Exploring Spoken Word

 This website is dedicated to exploring the act of performing race within the art of spoken word poetry.  We will be exploring spoken word poetry itself and the history of performing race.  Through the medium of spoken word poetry, I hope to be able to help others further the connection between spoken word and the performance of race. 

        Spoken word is a form of poetry, literary art, and artistic performance in which the artist speaks the poem or story they are performing.  Most spoken word poetry is more of a performance art than anything else, the poet will usual perform a story or poem they have written and use different aspects of theater to emphasize the poem.  The use of body-language,voice tone, and audience participation are key to the poetry.  

         The history of spoken word dates back practically to the beginning of human existence.  Because the tools that are needed for spoken word are just one's voice, one can argue that spoken word is one of the oldest forms of art.  Elements of spoken word can be seen in the days of the troubadours and storytellers who would perform their poems to groups of people.  With the invention of the Gutenberg printing press in 1440 the art of poetry shifted from being a performing art to written art.

          Although the 'modern' spoken word movement is thought to have started in the 1990s, we can still see the existence of it from further back in history.  The Beat Poets are some of the first poets to really give spoken word a light into mainstream academia.  The Beats began using spoken word poetry to speak out against the wrong societal norms of the times and their dislike for the academic world.  This movement was very much politically driven, however the re-emergence of spoken word in the 1990s was not necessarily politically driven.

         After the Beat movement, spoken word once again became an underground art until the 1990s.  The modern movement of spoken word preached a message of positivity and tolerance.  Spoken word is more of an art of the people and became an art that embraced the common man and did not cater only to the world of academia.  

Performing Race

In order to understand the act of performing race, we must look to the past and see its beginnings.  I am, of course, talking about black face minstrel shows that were popular at the turn of the century.  The minstrel show was a form of entertainment in America that featured white Americans in blackface performing comedic skits, singing and dancing.  Wikipedia.com defines minstrel shows as, "Minstrel shows portrayed and lampooned blacks in stereotypical and often disparaging ways as: ignorant, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, joyous and musical." Now while wikipedia.com might not be considered the most accurate of sited, this was the only site with a definition that states how these shows portrayed blacks.  This point in and of itself speaks as a sign as to what black performers have faced over the years, and the obstacles that they had to over come.  By the nineteenth century minstrel shows would rise up as the most popular form of entertainment in the United States, attracting many viewers, including its biggest fan, Abraham Lincoln (Coleman, Class lecture).  

      Out of these minstrel shows came the Jim Crow character.  A minstrel show entertain, Thomas Dartmouth Rise or "Daddy Rice,"  created the character Jim Crow as a caricature of a black person.  Crow was successful in devaluing black people.  As long as minstrel shows were entertaining to white people, Jim Crow  was looked at as inferior to white people and looked upon as a different 'breed' of human (Davis PhD, L.F.  Creating).  Jim Crow would later become synonymous with the segregation laws in America.  

   When thinking about the Jim Crow character we tend to think that it has long ago pasted us and is no longer in place in our everyday lives.  I, however, believe that this character can be seen today in different performances.  Jim Crow and other minstrel characters were seen as entertaining, but mostly entertaining to white people.  The reason for this is that this character was invented specifically to entertain the white scopophlic gaze.  This means to satisfy the white eye that is looking at the entertainment.  Meaning that the entertainment is strictly for the white audience, even if this is at the expense or disparaging to black people.  Now there are a lot of ways one can perform race, but I think that the most important way in which they perform race is when they perform their race in order to gain recognition.  This can cause serious problems because people no longer feel that being themselves is good enough, but they need to 'act' as someone else.  This is once again satisfying the white scopophlic gaze.

 

Performing Race in Spoken Word

     Now that we have thoroughly looked at both spoken word poetry and performing race, let's put them together.  While these two might seem like they are not connected at all, I argue that both are connected more than how it might meet the eye.  I feel that the element of performing in spoken word is not only about the performing of the poetry, but in many different instances we can see the performing of race also.  Now, it would be unfair to say that all spoken word artists are performing race while they are performing race, but in the case of the poet, Poetri, I think it is the case.  In many different instances in his performances we can see very small pieces of the Jim Crow character that we have seen in the past.

    Poetri is a spoken word artist that hails himself as a 'poet rock star.'  Poetri has performed on "Russel Simmons Presents Def Poetry Jam" on HBO, VH-1 Black History Month, "Showtime at the Apollo,"  and many different appearances on sitcoms.  He has also won an Emmy, which a very prestigious award for any poet to have.  As a lover of spoken word poetry, I do not feel that it is right to be overly critical of someone else's work and so the use of Poetri here is merely an observation.  

    I feel that in many of Poetri's poems, he very much evokes this idea of Jim Crow.  He tends to talk disparagingly about black people and also speak in a way in which I believe is how he feels he should speak. By doing this he is not only evoking the Jim Crow character, but he is bringing this character back into the mainstream poetry scene.  This character was seen as jovial, happy and just generally as an entertainer and I think because of this, this character is easy for any entertainer to fall into.  

     Now I realize that the only videos I have seen of Poetri are the one of him as the performer.  These videos generally feature him as a Poetri and not as the person he is when he is not performing.  But I am a believer that you cannot seperate the art from the artist, so is he really performing his race or just being himself?  Watch the videos and let me know what you think about it! Thank you!