Static: Race & representation in post-apartheid music, media & film

Static: Race and Representation in Post-apartheid Music, Media and Film critically examines music, cinema, social media and the politics of change after apartheid. It cuts across academic disciplines, the creative arts and the media and poses two central questions: Is South Africa changing for the better, or are we static? Is there too much static for us to hear each other clearly? Static provides key insights into recent media phenomena, such as Die Antwoord; the 2010 Soccer World Cup; Bok van Blerk; Tsotsi; Kuli Roberts' Sunday World column on 'coloureds'; revisionist film Afrikaaps and the University of the Free State's Reitz video scandal. The book will appeal to scholars in media, sociology, anthropology, music, African and cultural studies as well as to anybody with an interest in music, media, identity politics and debates about change in post-apartheid South Africa.

Table of Contents:
Locating agency: Music, technology and copyright; Bok van Blerk, University of the Free State and the red herring of race; Racism 2.0: Die Antwoord's blackface; Gangsta currency: Shooting black men; Wavering flag: Compromise, soccer and capital flight.

About the Author :
Adam Haupt is an associate professor in the Centre for Film and Media Studies at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Haupt is the author of Stealing Empire: P2P, Intellectual Property and Hip-Hop Subversion, published by the HSRC Press in 2008. In 2010, he was a Mandela Mellon Fellow at the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University, USA where he conducted research for this book. Haupt has taught at the universities of the Western Cape and Stellenbosch, and freelanced as an arts journalist for publications such as the Mail & Guardian. In the mid-nineties, Haupt set the scene for research on black youth culture with his work on pioneer rap crew Prophets of da City, whose work was banned by the apartheid regime.

Review :
Static is a sophisticated and well-argued analysis that establishes a new context for understanding postapartheid culture in South Africa. The close readings of lyrics, videos and films are loaded with keen insights explaining what the cultural issues are and why they matter. - Murray Forman, Associate Professor, Media and Screen Studies Northeastern University As in the United States, music in general and hip-hop in particular are fertile ground for the articulation, examination, and contestation of racial identity. Seen by some as 'trash talk' and by others as art, hip-hop and other forms of popular music take lofty discussions of identity politics out of the academic stratosphere and place them decidedly in the public square. Haupt brilliantly engages readers at both levels. - Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Alphonse Fletcher University Professor Harvard University