Bennington Marching Band: Journal articles and web links

Excerpted from:
Lewis, William Dukes. Marching to the Beat of a Different Drum: Performance Traditions of Historically Black College and University Marching Bands.

This article focuses on funeral traditions in twenty-first century Jamaica. Jamaican funerals usually involve elaborately decorated caskets, and when a famous person dies, people parade in costumes in the streets.

Inspired by Eastern European precedents, Zanzibar's revolutionary regime in the 1960s and 1970s established the Young Pioneers as an institution through which to inculcate the sort of discipline perceived as necessary for nation building. I argue that through an emphasis on Pioneer parades, revolutionary elites allowed themselves to be persuaded by forms and appearances. They prized marching bodies of young men and women more for their visual effect than for the discipline they produced.

New Orleans indigenous cultural traditions such as Mardi Gras Indians, Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs and second line parades were born out of the disenfranchisement of the African American community. Though the practices have existed for over a century and provide social benefits, they have faced hostility from the police department, indifference from elected officials and city planners, as well as economic exploitation, denying them the ability to thrive. With a restructuring of public policy and outside assistance, these cultural traditions will be able to help revitalize the economically depressed areas where they continue to be practiced.