IP Scholars Series: Olufunmilayo Arewa: Copyright, Curation, Representation, and Visions of Black Culture

Professor Arewa will present a chapter from her forthcoming book, Creating Global Markets for Black Music: Curation, Music, and Law.  Lomax viewed African American culture in part as a vehicle for exploitation and personal profit. His copyright dispute with Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly), evidences exploitative uses of African American culture. Lomax’s views of black culture were rooted in a museum-like approach, which was not atypical for a folklorist of his era, that sought to collect, profit from, and preserve “authentic” vanishing cultural forms. In contrast, folklorist and writer Zora Neale Hurston had a conception of African American culture that reflected an understanding of culture as a living and dynamic force. The competing visions of Lomax and Hurston have implications outside of the cultural sphere. Dominant conceptions of copyright today may be based on a view of culture that reflects the Lomax vision but which does not sufficiently take account of living cultures and varied cultural communities. This may facilitate exploitation, particularly of cultural production of marginalized communities, and give insufficient recognition to the broad range of creativities that may exist.

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