Blue notes: Gay men and popular music in contemporary urban Russia.
Item
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Title
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Blue notes: Gay men and popular music in contemporary urban Russia.
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Identifier
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AAI3283611
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identifier
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3283611
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Creator
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Amico, Stephen.
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Contributor
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Advisers: Peter L. Manuel | David Olan
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Date
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2007
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Music | Gender Studies | Anthropology, Cultural
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Abstract
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This dissertation deals with the connections between gay men (as both consumers and producers) and popular music in present-day Russia. The title alludes to both the slang word for gay (goluboi, blue), and those non-transcribable yet entirely requisite parts of musical communication - in short, it is a metaphor for the complexity of a sexual identity not necessarily amenable to full elucidation via the linguistic. I examine the ways in which spatial and corporeal boundaries relate to popular musics and musical discourses in the creation of a gay social space, one that is often "imagined," and sometimes defined by its concurrent attraction to and rejection of the West. Additionally, I show how Russia's strict gender system is implicated in the creation of connections between the gay male listener and the musical female icon - connections that serve to foreground the constitutive contributions both have made to "culture." In conclusion, I highlight the ways in which sexual identity in the West has often been tied to rights discourses, these connected to the political, legal and juridical - all areas with a firm basis in the realm of the linguistic. Noting both the apolitical stance of the majority of the Russian population (homo- and heterosexual), the complexity of sexual identity, and the affective components of identity formation, I suggest that it is through an examination of those modalities operating in music (for example, affectively apprehended repetition) that a greater understanding of identity obtains.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy Restricted.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.