“They Don't Care About Us”: Michael Jackson's Black Nationalism

摘要

This article examines the presence of black nationalist ideals in Michael Jackson's work, with a focus on the song “They Don't Care About Us.” Through a contextualized reading that encompasses Jackson's struggle for self-empowerment following the 1993 child abuse controversy, it shows how he uses both music and video to cultivate a radical ideological allegiance with the greater social plight of black Americans. Jackson's position is revealed as both compelling and conflicted, whereby his work betrays the influence of a deep trajectory of politicized African-American music, but also raises questions of the wider distinction between fixed racial solidarity and postmodern subjectivity.View full textDownload full textRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03007766.2011.618050