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Music and Parkour: Contesting Hegemonic Ways of Movement
Abstract
Music and Parkour: Contesting Hegemonic Ways of Movement Parkour can be seen as a youth movement in a very literal sense; the meaning of which is that young people are literally moving in the public sphere, contesting hegemonic ways of moving through the city. Social actions and cultural expressions such as parkour in the Arab World, have in the past largely escaped academic attention. Previous research has been mostly focusing on the ruling elites, and the seemingly unchangeable patriarchal structures of Arab societies. During the Arab Spring however, various forms of cultural expressions have become more visible: musicians, street artists, male and female demonstrators – all expressed their voices for change on the street. With this paper I would like to illustrate how parkour, seen as a cultural expression, can grasp social change in all its varieties, shortcomings, and inconsistencies. Beginning in the nineteen eighties and nineties, parkour – known as the art of displacement (l’art du deplacement) – found its way via popular media representations from the suburbs of Paris to the world. The idea behind parkour is to find the most direct path between two points, and to overcome any obstacle within that path using only one’s own physical and mental capacities. Parkour suggests ways in which space is negotiated and appropriated in ways other than those intended by city planners and architects. Besides performances on the street, and the incorporation of parkour philosophy in everyday life, parkour is also performed in video clips which are available on the Internet. In video performances, music plays an especially crucial role. To quote a Moroccan parkour actor: “Music is very important; it must be fast and riotous and has to be emphasizing the dynamics of the movements.” Analyzing music in parkour video clips, offers an insight into different facets of popular culture: fun, resistance, and style. The topic is approached from an anthropological perspective in which the actors themselves are given the most importance. In order to explore the role of music as it relates to parkour, I refer to interviews which I conducted with parkour practitioners. These interviews are embedded in field research: online and in Morocco.
Discipline
Anthropology
Geographic Area
Morocco
Sub Area
Cultural Studies