Linton Kwesi Johnson and Benjamin Zephaniah: Dub Poetry.

Class Discussion Points

• Definitions of dub poetry or is it dub poetry? Genre for the masses or trash (cultural elitists)
• New Aesthetic: foundational roots of dub poetry (Rastafarianism - " rastafari is part of my[. . .] cultural roots", historical formations in diaspora roots, language - Kamua Braithwaite et al, style - vernacular, toasting, proverbs and witticisms from the oral tradition, Biblical verses, syntactic parallelism, repetition & other rhetorical devices, culture - 1960s, 70s, 80s dancehall culture, and rhyming militancy - Black power & dread, I n' I v Babylon)
• Performance genre?
• Key thematic concerns: identity, neo-colonialism, race and racism, oppression, equality and justice, life in Black communities (ghettos), police brutality)

Books

Take a look at Christian Habekost's book length study of dub poetry, Verbal Riddim: The Politics and Aesthetics of Dub Poetry. A number of book chapters will be posted here soon.

I will also distribute excerpts from Write Black Write British (Hertford: Hansib, 2005 Ed. Kadija Sesay)The two chapters are Kwame Dawes' "Black British Poetry: Some Considerations" and Eric Doumerc's "Benjamin Zephaniah: The Black British Griot." We will discuss both texts..

Articles (additional articles included):

Hitchcock, "It Dread Inna Inglan": Linton Kwesi Johnson, Dread, and Dub Identity." Postmodern Culture. 4.1 (1993): HTML Version

Caesar, Burt. "Interview: Linton Kwesi Johnson Talks to Burt Caesar at Parkside Studios, Brixton, London, June 1996"  Critical Quarterly Winter; 38.4 (1996): 64-77.

McGill, Robert. "Goon poets of the black Atlantic: Linton Kwesi Johnson's imagined canon." Textual Practice 17.3 (2003): 561-574.

Hippolyte, Idara. "Collapsing the 'Oral-Literary' Continuum." Interventions: The International Journal of Postcolonial Studies 6.1 (2004): 82-100.

Sharpe, Jenny. "Articles Cartographies of Globalisation, Technologies of Gendered Subjectivities: The Dub Poetry of Jean ‘Binta’ Breeze." Gender & History 15.3 (2003): 440-459.

HILL, JACK. "Black Religious Ethics and Higher Education: Rastafarian identity as a resource for inclusiveness." Journal of Beliefs & Values: Studies in Religion & Education 24.1 (2003): 3.

Morris, Mervyn. "Mutabaruka." Critical Quarterly 38.4 (1996): 39-49.

Doumerc, Eric. "An Interview with Benjamin Zephaniah." Kunapipi. 26.1 (2004): 136-150.

Doumerc, Eric. "Jamaica's First Dub Poets: Early Jamaican Deejaying as a Form of Oral Poetry." Kunapipi 26.1 (2004): 126-135.

DeCosmo, Janet. "Dub Poetry: Legacy of Roots Reggae." The Griot 14.2 (1995): 33-41.

Middleton, Darren. "Chanting Down Babylon: Three Rastafarian Dub Poets." 'This Is How We Flow': Rhythm in Black Cultures. See text for full citation.

Carr, Brenda. "'Come Mek Wi Work Together': Community Values and Social Agency in Lillian Allen's Dub Poetry." Ariel. 29.3 (1998): 7-40.

Middleton, Darren. "Riddim Wise and Scripture Smart: Interview and Interpretation with Ras Benjamin Zephaniah." See Text for full citation.

Web Links

Linton Kwesi Johnson

Official Web Site of LKJ's record store - LKJ Records

IReggae Interviews of Linton Kwesi Johnson - Audio Interview - May 25, 1999.

Linton Kwesi Johnson Interview with Billy Bob Hargus, 1997.

Rawlinson, Nancy. "Inglan is a Bitch." Linton Kwesi Johnson Interview in Spike Magazine.

Sample dub poetry from Amazon.com: Tings and Times; It Dread Inna Inglan.

Benjamin Zephaniah

Official Web site of Benjamin Zephaniah

IReggae Interviews and Articles of Benjamin Zephaniah

"Interview with Benjamin Zephaniah." IPressureWorks: Joe Zacune, October 14, 2005.

Benjamin Zephaniah Rejects the OBE: Benjamin Zephaniah: "I've been fighting against this Empire all my life" Link to this interview from the BBC Web Site

Interview and Notes about Benjamin Zephaniah and his Work.

Email: PKMuana@gmail.com or muana@tamu.edu
Phone: (832) 215-4258 or (979) 458-3367