Jes Grew and Cultural Appropriation
Jes Grew is an amorphous idea that plays a key role in Ishmael Reed’s book Mumbo Jumbo. I interpreted its modern variation as the emergence and infiltration of non-white non-Christian forms of expression into the mainstream. One of the first examples we are given of Jes Grew is Jazz. Jazz originated in New Orleans, a city with a large black population. New Orleans also importantly has practitioners of voodoo. Voodoo contrasts with the monotheistic beliefs of Atonists with followers of voodoo believing in many different Loas for individual purposes. Mumbo Jumbo also attacks the notion of keeping other people’s culturally significant artifacts in museums. This idea manifests itself with the Mu’tafikah who steal back from “private collections of Europe and America” (Reed 63). The popularization of alternative practices and backlash against current systems alarms the Atonists in the Wallflower Order, so they begin a plan to exterminate Jes Grew.
Mambo Jumbo deconstructs Eurocentrism by crafting a story of how Christianity emerged from Jes Grew. Reed describes how Atonists took parts of Egyptian mythology such as having “Isis as Virgin Mary” and having Jesus “do everything that Osiris does” (170). Parts of Christianity come from African religions, which Atonists choose to ignore as they view those cultures as lesser than. In fact, the Atonists believe that Jes Grew’s culture is a lot simpler and less sophisticated since “the African deities were fond of food, drink, battle and sex” (62). The appropriation of ideas happens to Jes Grew as well. One example is Elvis Presley doing a cover of Hound Dog and receiving much acclaim while the original singer was ignored. An idea grappled with is the pollution of a medium once it enters mainstream. Hip-Hop, the quintessential example of Jes Grew, has now become an important part of pop culture, but many of the original parts of it have been lost to imitation artists. This idea once again plays into the repatriation of artifacts from museums. Once the art form gets taken by a group that doesn’t understand its implications it loses its value.
One example of Jess Grew given in Mumbo Jumbo is slang. One specific niche of slang that I can think of is slang within the Queer community. Many of the terms and words used are taken from black people, specifically ballroom culture. It then makes its way to the mainstream where it loses its original potency and meaning. On the other hand, the mainstreamification of words isn’t necessarily bad. It’s a way for different cultures and communities to mingle together. Mumbo Jumbo isn’t attacking the notion of sharing and taking ideas, rather Reed is questioning the isolationist views of Atonism. The Atonists in the story look down upon Jes Grew and refuse to let it pollute them even though many of their ideas originally came from Jes Grew. In the end, Jes Grew is a culmination and combination of many different things into one big melting pot.
Hi Jonathan! I enjoyed reading your post, and I thought your connection between Mumbo Jumbo’s themes to real-world examples like jazz, Elvis, and even modern slang was really interesting. I also liked your point about hip-hop losing some of its original meaning once it enters the mainstream and I think there is some relation of Hinckle trying to undermine Jes Grew by putting out crappy poems and newspaper viewpoints. Good job on this analysis!
ReplyDeleteHey Joe-chen! I also wrote about cultural appropriation in my blog post, it is interesting to see it from a different eye. I really like how you drew from Jes Grew to slang today. I do also wonder about how the mainsteamification (fun word) effects these communities, and whether the good out ways the harm. Really good thoughts here! I look forward to reading your next post.
ReplyDeleteIt's additionally ironic how Reed, by depicting the Judeo-Christian/European tradition as a kind of appropriation of African and Egyptian cultural forms "repurposed" to suit monotheism, treats the Western tradition as a kind of "syncretic" religion--just as enslaved African people had to conceal their traditional religious practices under the superficial cover of Catholicism, Reed depicts early Christians as essentially "ripping off" their most sacred figures and ideas from Egypt. It's really remarkable what a thorough "turning of the tables" this novel is able to present. Just as voodoo practices are dismissed in the Western world as "mumbo jumbo" or "hocus pocus," Reed constantly depicts miracles and other supernatural elements of Judeo-Christianity as "bokors" doing something like half-baked/stolen "witchcraft." The entire Western tradition is reduced to charlatans practicing "The Work" with the "left hand."
ReplyDeleteHi Jonathan! I definitely agree that Jes Grew is a replacement metanarrative for Eurocentric understanding of culture. Jes Grew is manifested in our story by jazz, but in the metanarrative. it has existed in a variety of ways throughout history, and will continue to. You talk about the example of slang, which is seen in Mumbo Jumbo and in real life. Great work!
ReplyDeleteI really like this interpretation of Jes Grew in real life mainstream culture. I completely agree with you about the ways the Jes Grew is relevant to mainstream culture. I think atonist culture is so front and center that Jes Grew being put into this sphere kind of leads to these other problems. Great post!
ReplyDeleteWhaddup Johnny Boy! I definitely agree with your argument on how most things that originate from Africa would eventually lose its original meanings once reaching the mainstream world which highlights the Atonists needs to try to make a cultural aspect that his origins are not traced from their history into their own. Great post!
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