Auckland talk - 3 April 2007

Pantomime Terror: UK hip hop at war

(or paranoia in London: 'Lookout, he's behind you!')

4:10pm to 5:30pm

Venue: ALR5, Architecture - University of Auckland
A special seminar by Dr John Hutnyk, Goldsmiths College, University of London.

With terror alerts and constant announcements at train stations and airports where the Queen's subjects are called upon to 'report any suspicious baggage'; with stop and search security policing focused upon Muslims (and unarmed Brazilians shot on the underground); and with restrictions on civil liberties and 'limits' to freedom proclaimed as necessary, it is now clear that spaces for critical debate are mortally threatened in contemporary, tolerant, civilized Britain. This discussion addresses new work by diasporic world music stalwarts Fun-da-mental and the drum and bass outfit Asian Dub Foundation, relating to insurgency struggles, anti-colonialism and political freedom in the UK. The presentation will argue for an engaged critique of "culture" and assess a certain distance or gap between political expression and the tamed versions of multiculturalism accepted by/acceptable in the British marketplace. Examples from the music industry reception of 'difficult' music and creative engagement are evaluated in the context of the global terror wars and a new paranoia that appears endemic on the streets of London today...

John Hutnyk is a Reader and Academic Director of the Centre for Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths College, University of London and is the author of several books including "The Rumour of Calcutta", "Critique of Exotica" and "Bad Marxism: Capitalism and Cultural Studies".