The Discourse of Protest, Resistance and Social Commentary in Reggae Music

This innovative investigation of the discourse of Pacific reggae in Aotearoa New Zealand produces a multi-faceted analysis of the dialogic relationships that construct meaning in this genre of popular music.

Elizabeth Turner is an independent researcher and academic affiliated to Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand.

1. Constructing an encounter between Mikhail Bakhtin and the New Zealand band Herbs 2. Message music and meaning 3. Mikhail Bakhtin: dialogism, discourse and ethics 4. The social, political and cultural context 5. Politics, protest, and resistance in Herbs' What's Be Happen? 6. Narratives of experience and identity 7. Taking sides: Herbs' album cover 8. Coda