Sun Ra and John Coltrane: Critiquing Essentialism in the Discourse of Jazz Through Theories of Postethnicity and Transethnicity.
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2015-08-15
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en
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Jazz has long been imbued with an essentialist discourse that perpetuates myths of racial and cultural purity, which serves to maintain boundaries between people where they need not necessarily lie and denies the formation of new identities. These racial divisions are still reified following a shift in focus from race to ethnicity, despite Jazz being a transnational music born through a confluence of many cultures, races and religions meeting in America as globalization developed. Two iconic Jazz musicians, Sun Ra and John Coltrane, offer counter arguments to this essentialism, whether racial or ethno-centric, through their philosophical views, religious/spiritual leanings and Avant-Garde music. Identifying these aspects, I apply the theories of postethnicity and transethnicity to the life, ideology and work of Sun Ra and John Coltrane in order to critique the long-standing discourse in Jazz, which places strong ethnic ! character istics as defining elements of their identity, and thus their work.
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