Music to denounce - Heems, Swetshop Boys & Rana
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The Swetshop Boys focus on cultural appropriation in their song “Benny Lava”, a title derived from a viral Internet meme that mistranslated a Tamil song, turning it into a spectacle of cultural misunderstandings. By appropriating this meme, they criticize the superficial consumption of South Asian culture by outsiders who often take a superficial interest in it, without understanding its deeper meanings. Heems calls himself a “Hindu” and ironically uses a colonial term, drawing attention to the constant reduction of South Asian identity to outdated, simplistic categories. Moreover, the phrase “Ain't that what you do with Muslims?” highlights the way South Asians, whatever their religion or identity, are often homogenized and racialized, particularly in the post-9/11 context, where brown bodies are often equated with “Muslims”.
Junaid Rana's academic argument suggests that Islamophobia is a form of racism, where religion is racialized and Muslim identity is conflated with notions of race. He posits that contemporary racism, particularly post-Enlightenment, has shifted from biological indicators to cultural and religious ones, thereby implying that being Muslim or South Asian frequently signifies “racial otherness” in Western societies. Heems and the Sweatshop Boys capture this dynamic by exposing how both South Asian and Muslim identities are oversimplified and commercialized by the dominant culture, while their music simultaneously challenges these reductions and asserts their agency.
Heems and the Sweetshop Boys draw attention to how Western audiences consume South Asian culture through stereotypes and exoticism, much like how Islamophobia conflates religion with race. Through their lyrics and visuals, Heems and the Sweet Shop Boys draw attention to how Western audiences consume their music; while combining humor, irony, and social critique, creating space for a more complex and authentic portrayal of South Asian identity, connecting cultural misrepresentation in the arts with broader societal issues of race and religion.