals such as Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley in the social and institutional contexts which forged them (this thesis).2. Classification in rock music reception – and many other cultural genres – is still heavily influenced by race/ethnicity, despite the fact that ethno-racial attributes are typically non-related to music itself  (this thesis).3. Often without being aware of  it, people use relatively stable classifi-cation styles that contain racialized properties which assist in authen-ticating, classifying and evaluating cultural products, producers and consumers (this thesis).4. Nondeclarative knowledge, slowly enculturated over time, provides the understructure for the maintenance of  ethno-racial boundaries. This explains why the numerical and symbolic dominance of  white-ness can remain relatively intact despite the prevalence of  good inten-tions towards ethno-racial diversity (this thesis). 5. Apart from linguistic particularities and variations in national ethno- racial constellations, the continued usage of  ethno-racial attributes in everyday boundary work is similar in the Netherlands and the United States (this thesis).6. Quite some sociological paradoxes can be understood by theoretically and empirically differentiating between declarative and nondeclarative knowledge, and subsequently analyzing the weak ties between these forms of  knowledge. 7. Studying popular culture can be as relevant in understanding social divisions as studying ‘serious’ social realms such as politics, law, labor or business – at times even more so.8. It’s wrong to abstain from trying to understand someone else’s posi-tion out of  disinterest. It is equally wrong to say it is pointless to try and understand someone else’s position because one doesn’t have any lived experience in it.9. As per ancient recipe, one still only needs two ingredients to produce excellent education: intrinsically motivated students and engaged teachers. 10. (Self-)doubt is a valuable academic trait to be treasured, not a personal problem that needs fixing.11. Together, snowflakes can make avalanches.

https://repub.eur.nl/pub/120024/Schaap_Elvis-has-finally-left-the-building_propositions.pdf

Elvis Has Finally Left the Building? : Boundary work, whiteness and the reception of rock music in comparative perspective

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