Mark2 -> RE: Academic Articles About Flamenco (Jun. 29 2016 16:02:22)
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I have business relationships with many American gypsies. While there may be some cultural similarity to Spanish gypsy flamencos, the gypsies I know have zero knowledge of, or interest in, flamenco. So unless she comes from a flamenco family, her knowledge, though it may be extensive, has nothing to do with her heritage. The fact that she touts the connection, while certainly knowing the level of interest in flamenco among American gypsies, is a red flag. But that hardly makes her unique, in that many foreign performers play up their own connection to the source in the form of claiming Spanish blood, adopting Spanish names, etc. quote:
ORIGINAL: BarkellWH quote:
I was just ranting on one particular aspect that peeved me. I have no reason to doubt that she is otherwise competent in what she does She may be competent in what she does, but not necessarily for the reasons listed in the excerpt from her introduction repeated below. "This is an important investigation because many scholars, who have written about flamenco, write from an outsider’s perspective. However, as an American Roma as well as a dancer and a woman who has lived in Spain for many years, my perspective offers insight into an often misunderstood and misrepresented world. I write as a scholar as well as a mover, who innately comprehends the flamenco art form as well as the Roma tradition." She first creates a straw man in "many scholars, who have written about flamenco, write from an outsider's perspective," and compares them to her own "important investigation," and lists her qualifications as being "an American Roma as well as a dancer and a woman who has lived in Spain." She further embellishes her credentials by noting that she writes "as a scholar as well as a mover." Well now, let's review the bidding. To whom is she referring when she speaks of many scholars who have written about flamenco from an outsider's perspective? Most scholars who have written seriously about flamenco have spoken Spanish, have lived in Spain, and have made a serious study of flamenco. Moreover, how does being an "American Roma" qualify her as an authority on the gitanos of Andalucia? I suspect an "American Roma" has few linkages to said gitanos, who have been influenced in very different ways than the American Roma. I happen to have Welsh, English, and French heritage, yet my Welsh heritage, in and of itself, hardly qualifies me to expound on the Welsh character. Anymore than an American Black "innately", as she puts it, comprehends the art forms of Togo or the Gambia. Judging from her introductory excerpt, I don't see that she is any more qualified to be considered an "insider" than those she dismisses as "outsiders." From one point of view, anyone who is not an Andalucian gitano can be considered an outsider. She may be, as she rather pompously suggests, a "scholar as well as a mover," but she appears to be every bit as much an outsider as those she so cavalierly dismisses. Perhaps she will have something to say in her thesis, but it always raises a red flag when someone begins by attempting to embellish her own credentials by dismissing those of others. Bill
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