“Our Voices Matter” is my own reckoning as a music educator with homeplace in my music classroom using autoethnography as a method. My research is guided by the question “What is homeplace — for myself, my students, and for us together?” Data were collected through personal recollection, journal writing, vignettes, written interviews, public videos of student performances, blog posts, and news articles over a span of ten years of teaching at New Bridges Elementary in Brooklyn, NY. Data were analyzed through bell hooks’ definition of homeplace and Bettina Love’s usage of homeplace. I reckoned with the extent to which I experienced homeplace, perceived homeplace for my students, and actualized a homeplace that is welcoming of both my students and myself. Findings showed that my understanding of homeplace shifted over my ten years of teaching through the interactions with my students, and societal and cultural reckonings that inevitably affected the shared classroom space with my students. My use of language, content I taught, and personal voice were affected by pivotal experiences throughout my teaching career and personal life that started separately but ultimately intersected in my music classroom. The Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate movements collectively played active roles in the lived experiences of my students and me. The influences and intersections of these two movements in my elementary classroom led to multiple reckonings through unapologetic freedom dreaming where my students and I visioned futures that prioritize our racial identities, whole selves, and joy through music making, creating, and coexistence in shared space. In this study, I illuminate the complexities of my personal teaching practice and experience as a music educator that is inclusive of but also goes beyond music for music’s sake. The findings of my study may spark new understandings for educators about the ways that one’s positionalities and lived experiences affect the music classroom space. The findings may also be useful for those teachers grappling with the critical movements in our society which affect both our students and ourselves and require discussion and reckoning within the classroom. Although the findings are not meant to be extrapolated to any reader’s own classroom or students, this study reflects the emotional and mental shifts that have occurred in my teaching and being and as such may ignite personal reflection and shifts for the reader.

The United States has many problems currently, the most persistent of which is the issue of race, and the problem of Mass Incarceration. This thesis addresses what Mass Incarceration is, as well as developing a theoretical understanding of how to overcome Mass Incarceration through the music of Kendrick Lamar and The Black Lives Matter Movement. This thesis presents the questions: What is the era of Mass Incarceration? How does Kendrick Lamar's music inform the problems of Mass Incarceration? How does The Back Lives Matter Movement use this information to create a solidarity movement against the oppression of African Americans? What does this mean going forward? Creating a synthesis of Mass Incarceration, the music of Kendrick Lamar, and The Black Lives Matter Movement, that overlaps and propels an intersection of culture and activism that inform one another. This all leads to the main takeaway of the thesis, that attempts to provide an interpretive understanding that pop culture, social media, and activism have created a different civil sphere, a Black public sphere that informs and educates through different avenues. All in all this thesis shows that music, social movements, and policy are all interconnected, and the music of Kendrick Lamar and the activism of The Black Lives Matter Movement provide a catalyst for change in the era of Mass Incarceration. / Master of Arts

The aim of this study was to explore how the Black Lives Matter movement was constructed on Instagram by American television channels the week after George Floyd was killed. The purpose was to answer the following questions; (1) What proportion of the posts were dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement during the chosen week? (2) How was George Floyd and Derek Chauvin portrayed on the media ́s Instagram? (3) What words and images were used to describe the Black Lives Matter movement? (4) What similarities and differences can be found between the channels ́ portrayals of the Black Lives Matter movement? The approach chosen was a multi-method research, thus using a both qualitative and quantitative design. Based on this method 112 Instagram posts uploaded between May 27th and June 2nd, 2020 were analyzed. CNN, Fox News and MSNBC are the largest news channels in the United States and therefore chosen for this study. Our study concluded that the overall presentation of the Black Lives Matter movement was positive, in terms of the total reporting from all three channels. Observing the channels separately, CNN and MSNBC mostly portrayed it positively, while Fox News mostly negatively. According to our analysis, the reason why the posts could be perceived in this way was based on the words used and images displayed. The words death, looter, and violence provided a negative understanding of the situation. Whereas the words such as loving, solidarity and freedom created a positive appearance. Overall the study found that the proportion of reporting on Black Lives Matter was vast in comparison to other news stories on all three channels. However, one of the substantial differences between them was the portrayal of the offender Derek Chauvin and the victim George Floyd.

Black Lives Matter rörelsen engagerade människor både internationellt och nationellt under våren 2020. Företag var inte sena med att ta ställning och visa deras stöd i frågan, vilket ledde till olika typer av reaktioner bland deras konsumenter. Denna studie ämnar undersöka svenska konsumenters attityd gentemot företag som använder sig av brand activism som svar på sociala rörelser, där Black Lives Matter valts som empiriskt kontext. Studien ämnar också besvara vilka de viktigaste aspekterna bakom konsumenters attityd är. En förstudie har gjorts genom netnografi och empiri har samlats in genom en webbenkät med 260 svenska respondenter. Studiens analys och resultat tyder på att respondenternas generella inställning till brand activism är positiv i de fall då respondenterna anser att den sociala rörelsen som stöttas är viktig. Det finns dock tre dimensioner som påverkar den övergripande attityden. Dessa är autentiskt innehåll, attityd gentemot företaget och värdet i handlingar. Inom dessa dimensioner utrönas flertalet teman där företagets historia och storlek, innehållet i själva budskapet samt att det genomsyrar organisationen är de viktigaste. Vidare är även temana utbildande, genuin och handlingskraftig kommunikation inom brand activism viktiga delar att ta med sig från resultatet. / The Black Lives Matter movement engaged people both internationally and nationally in the spring of 2020. Companies were not late to join in and show their support in favour of the movement, which led to various reactions among their consumers. This study aims to examine the attitude of Swedish consumers towards companies that use brand activism as a response to social movements, where the Black Lives Matter movement serves as an empirical context. The study also intends to answer what the key aspects behind the studied consumer attitudes are. A prestudy has been done through netnography and empirical data has been collected for the main study through a web survey with 260 Swedish respondents. The study’s analysis and results indicate that the respondents’ general attitude towards the use of brand activism is positive in cases where the respondents believe that the social movement being endorsed is of importance. However, there are three dimensions that affect the overall attitude. These are authentic content, attitude towards the company and the value of actions. Within these dimensions several themes are identified, where the company’s history and size, the content of the message itself and that it permeates the organization are the most important. Furthermore, the themes of educational, genuine and actionable communication within brand activism are also important takeaways from the result.

Police brutality is a problematic feature of the American society that has caused civil unrest among the vast majority. The excessive use of force from American police forces sparked off a wave of protests during 2020 in which people called for the abolishment of unnecessary and unethical police violence against civilians. The importance of the Black Lives Matter movement has been highlighted by the authoritarian response to the protests and the inhumane treatment of ethnic minorities in the United States. But given the strong protection of the freedom of speech and the freedom of assembly in the U.S. constitution, the problem seems to be intertwined with inappropriate attitudes of officials rather than written shortcomings in the law. In this thesis, I investigate how structural racism has affected the freedom of assembly in the United States, which is done through a critical review of relevant literature and documents concerning contemporary challenges for the Black Lives Matter movement. Various reports have addressed the mishandling of Black Lives Matter protests from American police forces and their arbitrarily use of the law to disperse them, e.g., by classifying predominantly peaceful demonstrations as “unlawful assemblies”. This is the kind of dishonest behaviour that I scrutinize further in this study, which is of great importance since it affects peoples’ human rights and ultimately threatens the collective well-being of the American people.  I also investigate and critically discuss the components of a sustainable understanding of the freedom of assembly, which is done through a theoretical analysis of the views of Ronald Dworkin and Jeremy Waldron. From this analysis, I learn about substantial problems that may arise from different theoretical understandings of this right and about the importance of spreading awareness of different forms of racism. Only by acknowledging the existence of racism in our societies, we can protect vulnerable groups from derogatory behaviours and together achieve social justice.

In New Orleans, Louisiana, voodoo is omnipresent. There is voodoo in a more religious sense, that is generally more secretive, and there is a highly visible side to voodoo, that is shown in the many references to voodoo in a commercial or political sense throughout the city.Based on ethnographic fieldwork, this dissertation demonstrates that the criteria that define the boundaries of what is voodoo are debated by the practitioners and the authenticity of certain events or practices is often internally contested. To include all these debates, the broader concept of ‘voodooscape’ is introduced in this dissertation.The concept of voodooscape is a useful tool for the analysis of voodoo in New Orleans, because it includes these debates and the large domain where negotiations on voodoo take place. This dissertation contains ethnographic descriptions of these negotiations, with a focus on the ways in which the ‘voodooscape’ embodies memories of the history of slavery and the ways of coping with these memories. The voodooscape both mobilizes these memories and how to cope with these memories at the same time. In a similar way, the voodooscape mobilizes the memories of more recent events, of which hurricane Katrina and the current violence that caused the rise of the Black Lives Matter Movement are the most important ones in New Orleans. The theoretical contribution of this work lies in the introduction of the concept of voodooscape, that allows a nuanced analysis and understanding of voodoo, through which several socially relevant dimensions are displayed and connected, namely: race, politics, music, art, heritage, tourism and commerce. / À la Nouvelle-Orléans, en Louisiane, le Vaudou est omniprésent. On y trouve le Vaudou dans sa signification religieuse, qui est généralement plutôt secrète, et son visage plus visible, qui s'illustre à travers la ville dans les nombreuses références aux incarnations commerciales ou politiques du Vaudou. À l'appui d'une enquête ethnographique, cette thèse démontre que les critères qui définissent les frontières de ce qui relève du Vaudou sont débattues par ses différents praticiens, de même qu'ils débattent fréquemment entre eux de l'authenticité de certaines pratiques ou événements. Pour rendre compte de tous ces débats, on a introduit le concept plus large de « Vaudousphère » [voodooscape]. Le concept de Vaudousphère est utile à l'analyse du Vaudou à la Nouvelle-Orléans en ce qu'il incorpore ces débats et les nombreux espaces où prennent place ces négociations sur le Vaudou. Cette thèse inclut des descriptions ethnographiques de ces négociations, en se focalisant sur la manière dont la « Vaudousphère » incarne la mémoire collective de l'histoire de l'esclavage et les stratégies d’accommodation avec cette mémoire. De même, la Vaudousphère mobilise les souvenirs d'événements plus récents, dont les plus importants à la Nouvelle-Orléans sont l'ouragan Katrina et la violence contemporaine qui a conduit à l'émergence du mouvement «Black Lives Matter». L'apport théorique de ce travail repose sur l'introduction du concept de Vaudousphère qui permet de conduire une analyse nuancée et compréhensive du Vadou, et à travers lequel plusieurs dimensions sociales pertinentes sont mises en évidence et en connexion, telles que: la race, la politique, la musique, l'art, l'héritage, le tourisme et le commerce. / Doctorat en Sciences politiques et sociales / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This thesis explores the ways in which the environmental justice movement, which is in opposition to environmental racism, and the Black Lives Matter movement, which is in opposition to police brutality and other forms of racism, are part of the same struggle: a struggle against the neoliberal violence of the state. This struggle against neoliberal violence is at the same time a struggle for communities of color to achieve self-determination on a global scale, a monumental task which might be informed through a revolutionary intercommunalist framework of global grassroots solidarity. State oppression embodies violence in more forms that one, including co-optation—which entails the assimilation of people into a political framework that answers to the gatekeepers of transnational capital. This work includes input from environmental justice activists from Los Angeles County in its exploration of local grassroots struggles.

The following thesis’s purpose is to target the frames of victims Trayvon Martin and George Floyd. Martin and Floyd were killed by white perpetrators and the events later received mass attention by The United States population and media. The subject matter of the victims’ deaths suggested possible motives of ethnic profiling from the perpetrators. Both cases started a debate surrounding the outcome of American culture where discrimination towards African Americans still existed.    The thesis has chosen four news articles by two different American newspapers as test material. These tells perspectives of the cases involving the victims. The news articles were published during a month period after the victims’ deaths. Chosen test materials are examined by a qualitative content analysis, exploring the theoretical concepts of rhetoric. By analyzing the artistic- and inartistic proofs and the dispositions of the news articles, the study finds perspectives and deeper interpreted meanings that can apply certain framings to Trayvon Martin and George Floyd. The purpose of the examination was to determine the frames’ similarities, differences and if they have changed over the years. Also, by examining frames the study was to find emotional reactions through the rhetoric perspective and discuss what these represent.    The result confirms that there are certain frames that suggest emotional traits from a form of sympathy for the African American society. Some of these emotional reactions are anger and sorrow which determine sympathy and possible empathy for the victims and the ones affected. The analysis also suggests Martin’s frames are similar to Floyd’s but are treated differently. For example, Martin is framed as a young victim of a possible hate crime that caused his death, but Floyd is framed as a symbol for a cause that spread world-wide. The content of the news articles differentiates where for example, the focus lays upon the outcomes of the victims’ deaths. These outcomes depend on the cause at hand and how they were impacted by society and not to mention the Black Lives Matter- movement.

The aim of this thesis is to analyze the difference between post-BLM media discourse surrounding urban music in the US and UK music periodicals. It follows the Interpretivist paradigm, assuming the social constructionist epistemological position, the idealist ontology and the abductive logic of inquiry. The core for the research as well as analysis is the Discourse Theory and its key concepts developed by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. It is both applied in a theoretical and methodological manner. The analytical framework is then also enriched by the attempt to use of the postcolonial theory of Orientalism by Edward Said, and his notion of Othering. The tentative conclusion of the study is that the US and UK media articulate signs emerging around the word urban differently, creating different chains of equivalence. However, considering the nations and their histories differ, it is a rather surprising finding that the differences are almost not apparent and only appear if looked upon very closely. Implications of researching the phenomenon of music labeled as urban, even though not directly arising from this particular study, are advancing the awareness behind the complexities of the term urban and its use within various, mostly creative, industries, which may cause setting the wheels slowly in motion towards a possible industrial, or even a societal change.

In the wake of the guilty verdict of George Floyd’s murderer, police officer Derek Chauvin, there is hope for change in the pattern of police brutality against black people in the United States. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas was published three years prior to George Floyd’s death, in 2017, and is a realistic fictional novel in the young adult genre that has gained attention for its relevant contribution in the debate of racism and police violence, as the fictional victim Khalil Harris, an unarmed black teenager, does not receive the same justice as George Floyd. In this essay, reader response to The Hate U Give is analysed in order to examine how it affects the opinions and worldview of the reader during and after the read. A close reading and analysis of pivotal scenes was carried out using affective stylistics, in order to interpret what the text does to the reader word-by-word, and subsequently the reader’s creation of meaning was examined and discussed. The reader’s response was then analysed with Stanley Fish’s theoretical framework of interpretive communities, groups with shared social norms and worldviews, which dictate how individuals create meaning in the first place. The analysis suggests that readers of The Hate U Give, while starting out in different, albeit to a certain extent similar, interpretive communities, will gradually align themselves with the interpretive community of Black Lives Matter through shared ideas and opinions and the increased understanding they develop when they read the novel.