Senekowitsch, Susanne (2010): “Traficando Cultura”. Funk aus Rio de Janeiro im Spannungsfeld zwischen lokaler Identität und globalisierter Jugendkultur, Diplomarbeit, Universität Wien, Fakultät für Sozialwissenschaften
Link zur Diplomarbeit auf E-Theses der Universitätsbibliothek Wien
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This paper – by the specific example of Funk Carioca, music and youth culture from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro – concerns itself with globalization and localization, specifically local culture in the area of conflict that is globalization. Based on various theories of globalization such as the concept of ‘global cultural flows’ by Arjun Appadurai, ‘global cities’, the significance of electronic media and new communication technologies, as well as cultural concepts such as ‘creolization’ (Ulf Hannerz) and ‘hybridity’ (Homi K. Bhabha), the main part of the paper – on basis of Funk Carioca – concerns itself with ‘flows of culture’ in space and time. First the acceptance of global influences into local culture and its specific characteristics is described. Funk from Rio de Janeiro shows active and creative interaction of a local culture with globally circulating music styles and the development of an own, particular genre. To analyze the portrayal of the music in its local surroundings, building upon Michel Foucault’s discourse theory and the discourse-analytic method of Siegfried Jäger, the discursive construction and problematization of Funk Carioca in Brazilian society is displayed. The image of the Funkeiro – the Funk music fan – as the social “other” is analyzed on basis of the works of Stuart Hall and Ortfried Schäffter and the contrast to self-representation within the Funk scene is elaborated upon. By example of Samba as a national symbol, the theory of ‘antropofagia’, and the myth of ‘democracia racial’ a correlation between Funk Carioca and Brazilian social and cultural theories is examined. In conclusion the global (re)interpretation of the local musical genre is analyzed. In doing so the processes of the Funk’s transnational propagation are brought up. International media’s portrayal of the music is analyzed in comparison to local discourse. After that the recontextualization of the music on a global scale and its categorization as “new world music” is discussed. In doing so the role of middlemen, the stars, and the global audience as well as the significance of digital communication spaces is brought out. The contradiction between the music’s local identity and its portrayal in virtual space is discussed based on the concept of Marc Augé’s ‘non-place’. It is shown how Funk Carioca is transformed into a globalized version of itself in the course of its propagation, interpreted as part of a global ghetto culture and transformed into a cosmopolitan, ‘hip’ club culture of a transnational elite. Finally, a direct comparison is made between local culture and the transnational viewing of it.