Date of Award
2024
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts in Communication Studies
Department
Communication Studies
First Advisor
Ian Reyes
Abstract
Analyzing the historical development and ideological underpinnings of the regulatory and doctrinal texts that make up the US Army’s Body of Knowledge, this paper offers a critical theory interpretation of Army lore as a mediating device for the Army State Apparatus. The lore enshrined in the Body of Knowledge reinforces the needs of the State by setting the conditions and expectations for Army Musicians. Examining how Army Musicians are hailed by the lore as always-already Army Musicians as such, the paper builds up to an analysis of Army Music as a labor system of culture production, ultimately positioning the Army Musician as a Creative-Worker-for-the-State and organ-of-production of Music-for the-State. This paper seeks to elucidate how and why the Body of Knowledge is constructed as such, the role it plays in shaping the identity and actions of Army Musicians and, ultimately, how the details of its lore charge the Creative-Worker-for-the-State with the task of securing cultural hegemony and power for the State. An analysis of cultural production and creative labor in Army Music is non-existent in academic literature which situates this paper as the first of its kind and positions itself as a novel contribution to the discourses in both critical and cultural theory.
Recommended Citation
Grenier, Michael S., "MUSIC-FOR-THE-STATE: HEGEMONY, CULTURE PRODUCTION, AND CREATIVE LABOR IN US ARMY MUSIC" (2024). Open Access Master's Theses. Paper 2497.
https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses/2497