Since its launch in 2008, the Swedish-based audio streaming service Spotify has transformed how consumers experience music. During the same time, Spotify collaborated with social justice activists as a means of philanthropy and brand management. Focusing on two playlists intende…
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Cultural evolution, or change in the socially learned behavior of a population over time, is a fascinating phenomenon that is widespread in humans and present in some non-human animals. In this dissertation, I present an array of cultural evolutionary studies that bridge pattern…
In December of 1991, the first lawsuit concerning digital sampling was settled in court. Involving rapper Biz Markie and singer-songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan, Grand Upright v. Warner has been widely hailed as a landmark legal decision, as well as a disaster for musical creativit…
A two part project, one half film and the other an analytical essay. A Maine in Progression is a candid documentary following Detroit music artist Illy Maine in his journey and discoveries throughout life and music. The film explores identity, challenges through troubled times a…
Christianity and Hip-Hop culture are often said to be at odds with one another. One is said to promote a lifestyle of righteousness and love, while the other is said to promote drugs, violence, and pride. As a result, the public has portrayed these two institutions as conflictin…
Scholarship on female representations in hip hop has been predominantly premised on the sexualization of the female body. By focusing mainly on this singular aspect of the genre, we reduce the whole essence of womanhood in the industry to such interpretations. The limited scope …
The current revival of vinyl records in popular culture, specifically surrounding their commercial availability and popularity, is not a coincidence. This study focuses on factors such as the presence of listening communities and material culture responsible for the persistence …
The historical nature of language contact between French and Arabic in Algeria has created a sociolinguistic situation in which French is permeated throughout Algerian society. The prevalence and use of spoken French in Algeria by native speakers of Spoken Algerian Arabic has be…
The nature of American identity is highly contested in the twenty-first century. This dissertation seeks to understand how this state of uncertainty produces a rhetorical opening for new and unimagined rhetorical possibilities. As citizens lose faith in the narratives that have …
This dissertation examines and explicates the convergences of conspiracy theory, Islam, terrorism, and hip hop culture in rap group Killarmy’s album Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars to gain a deeper understanding of knowledge production post 9/11 through a process Liesbet Van Zoone…
The 2010-2011 Jasmine Revolution brought many Tunisians who had lived their entire lives under authoritarian regime out onto the streets for the first time in protest. Tunisians of all ages and social backgrounds participated, demanding the ousting of then-dictator Zine el Abidi…
The former West Germany recruited Turkish Gastarbeiter (guestworkers) from 1961-1973 without intending for them to stay. Additional African, Eastern European, and Middle Eastern migrants and asylum-seekers further changed the social landscape of the nation-state. Due in part to …
This research explores how hip hop as a revolutionary medium can influence political and social issues. The analysis focuses on the role of the Y'en a Marre movement during the 2012 Senegalese presidential election. A historical background of the Senegalese political arena and p…
Drawing on 14 months of ethnographic research in Dakar, Senegal as well as an 18-month focused case study with Senegalese rappers in Los Angeles, this dissertation explores Senegalese hip hop production as the performative negotiation of postcolonial urban space. Engaging tradit…
This thesis examines the words and works of six Arab American rappers who use hip-hop music as a tool to create and represent selves that are informed by both individual experience and multiple group identities. In doing so, each of these six artists confront a particular catego…
For centuries, Islam has played a dynamic role in the lives of Africans and their descendants around the world. Throughout that history, the oral tradition has remained consistently significant in how ideas, knowledge and stories tied to culture and resistance have been communic…
In 2006, The United Nations reported that the "global distribution of income is very unequal and the inequality has not been falling over time" (Davies et al 2006:1)1. Visibly, these inequalities are overwhelmingly racialized. Black people all over the world continue to be subje…