Chicano rap: Gender and violence in the post-industrial Barrio
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C h i c a n o ra p : G e n d e r a n d v i o l e n c e in t h e p o s t- i n d u s t r i a l B a r r i o Pancho McFarland University of Texas Press, Austin, 2008, paperback, 198pp., US$24.95, ISBN: 0292718039 Latino Studies (2011) 9, 351–353. doi:10.1057/lst.2011.28
The role of Chicanos/as in hip hop culture and rap music has been largely ignored by media outlets and scholars alike. Save for a handful of articles, their role in hip hop has often been cast as minimal or gimmicky and therefore not worthy of serious attention or analysis. Pancho McFarland attempts to challenge erroneous assumptions about hip hop’s Chicano/a participants and practitioners in Chicano Rap: Gender and Violence in the Post-industrial Barrio. McFarland argues that examining Chicano/a participation in hip hop culture and rap music can illuminate much about how a large segment of Chicano/a youth navigate the racial, cultural, economic, and political terrain of late-twentieth century American cities (2). According to McFarland, although Chicano/a youth are often marginalized or misrepresented in the mainstream media, and society more generally, hip hop provides a space for them to discuss their experiences in their own words and in ways that are meaningful for them. In order to gain a broad understanding of how Chicano/a hip hop reflects the conditions that many Chicano/a youth face in the post-industrial United States, McFarland coded over 400 songs for themes of gender, violence, policing and law enforcement,
identity, and social and economic conditions in barrios. He also draws upon resources such as websites dedicated to Chicano/a hip hop music and culture, conversations with Chicano/ a rappers and fans, and focus groups he held while working with Chicano/a youth in Colorado Springs, Colorado. McFarland argues that Chicano/a rap cannot be divorced from the broader cultural contexts from which it emerges. His principle concern is to draw attention to how the violence and misogyny expressed in Chicano rap are a direct result of what he terms the “patriarchal dominance paradigm,” which dictates social relations in the United States. McFarland defines the “patriarchal dominance paradigm” as a “paradigm that favors dominance and misogyny as opposed to cooperation and love and uses violence as a means of solving disputes. The paradigm encourages personal interactions based on competition and conquest, dichotomous understanding of others, xenophobia, and racism” (7). McFarland dedicates the first chapter of the book to understanding the role of the “patriarchal dominance paradigm” in the United States and how it manifests in Chicano rap. Although McFarland’s argument treads
r 2011 Macmillan Publishers Ltd. 1476-3435 Latino Studies www.palgrave-journals.com/lst/
Vol. 9, 2/3, 351–353
Book Review
some familiar terrain, his reminder to look at larger social and cultural contexts provides an important intervention, and brings attention to how violence and misogyny are increasingly constructed as racialized categories. Many critiques of hip hop
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