Detroit: Fra utopi til dystopi
Detroit: From Utopia to Dystopia
"You can look at the state of the city as a plus. When the new technology came in, Detroit collapsed as an industrial city, but Detroit is Techno City. We’re at the forefront here"
- Juan Atkins, 1993
Detroit - billedet på den amerikanske drøm
Fra omkring 1910 til 1930 var Detroit en af de hurtigst voksende byer i USA. Virksomheder som Ford Motor Company gjorde byen til centrum for verdens bilproduktion, og industrien havde brug for arbejdskraft. Derfor flyttede hundredtusinder af mennesker til Detroit – både immigranter fra Europa og afroamerikanere fra de amerikanske sydstater.
Detroit blev et symbol på den amerikanske drøm. Her kunne fabriksarbejdere tjene gode lønninger, købe hus og bil og skabe et bedre liv for deres familier.
Men lige så hurtigt som opsvinget kom, begyndte byen at ændre sig i årene efter 2. verdenskrig. Mange hvide middelklassefamilier flyttede til forstæderne, hvor nye motorveje og billige huse gjorde det muligt at pendle til arbejde. Samtidig oplevede byen store sociale spændinger og raceuroligheder, blandt andet i 1967.
I løbet af 1970'erne og 80'erne blev Detroit hårdt ramt af industrikrise. Fabrikker lukkede eller flyttede ud af byen, arbejdsløsheden steg, og befolkningstallet faldt dramatisk. I denne periode fik byen ry som en af USA's mest kriminelle storbyer.
Men midt i krisen opstod der også noget nyt. Det postindustrielle landskab – med tomme fabrikker, ny teknologi og en generation af unge musikere – blev grobund for technomusikken, som opstod i Detroit i 1980'erne.
English
From around 1910 to 1930, Detroit was one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States. Companies such as Ford Motor Company turned the city into the centre of global automobile production, creating a huge demand for labour. As a result, hundreds of thousands of people moved to Detroit – including immigrants from Europe and African Americans from the American South.
Detroit became a symbol of the American Dream. Factory workers could earn good wages, buy a house and a car, and build a better life for their families.
But almost as quickly as the boom arrived, the city began to change in the years after World War II. Many white middle-class families moved to the suburbs, where new highways and affordable housing made it possible to commute to work. At the same time, the city experienced growing social tensions and racial unrest, most notably during the 1967 Detroit Riot.
During the 1970s and 1980s, Detroit was hit hard by industrial decline. Factories closed or moved away, unemployment rose, and the city’s population dropped dramatically. During this period, Detroit gained a reputation as one of the most dangerous cities in the United States.
Yet in the midst of this crisis, something new emerged. The post-industrial landscape — with empty factories, new technology, and a generation of young musicians — became fertile ground for techno, a new form of electronic music that originated in Detroit in the 1980s.
Mit Detroit-Projekt
I 2013 og 2014 besøgte jeg Detroit flere gange i forbindelse med, at jeg skrev mit speciale om byen. Det gav Detroit en særlig plads i mit hjerte.
Det var en mærkelig oplevelse at besøge en så stor by, der samtidig føltes så tom. Jeg kunne stå midt på motorvejen midt om dagen, fordi der kun kom få biler i timen. Jeg cyklede rundt i byen – på trods af advarsler om, at det var farligt. Jeg mødte mange venlige mennesker, men hørte også mange barske historier.
Da jeg besøgte byen under den årlige technofestival Movement Electronic Music Festival, som fejrer Detroit som technomusikkens fødested, var byen dog helt anderledes livlig – fyldt med mennesker og energi.
Detroit er en utrolig kompleks by, som har gennemgået nogle voldsomme forandringer gennem de sidste 100 år. Det er stadig en presset by, der forsøger at hele efter årtier med diskrimination og ulighed, en nedbrudt industri og en kamp for igen at finde sig selv.
Hvor er Detroit i dag – og hvor er byen på vej hen?
English
In 2013 and 2014, I visited Detroit several times while working on my master’s thesis about the city. Those visits gave Detroit a very special place in my heart.
It was a strange experience to encounter such a large city that at the same time felt so empty. I could stand in the middle of a highway in the middle of the day because only a few cars would pass each hour. I cycled around the city despite warnings that it could be dangerous. I met many kind people, but I also heard many difficult and troubling stories.
When I visited the city during the annual Movement Electronic Music Festival — a festival that celebrates Detroit as the birthplace of techno — the city felt completely different: vibrant, energetic, and full of people.
Detroit is an incredibly complex city that has gone through dramatic changes over the past 100 years. It is still a city under pressure, trying to heal after decades of discrimination and inequality, the collapse of industry, and an ongoing struggle to redefine itself.
Where is Detroit today — and where is the city heading?
Resume af mit speciale /
Thesis Abstract
Detroit Techno er en genre inden for elektronisk musik, der opstod midt i Detroits post-apokalyptiske urbane forfald i 1980’erne. Detroit techno-kulturen afspejler derfor også de kulturelle omstændigheder og tendenser, der har formet den ødelagte og forladte tilstand, som Detroit befinder sig i i dag. Jeg vil undersøge forholdet mellem Detroit Techno som subkultur og Detroits postindustrielle rum. Detroits historie har været meget turbulent. Med bilindustriens udvikling blev byen verdens hurtigst voksende, men kort efter Anden Verdenskrig begyndte byen at skrumpe.
Særligt tre forhold havde stor indflydelse på Detroits fremtidige udvikling: den amerikanske drøm, deindustrialiseringen, og de diskriminerende politiske forhold, herunder segregation og racebaseret diskrimination, som alle bidrog til byens forsømmelse og forfald.
De ovennævnte forhold påvirkede også technokulturen i Detroit. Inden for deres techno-futuristiske univers og post-humanistiske æstetik kunne musikere og aktører undslippe de barske realiteter i det postindustrielle samfund og søge nostalgisk efter en futuristisk fortid.
Denne æstetik, kendt som afrofuturisme, er en kulturel bevægelse inden for litteratur, science-fiction, musik (herunder techno) m.m. De fremmedgørende og dystopiske effekter af miljøet i Detroit skabte også mangel på identitet og reduceret individuel frihed. Techno-musikken og -kulturen havde derfor et utopisk præg, idet den gav tro på en bedre fremtid med fokus på individuel frihed. Gennem for eksempel den afrofuturistiske radiovært The Electrifying Mojo fandt samfundets outsidere, især afroamerikanske fællesskaber, et sted for fremtidige håb, identitet og status.
Technokulturen har udtrykt en form for modstand mod samfundet, men denne modstand synes samtidig at fremhæve individets magt og utopiske visioner snarere end et egentligt ønske om revolution. Detroit techno-kulturen eksisterer stadig i byen, og selvom visse værdier måske har ændret sig, lever håbet om en lysere fremtid og utopien videre midt i Detroits dystopi. Den synes også at holde fast i nogle dybt rodfæstede amerikanske værdier.
Hvad er vigtigst: individets frihed eller lighed? Hvad er i dag Detroit technos budskab sammenlignet med europæisk techno? Er der stadig en drøm bag musikken, er der stadig en kamp for lighed?
English
Detroit Techno is a genre within electronic music that came to life in the midst of Detroit's postapocalyptic urban decay in the 1980'ies. As so the Detroit techno culture reflects cultural circumstances and tendencies that have affected the desolated and abandoned state Detroit City is in today. I will examine the relation between Detroit Techno as a subculture and the postindustrial space of Detroit. Detroit's history have been very turbulent. With the development of the car industry the city became the fastest growing city in the world but soon after Second World War the city began shrinking.
The change of especially three various conditions had an impact on Detroit’s future development. These are the American dream, the deindustrialization, and the discriminating political conditions including segregation and racial discrimination that all lead to the neglect and decay of Detroit.
The conditions mentioned above also affected the techno culture in Detroit. Within their techno-futuristic universe and post-human aesthetics they were able to escape the harsh realities of the postindustrial society in a nostalgic search for a futurist past.
This aesthetic, called afrofuturism, is a cultural movement within literature, science-fiction, music including techno etc. The alienating and dystopian affects of the environment in Detroit caused a lack of identity and decreased individual freedom as well. The techno music and culture was therefore of utopian character as it provided a belief in a better future focused on individual freedom. Through for example the afrofuturistic radio host The Electrifying Mojo outsiders of the society, the African American communities, found a place for their future hopes, identity and status.
The techno culture has expressed a certain resistance towards society, but this resistance seems at the same time to reveal an emphasis on the power of the individual and utopian visions more than an actual wish for revolution. The Detroit techno culture still exists in Detroit and though it might have changed certain values the hope for a brighter future an utopia is still alive in the midst of Detroit dystopia. It also seems to keep alive rooted American values.
What is then more important: individualism or equality? What is todays message of Detroit techno vs. European techno? Is there still a dream behind, is there still a fight for equality?
Links til foredrag og artikler i relation til Detroit
Links to talks and articles related to Detroit
