scholarly journals HIP-HOP AND CULTURAL CITIZENSHIP ON KENYA'S ‘SWAHILI COAST’

Africa ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 82 (4) ◽  
pp. 556-578 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Eisenberg
Keyword(s):  
Hip Hop ◽  
Cultural Citizenship ◽  
First Century ◽  
Hip Hop Culture ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Music Production ◽  
Swahili Coast ◽  
Young Subjects ◽  
Youth Music ◽  
Rich Data

ABSTRACTThe Muslim-dominated ‘Swahili coast’ has always served as a conceptual as well as physical periphery for post-colonial Kenya. This article takes Kenyan youth music under the influence of global hip-hop as an ethnographic entry into the dynamics of identity and citizenship in this region. Kenyan youth music borrows from global hip-hop culture the idea that an artist must ‘represent the real’. The ways in which these regional artists construct their public personae thus provide rich data on ‘cultural citizenship’, in Aihwa Ong's (1996) sense of citizenship as subjectification. I focus here on youth music production in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa between 2004 and 2007. During this time, some local artists adopted a representational strategy that subtly reinscribed the symbolic violence to which members of the coast's Muslim-Swahili society have long been subjected. I examine the representational strategies that were adopted during this period by Mombasan artists who happened to be members of the Muslim-Swahili society (‘subjects of the Swahili coast’, as I name them), with an ethnographic eye and ear trained on what they say about the ways in which young subjects of the Swahili coast are objectified and subjectified as ‘Kenyan youth’ in the twenty-first century.

scholarly journals Hip-Hop and Cultural Citizenship on Kenya’s ‘Swahili Coast’

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Jarad Eisenberg
Keyword(s):  
Hip Hop ◽  
Cultural Citizenship ◽  
First Century ◽  
Hip Hop Culture ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Music Production ◽  
Swahili Coast ◽  
Young Subjects ◽  
Youth Music ◽  
Rich Data

The Muslim-dominated ‘Swahili coast’ has always served as a conceptual as well as physical periphery for post-colonial Kenya. This article takes Kenyan youth music under the influence of global hip-hop as an ethnographic entry into the dynamics of identity and citizenship in this region. Kenyan youth music borrows from global hip-hop culture the idea that an artist must ‘represent the real’. The ways in which these regional artists construct their public personae thus provide rich data on ‘cultural citizenship’, in Aihwa Ong’s (1996) sense of citizenship as subjectification. I focus here on youth music production in the Kenyan coastal city of Mombasa between 2004 and 2007. During this time, some local artists adopted a representational strategy that subtly reinscribed the symbolic violence to which members of the coast’s Muslim-Swahili society have long been subjected. I examine the representational strategies that were adopted during this period by Mombasan artists who happened to be members of the Muslim- Swahili society (‘subjects of the Swahili coast’, as I name them), with an ethnographic eye and ear trained on what they say about the ways in which young subjects of the Swahili coast are objectified and subjectified as ‘Kenyan youth’ in the twenty-first century.

An Amalgamation of Power and Paint: Gajin Fujita, Los Angeles Street Art, and Images of Edo Japan

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 329-356
Author(s):  
Alison J. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Visual Language ◽  
First Century ◽  
Street Art ◽  
Artistic Practice ◽  
Hip Hop Culture ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Japanese Painting

The paintings of Gajin Fujita (b. 1972) express the urban Asian diasporic experience in vivid images filled with historic and contemporary cultural references. Creating an amalgamation of contemporary sports figures, hip-hop culture, historic Japanese painting conventions, street art, and the visual language of Edo Japan (1600–1868), Fujita reflects his diverse experiences as a citizen of twenty-first century Los Angeles in his paintings. This article introduces the artist and provides a nuanced examination of his works vis-à-vis an understanding of the larger issues addressed in both Edo artistic practice and contemporary street art culture. By specifying the agents of power and performance in Fujita’s works, a greater understanding of the hybrid world of his colourful graphic paintings can be found.

Brithop

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justin A. Williams
Keyword(s):  
United Kingdom ◽  
National Identity ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
First Century ◽  
British Society ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Hip Hop Culture ◽  
Political Discourses ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Twenty First Century

Brithop investigates rap music’s politics in the twenty-first-century United Kingdom. In it, the author argues that this music is partly an extension of, or often a counter to, political discourses happening in other realms of British society. These rappers are essentially responding through rap to mainstream Britain’s political discourses. The rappers in this book critique the United Kingdom’s more conservative narratives, and they express their relationship to Britain in the politically turbulent climate of the new century, providing valuable perspectives which can go unnoticed by those skeptical of or ignorant of hip-hop culture. Through themes of nationalism, history, subculture, politics, humor, and identity, this book looks at multiple forms of politics in rap discourses from Wales, Scotland, and England. It covers selected hip-hop scenes from 2002 to 2017, featuring rappers and groups such as The Streets, Goldie Lookin Chain, Akala, Lowkey, Stanley Odd, Loki, Speech Debelle, Lady Sovereign, Shadia Mansour, Shay D, Stormzy, Sleaford Mods, Riz MC, and Lethal Bizzle. It investigates how rappers in the United Kingdom respond to the “postcolonial melancholia” (Gilroy) of post-Empire Britain. In contrast to more visible narratives of national identity in Britain, Brithop tells a different, arguably more important, story.

Jesus and Postsoul Satire on the Small Screen

2020 ◽  
pp. 103-122
Author(s):  
Eric Thurman
Keyword(s):  
Hip Hop ◽  
Racial Diversity ◽  
Pop Culture ◽  
Black Masculinity ◽  
Black Culture ◽  
Popular Media ◽  
First Century ◽  
Hip Hop Culture ◽  
Gangsta Rap ◽  
Race And Religion

This essay explores how Aaron McGruder’s television show Black Jesus uses satire to critique constructions of race and religion in twenty-first-century America. It begins with an overview of representations of Jesus in popular media, highlighting both the dominant convention of depicting Jesus as white and the increasing racial diversity of representations in pop culture artifacts. The essay suggests that McGruder’s show is best understood as an example of postsoul satire, that is, forms of comedy produced by African American humorists that target stereotypes within black culture as well as the persistence of white racism. To support this claim, the essay discusses how the show’s humor satirizes white-dominated society, including representations of a white Jesus, as well as the ideals of black masculinity expressed in hip-hop culture and gangsta rap. The essay concludes by situating McGruder’s satire in the context of antiracist work by Black Lives Matter activists.

Introduction

2011 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-3
Author(s):  
Christopher Driscoll
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
American Academy ◽  
Annual Meeting ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Religious Studies ◽  
Hip Hop Culture

At the 2010 annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion held in Atlanta, GA, a group of young scholars organized a wildcard session titled “What’s This ‘Religious’ in Hip Hop Culture?” The central questions under investigation by the panel were 1) what about hip hop culture is religious? and 2) how are issues of theory and method within African American religious studies challenged and/or rethought because of the recent turn to hip hop as both subject of study and cultural hermeneutic. Though some panelists challenged this “religious” in hip hop, all agreed that hip hop is of theoretical and methodological import for African American religious studies and religious studies in general. This collection of essays brings together in print many findings from that session and points out the implications of hip hop's influence on religious scholars' theoretical and methodological concerns.

Voters and Voting in Context

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Schoen ◽  
Sigrid Roßteutscher ◽  
Rüdiger Schmitt-Beck ◽  
Bernhard Weßels ◽  
Christof Wolf
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Contextual Effects ◽  
First Century ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Opinion Formation ◽  
Contextual Features ◽  
Early Twenty ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Rich Data ◽  
Theoretical Issues

After a brief review of the scholarly discussion about the idea that context affects political behavior, this chapter proposes a model for the analysis of contextual effects on opinion formation and voting behavior. It highlights theoretical issues in the interplay of various contextual features and voter predispositions in bringing about contextual effects on voters. This model guides the analyses of contextual effects on voter behavior in Germany in the early twenty-first century. These analyses draw on rich data from multiple voter surveys and various sources of information about contextual features. The chapter also gives an overview of different methodological approaches and challenges in the analysis of contextual effects on voting behavior.

scholarly journals Matrices of ‘Love and Theft’: Joan Baez Imitates Bob Dylan

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
MIMI HADDON
Keyword(s):  
Final Section ◽  
Theoretical Work ◽  
First Century ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The Third ◽  
Bob Dylan ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Asymmetrical Power ◽  
American Popular Music

Abstract This article uses Joan Baez's impersonations of Bob Dylan from the mid-1960s to the beginning of the twenty-first century as performances where multiple fields of complementary discourse converge. The article is organized in three parts. The first part addresses the musical details of Baez's acts of mimicry and their uncanny ability to summon Dylan's predecessors. The second considers mimicry in the context of identity, specifically race and asymmetrical power relations in the history of American popular music. The third and final section analyses her imitations in the context of gender and reproductive labour, focusing on the way various media have shaped her persona and her relationship to Dylan. The article engages critical theoretical work informed by psychoanalysis, post-colonial theory, and Marxist feminism.

IMAGINING A BETTER WORLD:

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (02) ◽  
pp. 353-385
Author(s):  
Lakeyta M. Bonnette-Bailey ◽  
Ray Block ◽  
Harwood K. McClerking
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Hip Hop ◽  
Youth Culture ◽  
Black Youth ◽  
Black Music ◽  
Hip Hop Culture ◽  
Negative Messages ◽  
Mass Level

AbstractDespite a recent increase in research on its sociopolitical implications, many questions regarding rap music’s influence on mass-level participation remain unanswered. We consider the possibility that “imagining a better world” (measured here as the degree to which young African Americans are critical of the music’s negative messages) can correlate with a desire to “build a better world” (operationalized as an individual’s level of political participation). Evidence from the Black Youth Project (BYP)’s Youth Culture Survey (Cohen 2005) demonstrates that rap critique exerts a conditional impact on non-voting forms of activism. Rap critique enhances heavy consumers’ civic engagement, but this relationship does not occur among Blacks who consume the music infrequently. By demonstrating rap’s politicizing power and contradicting certain criticisms of Hip Hop culture, our research celebrates the possibilities of Black youth and Black music.

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