Robert Drew
Professor of Communication Appointed to SVSU in 1998
Ph.D. University of Pennsylvania
M.A. University of Pennsylvania
B.A. Columbia University
ARTICLE
"Popular Culture and Social Class." International Encyclopedia of Communication, edited by Wolfgang Donsbach, 8:3777-3781. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2008.
PAPER
"Mixtaping as a Ritual of Distance." Annual meeting of the American Culture Association, San Francisco, California, March 2008.
Mixtaping is the practice of compiling and exchanging songs on tape or CD. The trope of the mixtape is everywhere nowadays. What seems to account for its lasting appeal is the social aspect of mixing. Mixtapes first popularized the interpersonal exchange of music, yet musical exchange has received almost no scholarly attention. I want to consider mix exchange as a ritual of distance. Much of the mix's charm, I argue, is connected to an allure of distance in communication that we rarely acknowledge. Based on my in-depth interviews with mixtapers, I briefly summarize four "versions" of what I see as the story of the mix as a ritual of distance: communion, devotion, display, and fantasy.