CFP: Obama-Mania

Looking for essays about President Barack Obama in Popular Culture for a book anthology

Title of manuscript: Obama-Mania: Critical Essays on Representations of President Barak Obama in Popular Culture

Contact:

ObamaInPopularCulture@gmail.com

Editors: Derrais Carter & Nicholas Yanes

Publisher: McFarland

Deadline for Abstracts: May 25th, 2009

Description of the Book:

The 2008 Presidential Elections was one of the most intensely debated and commented on race in modern history. The passionate standpoints expressed in this election not only stems from ideological conflicts, but from Barack Obama’s uniqueness as a Presidential candidate. This book collects specific examinations of President Obama in popular culture with the hope of creating a scholarly record of Obama’s presence in popular media free of historical revisionism. With this in mind, Obama-Mania will bring together essays that examine how Barack Obama’s image has been used in comic books, music, television shows, movies, and how talk shows and radio programs have commented on Obama’s campaign and election. In short, the focus of this book is not specifically on Obama and the politics surrounding the 2008 Presidential election, but on the conversation between popular culture and President Obama.

Expectations for Proposals and Essays:

Ideal proposals will contain a clear thesis, an abstract which is two to three paragraphs long and a list of potential sources. Additionally, we want a clear thesis, not an overview of a medium. For instance, if one is to talk about Obama in comic books, we will not accept a paper discussing every Obama comic book appearance. Additionally, if a person wants to write about the President’s influence on music, we will not accept an essay simply documenting every song which was used in the campaign or that makes reference to Obama. We are looking for papers of academic quality.

The collection will include 10 to 12 essays between 6250 and 7500 words - this includes each work’s bibliography. Essays need to be in MLA format – parenthetical citations, not footnotes. And it is up to the author(s) to get permission to reprint copyrighted material.

Proposed Topics:

1) Comic Books & Science Fiction: Depictions of Obama as Superhuman

2) Music: How have musicians addressed Obama and the 2008 Election

3) Television and Film

a. Movies: The Cinematography of Change

b. Scripted Fictional Television: How Escapist Television Predicted and Has Been Influenced by Political Reality

4) Non-Fiction Political Programs: News Shows and Radio Programs

5) Internet: To Obama Girl and Beyond

The N-Word

So, the NAACP recently buried the N-word.

I would like to give an unenthusiastic cheer for the talented tenth. You have truly saved me from the harsh realities of being a black, male, hip hop head in America. Now that the N-word is symbolically stricken, I guess the cultural myopia I continuously face will come to an end.

For all intensive purposes, the "n-word" will now substitute n***** and n****.

I recently read an opinion piece by critic (and hip hop antagonist) Stanley Crouch (article). The article is entitled Good riddance

Burying the N-word, driving stake through the heart of hip-hop's demons

Although very catchy, the whole "driving the stake" thing would be more applicable had the current hip hop generation been actively engaged in this issue. We can easily look at figures such as Chuck D and say that there are prominent artists who are contributing, however, even Chuck knows that there are generational differences in hip hop. I applaud Crouch in his desire to consistently castigate whenever possible, but in all honesty, disrespect didn't start with hip hop. We can bury all of the negative words we want, but as long as people can begin a sentence with "yo mamma..." somebody's feelings will get hurt.

The burial of the "n-word" will help a lot of people sleep well, but it will also hinder an understanding of the business of popular culture. In the aftermath of Imus vs. Rutgers, record industry execs met to discuss the use of offensive language in rap albums. During a Rapsessions Town Hall Meeting (which aired on C-SPAN), T. Sharpley-Whiting called the meeting a "moment of White supremacy culture, patriarchy, and capitalism coming together to discuss black women’s bodies". At the end of the day, that's what it came too. Finding ways to justify moral crusades against art is like pouring water out of a boot with instructions on the heel. There must come a critical look at the business behind the art. As much as we argue about hip hop and art, the business aspect has been there since Kool Herc's sister was throwin' parties back in the day.

Crouch also notes a comment made by Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick:

"we are not just burying the N-word, we're taking it out of our spirit. We gather burying all of the things that go with the N-word. We have to bury the pimps and the ho's that go with it."

One would be hard-pressed to think that one generation will get rid of centuries of pimping. Sure, it sounds good, but where would America be without the pimp mentality (google Beth Coleman's essay "Pimp Notes on Autonomy").
Finally, rappers do need to step their intellectual game up; but so do hip hop fans and critics. In the Souls of Black Folk W.E.B. DuBois writes "[w]ords and music have lost each other and new and cant phrases of a dimly understood theology have displaced the older sentiment". With the burial of the n-word, we have found yet another topic to store in Black America's closet of sacred cows (just below colorism, and 3/5 of an inch above O.J. ). This event should not be used to escape the contradictions of black life. It sould be used to address the "real" concerns of the community. We should see how education, arts, and commerce all make the "n-word" real.