Make America XXXXX Again

Knowing that ‘great’ isn’t quite the right adjective, knowing that we could say something truer and more sincere – precisely because that ‘again’ suggests a rethink – what do we put in place of the x’s? Fierce? Unjust? Exhilarating? Hopeful? Dark? Has America ever been great, apart from in its imperial intentions already made explicit in the appropriation of the name of an entire continent? ‘Make America xxxxx Again’ by Thomas Guiducci and Marta Ciccolari Micaldi responds using music, words and counter-narratives. Through songs from the American folk tradition, blues and frontier music, the project—presented over three events—dismantles the simplified, spectacularised image of the United States to return to what is often excluded: critical and suffering voices, conflicts, contradictions, shattered dreams. The very same themes that find an echo in the pages of a certain literature of the margins, which today demands more attention than ever. Reserved for Arci members.