Moderator: Andrew Mall, Northeastern University
Abigail Byrd Glidewell, “Aesthetics, Semiotics, and Prophetic Revelations
in Christian Nationalist Music”
Christians have long been influential in American culture and politics, with 63 percent of
Americans identifying as Christians and about a quarter of Americans identifying as
evangelicals in 2022. Often associated with right-wing and Christian nationalist movements,
evangelicals are a powerful and serially misunderstood demographic. Characteristics of this
group include an emphasis on experiencing a personal conversion to the faith (being “born
again”), associations with Protestant and Pentecostal denominations, and an emphasis on
following the teachings of Jesus in one’s personal life and encouraging others to do the same.
Christian nationalists extend the public sharing of their faith into the political sphere, seeking
to enshrine their standards of Christian morality in the U.S. government. In the past fifty years,
however, a new fringe group of nondenominational Christians, complete with its own
leadership structures and ideologies, has risen to the forefront of the Christian right.
In this paper I will uncover the unique theological, political, and aesthetic tenets of the
New Apostolic Reformation movement and its implications for popular music and politics.
Through vague symbolism and metaphor that can refer to either orthodox Christian doctrine or
the movement’s many “prophetic memes” (as coined by Matthew D. Taylor), the NAR and their
independent charismatic base creates pathways to extremist and nationalist rhetoric for
Christians of all kinds. Through examples from “The Chosen One” by Natasha Owens, “God
Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood, and worship songs from a nationalist church service, I
demonstrate through Perciean semiotics how independent charismatics write and rewrite
religious narratives for political gain. Invoking transcendent experiences and the voice of God,
religious leaders mobilize their followers into spiritual armies to fight the demons and
politicians that keep our nation from its destiny.
Dishanka Gogoi, “Farmers on the Stage: Fashion Statement as Rebellion and Ethnic Solidarity
in Live Shows of Cultivators, an Assamese Folk-Pop Band”
This paper is an outcome of attending a live performance of Assamese language folk-pop band
called “Cultivators” 1 in a Bihu Function (an annual Assamese new year celebration concert in
Assam) during my PhD dissertation research ethnography last year in Guwahati, Assam, India.
In the Bihu Function, Cultivators were the headliner. Like most of artists in pop music scene in
the world, Assamese popular musicians have been experimenting with their fashion statement to
construct a distinct brand value among fans and in larger popular music scene of India nationally
as well as in regional music scene. In a night of arrival spring season, the band members of
Cultivators embarked on to the stage with wearing traditional attire of Bodo (one of the largest
indigenous ethnolinguistic communities of Assam), an Aronai, a Bodo traditional weaved
muffler in their necks and Gamsa, a Bodo traditional weaved wrapper in their waist. The bihu
fuction was organized by a collective of Bodo organization in a Bodo dominated locality. This
paper wants to explore how Aronai and Gamsa as a fashion statement in the concert, Cultivators
have constructed a ethnic solidarity with the Bodo audience and how it had created an identity
assertion of Bodo on the larger regional politics of Assam. Along with that, from the vantage
point of Aronai and Gamsa, how the fashion style is engaging and reflecting the inherent
ideology of the band Cultivators collectively and how it is percolating through individual band
members counter ideological viewpoints. The paper will provide a thick description of the
performance of the band and reaction of the audience to offer the politics and poetics of identity
assertion of socio-culturally oppressed, representation and rebellion through traditional attire as
fashion statement or style in a regional pop music scene.
Matt Jones, “Joni Mitchell's Complaint”
This paper examines the politicization of Joni Mitchell, especially in her work from 1985
to 2007. Mitchell rose to prominence in the 1970s with an extraordinary run of albums
that defined the introspective singer-songwriter—a genre whose austere style conveys
authenticity and self-probing sincerity. However, Mitchell’s work also has a political side.
Occasional songs address political themes. “The Fiddle and the Drum” (1969) is an anti-war
chant while “Big Yellow Taxi”(1970) expresses a proto-ecofeminist sensibility. The Hissing of
Summer Lawns (1975) offers a scathing, Didionesque essay of midcentury Los Angeles.
From 1985, Mitchell’s work became overtly political. Dog Eat Dog (1985) is often looked
upon as her nadir. Critics have described it as an “angry” album, largely because of its
themes: environmental destruction, the threat of annihilation, materialism, the rise of a
politicized form of evangelical Christianity, and alienation. Moreover, Mitchell’s use of
synthesizers, drum machines, distorted guitars, and changes in her voice startled critics
and fans. I argue that Mitchell utilized this bold new aesthetic as a form of musical-
social critique to support her critiques of life in Ronald Reagan’s America. Her ironic
inversion of the sounds of 1980s New Wave, synth pop, and rock invites throws the
contradictions of the 1980s into stark relief.
Finally, this paper asks what it means to listen again to Dog Eat Dog in Donald Trump’s
America, when the aesthetics of 1980s synth pop again dominate the charts and the
United States seems to be making a return to trickle-down economics, Christian
fundamentalism, environmental crisis, racial unrest, state sanctioned violence, and
assaults on women’s bodily autonomy. What can we learn from Mitchell’s complaint, a
term I borrow from Lauren Berlant’s work on female public cultures and citizenship, in
the political climate of 2024?
Laura Etemah, “Sartorial Politics: From Fela’s Afrobeat to Contemporary Afrobeats”
Drawing from political philosophy and cultural studies, this study explores sartorial politics
within the Nigerian musical scene, linking its development from the afrobeat era of Fela
Anikulapo Kuti to the afrobeats movement of contemporary times, spearheaded by artists
such as Burna Boy and Flavour, among others. Fashion, as a vital ingredient in the visual
aesthetics of African music performance culture, has over time evolved into an influential
vehicle of self-expression, power and rebellion. Fela’s decolonial aesthetics compared with
the styles of the afrobeats music stars of today highlight the aims of this research, which is to
interrogate the transformation and continuity of sartorial politics as a cultural phenomenon.
Fela’s valiant sartorial preferences, rooted in Pan-Africanism and rebellion against colonial
and post-colonial authority, embodied his revolutionary perspective, using attire as a visual
statement of resistance. To challenge Eurocentric norms and emphasize cultural identity,
Fela’s choice of performance apparel featured traditional elements in conjunction with
provocatively decked modern-tailored outfit. Conversely, contemporary artists such as Burna
Boy and Flavour utilize their clothing styles as tools for self-expression and empowerment,
combining African heritage with cosmopolitan standards. This cultural fusion indicates a
switch in narrative from outright resistance to the celebration of African identity at a global
level. Through a critical analysis of music videos, social media commentary, and interviews,
this qualitative study explores how sartorial politics continual
