Assignment task:
Please summarize and paraphrase all these paragraphs into two hundred words. (Note: Each paragraph discusses the same topic/content in different words)
Hip-hop generation black women utilize music to reconcile faith and culture. By combining cultural and spiritual identities, they establish improvisation zones. The adaptability of religion as it flows between cultures and resistance zones is highlighted; these zones have major political ramifications in current American society. She presents herself as a black Muslim lady who does not believe that adhering to Islam's stringent, traditional principles is the only way to be a devout follower of the faith. The fact that hip-hop music and dance are unconventional forms of art does not deter her or other Muslim women from participating. They see no reason why their involvement in such art forms should compromise their faith, beliefs, or ideals. According to McMurray, hip-practices hops "create improvisation zones," which allow black Muslim men and women to show their faith and power in new, non-traditional ways. She also mentions that black Muslim hip-hop musicians are attempting to teach non-Muslims other perspectives on Islam. Non-believers may now match Muslims with Western culture and traditions, rather than having the conventional idea of a Muslim as a person draped from head to toe in Middle Eastern garb.
Anaya McMurray uses the concept of improvisation zones as a means of emphasize the flexibility of religion while it navigates through culture (2008). These improvisation zones are created through music to by defining and communicating both religion and cultural identities at the same time (McMurray, 2008). This article explores how there is a notion of the Middle East and South Asian Muslims as being the authentic version and African Americans as not. This is where a debate of culture versus religion starts to come to play with how black women use music as a mode of communication. The improvisation zones are used as metaphors to describe these spaces that represent the ways in which religion influences cultures. From the type of music we listen to, to the conversations we have they are not random ideas that we have and instead they are formulated within a structure that is guided by our experiences. The significance of an improvisation zone is that it allows for a unification of Islamic faith and hip-hop culture in the music created (McMurray, 2008). This unification creates a multidimensional social identity for these women.
Improvisational zones were referred to as a metaphor which provides space for individuals to express their "religious and cultural identifies simultaneously". The improvisational zone provides an opportunity for people to share their lived experiences, histories and religion with others through music. These zones give individuals the freedom to express their own view through in a creative way through structures created in our society. For example, Black Muslim artists like Erykah Badu express her religious view through her music like in the song Nations of Gods and Earths.
The significance for improvisation zones according to McMurray reflects around the concept in which black Muslim musicians or artists bring together "cultural and spiritual identities" and how they use music to express their culture, faith or gender. McMurray explains how this reflects their gender, class, any other identities and how it expresses their dedication to the hip-hop culture. McMurray's example refers to the song "One" which expresses the different male and female roles. McMurray is firm that black Muslim women are the creators of these "improvisation zones" in which they are aiming to express their identities.
The significance of improvisation zones for McMurray begins with the matter of control the relationship between African American Muslims and Muslim immigrants who arrived at a sooner time, it controls the religious authenticity that older Muslim people carry towards Black Muslims. It is the creation of hip-hop that created many different viewpoints towards young African Americans by Muslim communities, because of the the topic of violence, sex and homophobia that hip-hop tend to carry. These zones describe how black muslim- artists used their platforms to combine their spiritual and cultural identifies through music. Along with, reflecting upon women, class, personal experiences and religion.
Improvisation zones are a way of understanding how Islam is able to be intertwined with other things, such as hip-hop. The two may seem polar opposites, one can be a strict and regimented religion while the other is an undefined, open, and sometimes secular type of music. Black Muslim women use their faith and experiences and express that in their hip-hop. By doing this, the political and historical context of Islam is being acknowledged, and the unique expression from these women in hip-hop is maintained and respected. This creates the space McMurray refers to as improvisation zones