Parodies of Ownership
Hip-Hop Aesthetics and Intellectual Property Law
Richard L. Schur
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Imprint: University of Michigan Press
Published: 01/2009
Pages: 256
Subject: Social Science - Ethnic Studies/African American Studies, Music - Genres & Styles/Rap & Hip Hop, Law - Intellectual Property/General
Print ISBN: 9780472050604
eBook ISBN: 9780472900442
DESCRIPTION
What is the relationship between hip-hop and African American
culture in the post-Civil Rights era? Does hip-hop share a
criticism of American culture or stand as an isolated and unique
phenomenon? How have African American texts responded to the
increasing role intellectual property law plays in regulating
images, sounds, words, and logos? Parodies of Ownership examines
how contemporary African American writers, artists, and musicians
have developed an artistic form that Schur terms "hip-hop
aesthetics." This book offers an in-depth examination of a wide
range of contemporary African American painters and writers,
including Anna Deavere Smith, Toni Morrison, Adrian Piper, Colson
Whitehead, Michael Ray Charles, Alice Randall, and Fred Wilson.
Their absence from conversations about African American culture has
caused a misunderstanding about the nature of contemporary cultural
issues and resulted in neglect of their innovative responses to the
post-Civil Rights era. By considering their work as a
cross-disciplinary and specifically African American cultural
movement, Schur shows how a new paradigm for artistic creation has
developed. Parodies of Ownership offers a broad analysis of
post-Civil Rights era culture and provides the necessary context
for understanding contemporary debates within American studies,
African American studies, intellectual property law, African
American literature, art history, and hip-hop studies. Weaving
together law, literature, art, and music, Schur deftly clarifies
the conceptual issues that unify contemporary African American
culture, empowering this generation of artists, writers, and
musicians to criticize how racism continues to affect our country.
REVIEWS
"Whites used to own blacks. Now, they accomplish much the same thing by insisting that they 'own' ownership. Blacks shouldn't let them. A culture that makes all artists play by its rules will end up controlling new ideas and stifling change. Richard Schur's fine book explains why."
—Richard Delgado, Seattle University
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