An illustration of a DJ holding a telephone with a long cord

We Rock Long Distance: M.anifest and the Circulations of Diasporic Hip-Hop (Schell, 2013)

Author

Schell, J.

Year

2013

Title

We Rock Long Distance: M.anifest and the Circulations of Diasporic Hip-Hop

University

University of Minnesota

Discipline (uncoded)

Comparative Studies in Discourse and Society

Macrostructure

Topic-Based

Proposed Area of Unconventionality
(Tardy, 2016)

Modality, Linguistic & Textual form

Description and other notes

Multimodal dissertation and feature length documentary film. Three hip-hop artists are introduced, but M.anifest is the focal artist. Explores the notion of distance and different typs of distance using video, photos, audio, and writing. Two websites: 1) Dissertation: https://sites.google.com/a/umn.edu/wrld/ 2) Documentary: https://www.werocklongdistance.com/is

(Proposed) Degree of separation or connection between atypical or unconventional component(s) and conventional or written component(s)

Separate. Atypical component positioned as separate from the written component / institutional copy. Distance enacted on purpose.

(Proposed) Type of relationship construed between atypical or unconventional component(s) and conventional or written component(s)

Parallel. The institutional copy is positioned as the “conventional dissertation PDF” (p. 8), which is different from the dissertation website and documentary (i.e., the unconventional or atypical components). I see this distance being enacted intentionally, feeding into the overall arguments Schell seeks to make.

Notes/Reasoning

My impression is that the interaction between the unconventional and conventional format of the dissertation serve to reinforce the feeling that the author is trying to convey, which is that Microsoft Word is not a one-size-fits-every-situation technology. For example, the author includes an empty box where the audio or video content would be if this were viewed on an interactive medium that wasn’t Word or PDF based (p. 8). There is a distance being enacted, on purpose. 

Discipline 2 (coded)

Cultural Studies

Discipline Grouping (coded)

HUM

Source

Word of Mouth


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