Race, Ethnicity, and Nationhood

Among the many social determinations of musical meaning in the United States, none has proven more powerful and enduring than that of race. At the onset of the new millennium, music’s racial aspect carries forward the burden of its long memory, charting the extent of black and white relations. The relationship of race to music is so fundamental to the American experience that it identifies a crucial linkage or even an archetype. What we may call the racio-musical dynamic...