For my final research blog post, I will connect my topic to the readings we have done in class. Since my topic is about the increasing popularity of English in music, specifically in France and the Eurovision competition, I will be using articles that discuss cultural mixing and how globalization affects cultures and societies.
I plan on using Appadurai to discuss cultural flows, such as with the scapes he mentions. Technoscapes and mediascapes allow culture, in this case, the English language and music, to be more readily available in countries where English was not the dominant language. Take for instance the internet: it has allowed people to access music instantaneously with the click of a button and access media from other countries. Youth, in particular, are interested in imitating American culture and learning to speak English.
I will also use Dr. Stoddard and Grant Cornwall’s article: “Cosmopolitan or Mongrel” to discuss the concept of hybridity. Though European languages such as French are not necessarily mixing with English to form a hybrid language such as Creole in the Mediterranean, many artists are using English along with another language in the same song. I can also note that French has incorporated many English words into their language, such as “week-end”, “stop” and “ok”. The French language is still relatively “French” but it is becoming Americanized.
In addition to those two articles, I will use some academic articles that I found online for my case study and historicity sections of my paper. Some of these articles include:
“Chanter en yaourt: Pop music and language choice in France” by Cece Cutler
“‘In what language do you like to sing best?’ Placing popular music in broadcasting in post-war Europe” by Alexander Badenoch
“Song ‘adaptions’ and the globalization of French pop 1960-1970” by Kirk Anderson