Afro-Colombian Hip-Hop: Globalization, Transcultural Music, and Ethnic Identities, by Christopher Dennis, explores the impact that globalization and the transnational spread of U.S. popular culture--specifically hip-hop and rap--are having on the social identities of younger generations of black Colombians. Along with addressing why and how hip-hop has migrated so effectively to Colombia's black communities, Dennis introduces readers to some of the country's most renowned Afro-Colombian hip-hop artists, their musical innovations, and production and distribution practices. Above all, Dennis demonstrates how, through a mode of transculturation, today's young artists are transforming U.S. hip-hop into a more autonomous art form used for articulating oppositional social and political critiques, reworking ethnic identities, and actively contributing to the reimagining of the Colombian nation. Afro-Colombian Hip-Hop uncovers ways in which young Afro-Colombian performers are attempting to use hip-hop and digital media to bring the perspectives, histories, and expressive forms of their marginalized communities into national and international public consciousness.

Abstract: As scholars around the globe debate the shortcomings and virtues of economic and cultural globalization, I approach Afro-Colombian hip-hop as a form of testimony to study what young black Colombians -- as representatives of a generation at a global crossroads -- reveal about the challenges presented by globalization. Evidence indicates that globalization and neoliberal reform have aggravated socio-political ills through intensified warfare, poverty, income inequalities, massive displacement, and violence, among others. These circumstances, in turn, inform much of the Afro-Colombian testimony channeled through hip-hop. I maintain that the content of Afro-Colombian rap, and the circumstances that inspire it, support those who argue that ethnic-racial minorities in the peripheries of the world do not benefit from economic globalization and its anticipated rising tide of wealth and spread of human rights. The dissent and frustration expressed in this music point to youths who are aware that promises of economic distribution, democracy, tolerance, and cultural respect are not and cannot be for everyone. Globalization has also led to cultural transformations and changing ethnic identities, which are very evident among Afro-Colombian urban youth integrated into processes of economic modernization and cultural modernity. I examine various factors that currently interpellate Afro-Colombian ethnic identities constructed through music and its practice. These artists use hip-hop as a tool for establishing alliances with local and international communities, for embarking on professional and cultural activities, and for reworking ethnic identities. I specifically demonstrate how this transnational musical practice has been re-signified within the Colombian scenario to highlight the performers' ethnic-racial identities and the cultural significance of their localities. These performers are strategically appropriating and combining "foreign" elements together with "local" ones to celebrate their cultures, redefine localities and accentuate their "blackness." When asking whether this Afro-Colombian hip-hop, with its transcultured forms, leads to an autonomous culture or neocolonial dependence, I argue that it is simply too complex to fit into any sort of categorizations of binary analysis. In the end, we cannot understand Afro-Colombian hip-hop, its ever-changing cultural and musical forms, narrations and discourses, tensions and contradictions, without understanding Afro-Colombian histories and cultures and how they are affected by global processes.

Postnational Musical Identities gathers interdisciplinary essays that explore how music audiences and markets are imagined in a globalized scenario, how music reflects and reflects upon new understandings of citizenship beyond the nation-state, and how music works as a site of resistance against globalization. "Hybridity," "postnationalism," "transnationalism," "globalization," "diaspora," and similar buzzwords have not only informed scholarly discourse and analysis of music but also shaped the way musical productions have been marketed worldwide in recent times. While the construction of identities occupies a central position in this context, there are discrepancies between the conceptualization of music as an extremely fluid phenomenon and the traditionally monovalent notion of identity to which it has historically been incorporated. As such, music has always been linked to the construction of regional and national identities. The essays in this collection seek to explore the role of music, networks of music distribution, music markets, music consumption, music production, and music scholarship in the articulation of postnational sites of identification.

Interdisciplinary celebration of the cultural contributions of members of the African Diaspora in the Western hemisphere.

Hip-Hop en Français charts the emergence and development of hip-hop culture in France, French Caribbean, Québec, and Senegal from its origins until today. With essays by renowned hip-hop scholars and a foreword by Marcyliena Morgan, executive director of the Harvard University Hiphop Archive and Research Institute, this edited volume addresses topics such as the history of rap music; hip-hop dance; the art of graffiti; hip-hop artists and their interactions with media arts, social media, literature, race, political and ideological landscapes; and hip-hop based education (HHBE). The contributors approach topics from a variety of different disciplines including African and African-American studies, anthropology, Caribbean studies, cultural studies, dance studies, education, ethnology, French and Francophone studies, history, linguistics, media studies, music and ethnomusicology, and sociology. As one of the most comprehensive books dedicated to hip-hop culture in France and the Francophone World written in the English language, this book is an essential resource for scholars and students of African, Caribbean, French, and French-Canadian popular culture as well as anthropology and ethnomusicology.

From graffitera crews in Costa Rica and Nicaragua to Mexican Hip Hop in New York to Aymara rap in Boliva, La Verdad: An International Dialogue on Hip Hop Latinidades explores the global explosion of hip hop, confounding stereotypes of Latinidad and who and how hip hop is consumed, lived and performed.

This text is about the emergence and growing notoriety of rap music and the hip-hop culture in the French-speaking world. It provides an introduction to many forms of expression of hip-hop cultures.