Academia Against Popular Culture
Popular Culture Against Academia
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jwpm.40176Keywords:
theory, anti-elitism, popular culture studies, popular music studies, ethnomusicologyAbstract
How should popular music scholars (or students of other popular art forms) embrace antielitism while avoiding the scepticism of theory it so often accompanies? I do not argue that theory is beyond reproach or that all theories offer useful answers to all questions. Scholarship should often include refining theories to improve their utility, requiring critical engagement with theory. Anti-elitism too often becomes at worst a dismissal of theory, at best a disregard for it. I discuss popular music scholarship and its value, with particular attention to “train-spotting” and criticism of comic books. If scholars want to understand human experiences (as I trust we do), theory can help us understand why humans do what we do and how our art reflects and affects those experiences.
References
Frith, Simon. 1996. Performing Rites: On the Value of Popular Music. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Kaplan, Ilana. 2019. “Bill Maher Reignites Feud with Stan Lee Fans on ‘Real Time’”. Rolling Stone, 26 January. https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-news/bill-maher-stan-lee-real-time-785005/ (accessed 4 June 2019).
Maher, Bill. 2018. “Adulting”. Real Time with Bill Maher Blog, 17 November. http://www.real-time-with-bill-maher-blog.com/index/2018/11/16/adulting (accessed 3 June 2019).
