7/24/2019 Dorsey Summary

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English 102 Exploring and Understanding “The Political” Through Contemporary Music

Marlene Elwell !nstructor

"ummary o# $orsey%s &rticle

$orsey Margaret' “The (ole o# Music in Materiali)ing Politics'” Political and Legal Anthropology Review 2*'2

+,o-em.er 200/ 134/' Print'

  $orsey does not automatically assume that there is a connection .etween political action and

music' 5owe-er assuming that there is some sort o# lin6age $orsey wants to 6now what that

particular lin6age is and how it #unctions' !n her article com.ining theory with a case study o# the

Mexican corrido musical tradition she argues that music is used to de-elop an essential

identi#ication which is important #or the creation +or a.sence o# political pu.lics'

  $rawing on other theorists% explanations $orsey ad-ances them .y asserting that the “gi#t” and

the “commodity” are more than signals #or transactions +an example politicians using music in

exchange #or -otes' !nstead $orsey maintains that the “gi#t” and “commodity” ser-e as a type o#

“language” to express how and why music .ecomes mixed with the people%s social experience which

allows #or politics to enter into the “e7uation” in that people de-elop a sense o# ownership and8or

.elonging in relation to the music +which can .ecome politici)ed in some way or another'

  This sense o# ownership8.elonging occurs through a process o# latching where a person comes to

.e seen as identi#ying with some aspect o# the political such as a part o# a political campaign' This

can occur through people latching onto campaign songs'

  & #urther discussion o# the latching concept .rings the notion o# exchange into the #ore#ront

which is .ased upon the gi#t3exchange +reciprocal3dependent transactional relationship where

enchainment can occur to o.9ecti#y social relationships .etween indi-iduals and the commodity3

exchange +reciprocal3independent transactional relationship .etween o.9ects'

  &nother component o# latching is the concept o# identi#ication' Music can ser-e as a -ehicle +with

its sound .eat lyrics : shared #eelings and experiences to help #orm an identi#ication with thepolitical'

  $orsey concludes that music is such a pro#ound experience where the listeners do much o# the

social +sociali)ing discussing dining drin6ing eating singing etc' while experiencing the music'

5owe-er she sees a mismatch .etween the a.o-e and what some do to manipulate the social

situation #or their own political and8or economic .ene#it'

  $orsey would li6e to see the political ta6en out o# this type o# transaction .etween music and

people' !n place o# the political $orsey en-isions ha-ing something “social” as a su.stitute' 5ence

in the end $orsey calls #or allowing #or the separation o# the social #rom the political in this context'

;,ote $orsey allows #or the “political” in music .ut ultimately wants it done “di##erently” in thatshe does not automatically assume that music and the political ha-e an inherent connection'