“Well if Rolling Stone said it, then it must be true”: An Analysis of Cultural Intermediaries Legitimating Dominican Alternative Musicians Locally and Abroad. Open Access

Abstract

This research aims to understand and evaluate the implications of the international and local legitimation processes of the Dominican Alternative Music (DAM) scene, by situating them within the context of cultural gatekeeping, globalization and legitimation scholarship. This is achieved by examining the role of journalists as key cultural intermediaries actively shaping the perceived aesthetic value of the DAM scene cross-nationally. Through a mixed-methods approach, this study both quantifies the amount of coverage that Dominican Alternative creatives have received at a local level throughout the past decade, and qualitatively evaluates the discursive legitimation strategies employed by both local and international journalists when writing about these artists. In doing so, the results reveal that the Dominican Alternative Music scene is legitimated both more frequently and comprehensively by international journalists than it is by local Dominican journalists, challenging traditional legitimation process structures that dictate that scenes must acquire local legitimacy prior to diffusing and accessing general validation. These findings also add to the conversation on the effects of cultural globalization on musical exchange between peripheral scenes — such as the Dominican music scene — and central music hubs, such as the cities that are home to the media outlets evaluated in this study. 

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction................................................................................................. 2

1.1: Situating the Research............................................................................................ 3

1.2: Overview of the Study............................................................................................. 4

Chapter 2: Literature Review.......................................................................................... 6

2.1 Conceptualizing Legitimation................................................................................... 6

2.2 Consensus and Justification...................................................................................... 7

2.3 Journalists and Music Critics as Legitimizing Agents.................................................. 8

2.4 Cultural Globalization and the Legitimation Process.................................................. 9

2.5 Dominican Alternative Music.................................................................................. 10

2.6 Local and Translocal Music Scenes........................................................................... 11

2.7 Gaps in the Literature.............................................................................................. 12

Chapter 3: Data and Methods........................................................................................ 15

3.1 Methodology Rationale........................................................................................... .15

3.2 Quantitative Analysis............................................................................................... 16

3.2.1 Exclusionary Criteria............................................................................................. 17

3.3 Qualitative Analysis............................................ .............................. ...................... 18

3.3.1 Exclusionary Criteria............................................................................................. 18

3.3.2 Legitimating Discourse Coding Scheme................................................................... 19

Chapter 4: Results......................................................................................................... 22

4.1 Quantitative Results: DAM Coverage in Dominican News............................................ 22

4.1.1: Increase in Music-Related Journalism.................................................................... 22

4.1.2: Local versus International Coverage Distribution................................................... 23

4.2 Qualitative Results: Discursive Legitimation in Local and International Sources.......... 23

4.2.1: Discrepancies in the use of High Art Criteria......................................................... 24

4.2.2: Local and International Networks......................................................................... 25

4.2.3: Local Popular and Traditional Music..................................................................... 26

4.2.4: Rhetoric of Resistance........................................................................................ 27

Chapter 5: Discussion................................................................................................. 28

5.1 Constructing Artistry.............................................................................................. 28

5.2 Claiming Autonomy or Stripping Locality?............................................................... 30

5.3 Internationally Admiring and Locally Suppressing Resistance.................................... 31

5.4 Cultural Globalization and New Legitimation Processes............................................ 32

Chapter 6: Conclusions................................................................................................. 34

6.1 Study Limitations................................................................................................... 35

6.2 Recommendations for Future Research..................................................................... 36

Works Cited................................................................................................................. 38

Appendix A: International Sources Terms Coded............................................................ 45

Appendix B: Dominican Sources Terms Coded............................................................... 48

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	Sociology
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Music Latin American Studies Sociology, General
Keyword	Alternative Music Cultural Globalization Dominican Republic Legitimation
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Dr. Timothy Dowd, Emory University
Committee Members	Dr. Tanine Alison, Emory University Dr. Ju Hyun Park, Emory University

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