| Geography and place are significant factors in research on race and cultural heritage, as well as on electronic dance music culture (EDMC). My research on Detroit electronic music emphasizes local and regional African American cultural legacies, as well as the diverse constellation of identities and sounds from which this culture is built. Engaging the analytical framework of performance theory in an ethnographic study of Detroit electronic music, I explore the musical, aesthetic, and performative characteristics of Detroit techno and house music, and their relation to African American culture, as well as American and European points of heritage. I am primarily concerned with DJs perceptions and conceptions of the music they create, as well as the musical features, characteristics, and structures that are central to a DJ's performance. From this perspective, I examine local concepts of genre and style, and investigate the relationship between musical experimentation, eclectic musical selection, and diverse cultural and ethnic identities. The principle concepts that shape the foundation of my analysis are diversity of identity and sonic eclecticism. Electronic music scenes in Detroit are surprisingly diverse in terms of ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality, class, and educational background. This diversity has had profound historic and contemporary impacts on electronic music produced in Detroit and performed in Detroit. My emphasis on heritage and identity in sonic culture, and the priority I grant to ethnography, advances ongoing innovative dialogues among the arts and other disciplines. I offer new information and fresh perspectives on enduring issues in the fields of ethnomusicology, popular music studies, and African American studies. The inclusion of a diverse array of identities, sounds, and sites in an exploration of cultural heritage contributes to the lasting power of research that directly engages the intersection of race and ethnicity with other forms of identity and culture. |
