Music and Politics, a Utopian Narrative

Abstract

This chapter deals with informants’ political/musical experiences. It puts forth the view that music inspires political meanings by being situated in a cultural context, following authors such as John Blacking and David Howes for whom music is an embodied medium through which an individual enacts his or her own agency. The music in itself is found to have no inherent meaning, political or otherwise. Amongst alter-globalization activists, music is the terrain of expression for a number of non-musical concepts, which coalesce to create what can be called the movement’s utopian narrative. This narrative comprises three basic utopian stereotypes. First, a better world is possible; second, we should adopt a more “authentic” way of life; and third, we need to value “black culture” over “white culture.”