Setyo Cahyaningtyas. C1307530; Racism perspective as reflected in Bob Marley's and The Wailer's songs

Oleh :
Setyo Cahyaningtyas. - C1307530 - Fak. Sastra dan Seni Rupa

This thesis entitled Racism perspective as reflected in Bob Marley’s and The Wailer’s songs is conducted within the American studies research for the purpose of giving description of Bob Marley’s and The Wailer’s perspective on racism. The perspective is revealed through analyzing the band’s nine song lyrics. This study emphasizes on two problem statements. The first problem statement intends to find out Bob Marley’s and the Wailer’s perspective on racism toward black people, while the second one has an objective of exploring the suggestions for racism offered in Bob Marley’s and The Wailer’s songs. The research is a descriptive qualitative research which applies library research. The source of data is Bob Marley’s and The Wailer’s albums, especially those produced during the 70s to the 80s. The main data were nine songs which constitute the group’s criticism and perspective on racism toward black. The secondary data were collected from articles, interviews, and quotes related to Bob Marley’s and the Wailer’s and the issues of racism, which are significant for the analysis. The research was carried out within the frame work of American studies. Therefore, it employs interdisciplinary study, which brings the consequence of applying some approaches. The approaches used in this research are sociological, historical, music theory and biographical approach. It also uses semiotic, especially that of Roland Barthes’ theory. These approaches are important to conduct the analysis so that the answer of the problem statements can be revealed. After conducting the analysis, the researcher came to the conclusions that Bob Marley’s and the Wailer’s songs constitute the perspective on racism and their suggestions as well. The perspectives on racism may be provocatively and explicitly denounced or it may be delivered implicitly. Bob Marley perspectives that black people were not judged by their character, but rather their skin color, physical appearance and amount of their finances. It can also be concluded that through the criticism on racism itself, Bob Marley’s and the Wailer’s propose their suggestions for racism, those are, raising the awareness level among many blacks, American people’s demand to change their way of thinking and behaves regarding of racial differences and equality, Black people should fight for their rights and the significance of love. It can be deduced that reggae is one of those genres of music which generally and basically express many problems and shown in people’s daily life. Reggae music deals with the topic, such as oppression, exploitation and racism.