> Ellis Cashmore wants to argue that it is a myth to conceive of black music
> as "an unbroken continuum that stretches back from rap music through soul,
> gospel and Negro spirituals to the African-derived slave traditions." He
> thinks this is a "melodramatic construction of black culture and one which
> does no justice to its intricacies or indeed hiatuses.... the concept of a distinct black
> cultural tradition is questionable. Cultures, whether African or European
> in origin, have merged and melded over time and space."
This seems eminently sensible.
As a transplanted white Southerner living in New York, what strikes me repeatedly is the *familiarity* of so much that my NYC neighbors consider characteristically "black" -- styles of humor, turns of phrase, the way a narrative is constructed, not to mention the food.
This cultural mashup no doubt owes much to Africa but it also owes much to Scotland, and surely it's not too shocking to say that the Africans got Scottified as much as the Scots got Africanized?
Maybe this goes some way toward explaining the affection that many Afr.-Am. folks are said to feel for Bill Clinton. I hope it's more hype than reality, but to the extent that it is real, maybe important elements of shared culture have something to do with it.