Poetry vs Prose part 1 of 2

”Why does Dane use words like poetry and prose yet refuse concepts like genre?”

I've been accused of citing quotes unnecessarily, so I'll merely remind my readers of a very Canadian statement, “The medium is the message.”

This has always been the case. What we bring to the medium is influenced by our cultural roots, research and the impact of cultural erasure – as Anglo Saxon society codifies, adopts and then makes claim for the creative ideas of other cultures.

We see the influence of this most clearly in visual art where, for instance, African art from various regions had a substantial impact on cubism. At its best, art is a conversation between cultures – how electronic music from Germany influenced hip-hop, which influenced dance music in the UK, which inspired Chicago producers to create what we call house music. At its worse, ideas are codified and proclaimed an Anglo invention – how white culture made claim to rock music.

There were never genres. Cultures communicated their differences through their art and influenced one another. Classical music is not a genre. It is music composed during a certain time period in Europe. There were well-known black composers. Like literature, there has never been a racial monolith on music, even in Europe. Music was not categorized, it was written for particular spaces. Chamber music was composed to be played in private homes. Opera, in opera halls. Even the word symphony, comes from a word that means, to play before an opera performance. Music was labelled for the space it would be played in and the occasion it would be played for.

The terms that we use to define genre found their way into our lexicon as Europeans expanded their reach into other parts of the world, and to maximize profit, gave art from external cultures exotic titles in an attempt of exploitation.

When we talk about art in the language of genre, we communicate in the language of exploitation.

Even discussing work from the perspective of its period can bug me. Often, work will be disregarded because it doesn't fit the narrative of a particular period of time. This isn't the language of knowledge. It's a way that we have accepted to simplify the conversations that cultures are having with one another through art.